Henry Taylor Roughing Gouge: 2 Brand New, 2 Different Lengths?

I ordered from Lee Valley a 1-12" roughing gouge. It arrived with a loose ferrule. I ordered another one, (and was waiting for the replacement to have a suitable box to return the first for refund).
New one doesn't have a loose ferrule, but it is about 3/4" less steel on the tool.
Attachment 441898

Is that much variance normal for Henry Taylor products? Or, is this is something that shouldn't have made it through quality control and I've got an undersized tool for my money (Which at about $150.00 isn't a cheapie)

I guess you could say you got shorted 🤔

That looks like what a hand made process may produce. What does the web site say the flute length is? This may be the stated tolerance for the length. It may be you got a extra long one for the price of a short one. Or the short one is a return after many re-sharpenings. I'd sent the short one back and use thin CA glue to fix the loose ferrule. Both company's have a good reputation . You may be the first user to have 2 new gouges to compare the lengths.

Jim

Ferules can loosen up due to climate. I went from Oregon to Phoenix for the AAW symposium however many years ago that was, and all of the ferules on my tools loosened up down there, due to the difference in humidity. Some of them tightened up after I got back, and some of them are still loose today. Summer time around here, when I did construction, we had to soak our wood handled hammers in water during the summer to keep the heads tight. It would depend on how loose the ferule was on weather I would send it back or not. You could soak it, but you would probably need to do it regularly.

robo hippy

I'm guessing first one is old stock, the shorter one is new stock. What was once a one pound bag of M&Ms is now 13 ounces.

With all the CPM and other advanced steels available today I doubt I would spend $150 on an M2 HSS roughing gouge. I have an M2 Benjamin Best large roughing gouge I have had for years and it performs adequately for what it is used for. At about $40, it is a good value. I also have a D-Way 1” SRG from M42 Cobalt steel that I use most of the time.

All that said, I agree that securing the ferrule on the longer one and returning the shorter one would be what I would do.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jim Barkelew

That looks like what a hand made process may produce. What does the web site say the flute length is? This may be the stated tolerance for the length. It may be you got a extra long one for the price of a short one. Or the short one is a return after many re-sharpenings. I'd sent the short one back and use thin CA glue to fix the loose ferrule. Both company's have a good reputation . You may be the first user to have 2 new gouges to compare the lengths.

Jim

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The web site indicates "The 1 1/2" gouge is 22 1/4" long overall with a 5" blade."

I agree, I'd send the short one back. I'd also send them the photo and ask them if the short one is the new official length. Maybe take a photo with the ruler positioned from the ferrules better showing the length. If it's a mistake, they might want to know. If it's the new length, we might want to know.

I personally like a longer roughing gouge when I'm turning large spindles - it gives more flexibility for positioning the tool and tool rest, especially when angling the tool.

JKJ

Well, the specs from Lee Valley say 5" blade (as John noted). This (shorter) one is 5" from the back of the "U" to the front of the blade. Overall length is 22 1/8", so I guess the other one just had "bonus steel". :)

I'll just keep this one.

OT I worked in a old style 5 and 10 store in high school. I was putting out bags of Hershey kisses. For some reason they had 1 pound bags of kisses for 89 cents and in the next bin, there were 16 ox bags of kisses for 79 cents. A lady asked me what the difference was. I was a smart know it all and a bit mystified that she couldn't see there was no difference, so I said, this 89 cent bag is a whole pound and this 79 cent bag is only 16 ounces. Well she bought three one pound bags of kisses. An hour later she was back in the store screaming at me and the manager. The manager embarrassed the hell of me right on the sales floor. Come closing time, I was afraid I'd get fired. As I approached the door and said good night, the manager handed me a bag of Hershey kisses. And said he and some neighboring store managers hadn't laughed that hard at a customer complaint in years. "But don't ever do that again."

Turns out the longer of them wouldn't have fit in the Lee Valley tool roll I bought. The shorter (5" blade) one only barely fits into the roll.
Glad I kept it.