Should I buy a finger bowl gouge or just a bowl gouge?
what is your opinions of what make, brand and price
I am looking Robert Sorby Am interested in what everyone thinks is good and bad investment in bowl gouges ....
First, the bad news -- bowl gouges and other turning tools are an expense and not an investment. If you do not have other tools yet, you will also need an assortment of various tools -- all of them are additional expenses. Even the pros don't count them as investments when doing their taxes.
I have some tools of most popular brands -- Sorby, Crown, Taylor, Thompson, P&N, etc. Brand preference is somewhat like what exists in golf clubs, cameras, airplanes, and dinner plates. They all do the job, but we like something about particular brands that may or may not have any logical basis. You won't go wrong with any of them.
Signature tools cost much more than the plain ones just because somebody's name is stamped on the handle and it comes with the special grind of the FNTWWAKAR* already on the tool. You can normally save a few bucks by getting the plain vanilla tool and duplicating the bevel profile of the FNTWWAKAR yourself. There might be some few cases where the flute of the signature gouge of the FNTWWAKAR is unique, but I would say that any difference is barely if at all noticeable.
About half of my bowl gouges came with a standard straight grind and now all of them are swept back to some degree on the sides and they have a variety of bevel angles at the nose. All of these various grinds are subject to change slightly from time to time -- either on purpose or otherwise.
You can save a lot of money by not getting cryo treated or powdered metal tools. Those fancy tools are supposed to hold an edge longer, but the difference between them and regular high speed steel is not a big deal -- just a little deal for a lot more money. Just stay away from cheap carbon steel if it can even still be found. I don't get off brand tools from Asia just because I don't know what I am getting, there is no support if there is a problem, and handle ergonomics is nonexistent. Also, like Darrel Royal, I believe that, "you gotta dance with the one who brung you."
*FNTWWAKAR = famous name turner who we all know and respect