Okay folks....pony up.......

[Ken Fitzgerald]

A couple of questions as I'm waiting delivery on some basic reference material:


1. What's the difference between a bowl gouge and a spindle gouge......thickness of the steel maybe?

2. What is High Speed Steel?......is it chrome vanadium steel?

[Carl Eyman]

Ken, I can only respond to your second question.High Speed steel is (I believe) a high carbon steel with no other alloy agents. But, it has been almost 60 years since I took metallurgy; so I may have forgotten, or things (terms) may have changed.

[tod evans]

ken, most popular lathe tools are made of m2 steel same as the knives i grind for the moulder, it`s flat tough! not really affected by heat(i grind knives dry) it`s clasified as a hss, another steel gaining popularity is t1, i`ve used planer blades made of this stuff but never ground it......i`m not a metallurgist by any means, but the term "chrome vandium" is not a particular steel type i`m familiar with other than seeing it printed on taiwan/china socket sets.. as for gouges a bowl gouge is generally heavy and long with a deep sweep while a spindle gouge is somewhat lighter/shorter and comes with varying sweeps....hope this laymans analogy helps? .02 tod

[Andy Hoyt]

Ken - Bowl gouges tend to have deeper and narrower flutes while spindle gouges are wider and shallower. Then there are are various grinds that can be put on them.

Look in catalogs or online and you'll begin to notice certain commonalites.

Then again, it's kinda like golf clubs. To me they all look the same but those who use them swear by the subtle differences.

For a bowl gouge, my suggestion would be to acquire one that has an Irish Grind, Celtic Grind, or Ellsworth Grind already on it. These three grinds are essentially the same.

And nope, it's not the thickness of the steel. The thickness (actually diameter, since they all begin life as round stock) is what determines the size of the gouge, not its intended use.

That's about the sum of my knowledge. I'm sure someone will come along and set us both straight. Remember what's been said about trusting me!

[tod evans]

where`s bill to `splain ??????? .02 tod

[Jim Becker]

Here is a useful link about bowl gouges...here is another link to the same site (yea, they sell, but this is good text) that discusses what tools to buy and what they are for.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Jim thanks for the links. I saved them for future reference. At the time you posted I was downloading and viewing the Wolverine jig video and in the basic video they very shortly discussed the difference.

[Bill Turpin]

M2 is a high chrome steel that looks like stainless. It is supposed to keep an edge four times longer than high carbon steel. When grinding or even in use, high carbon is heat sensitive. If it turns blue it has lost it's hardness and will need to be re-hardened. M2 is hardened above 2200°F and can even be bent with a torch without affecting tool hardness. Homemade tools can be made from drill rod and old allen wrenches (carbon), etc. I like to purchase prehardened M2 tool bits from wttools.com. Thirty dollars will get you enough steel for fifteen to twenty tools that are as good as the $35 to 45 each tools in the catalogs. Work the steel with grinders, etc; too hard for hacksaws and files. Most scrapers, point tools, etc. but NOT gouges are easy to make. Turn handles from exotic woods that fit your hands, not the general public. A lot of specialty profiles are available only from your own shop. Most turning tools over twenty years old are carbon. They work fine; they say that they actually get sharper than M2. Look for them at garage sales, auctions, ebay. They can always be re-shaped to some shape you do not have.

The pleasure of turning something really good is only multiplied by the knowledge that you did it with a homemade tool!

Bill in WNC mountains

[Bill Turpin]

There is an American Association of Woodturners club in Kennewick WA. http://pweb.netcom.com/~gdj/index.html. Mapquest says that it is about 135 miles from you. We have members in seven states for our club in Asheville, NC. The AAW is www.woodturner.org. I believe the national symposium for 2007 is in Portland. There will be over a thousand people there.

Buy two cheap 2 x4s from the borg. Rip down the center and cut to 9 inch lengths, You now have fifty practice pieces for less than $10. Make chips, sawdust, splinters, coves, beads, and toothpicks. When done you will have become fairly knowledgable about your tools and what they do. WEAR A FACE SHIELD! Splinters in the cheek, HURT.

Bill in WNC mountains