Thomas, I just want to say a sincere thank you for suggesting Mark Silay... thanks again and again. I just wasn't understanding certain things and watching someone use the tool just isn't enough sometimes. This is the most thorough explanation I've heard so far (on using the spindle gouge). And as I suspected, my issue is that the tool is easily manhandled into submitting shapes (not exactly the ones you want) and is mostly forgiving of mistakes (the skew not so much so I figured stuff out faster there). I'm going to watch the material a few more times and keep at it.