Tools: What is the difference?

[Kent Reisdorph]

A 1/2" bowl gouge and a 1/4" bowl gouge will feel different, just because of the size difference. Even assuming the 1/4" is the British flute measurement and equivalent to a 3/8" US measurement, this is still probably not a reliable comparison. IME, both have their place.

I was wondering about the measurement (outside vs. flute, US vs. EU). I tried to compare it to other lathes in the store. I thought perhaps the 1/4 Crown would be similar to a 3/8 US shank. But, no, it's smaller. There are uses for a 1/4" BG, perhaps, but now having bought it, it remains to be seen how much work it will get. For shaping tenons and foot (feet?) I use a spindle gouge.

 

[hockenbery]

I was wondering about the measurement (outside vs. flute, US vs. EU). I tried to compare it to other lathes in the store. I thought perhaps the 1/4 Crown would be similar to a 3/8 US shank. But, no, it's smaller. There are uses for a 1/4" BG, perhaps, but now having bought it, it remains to be seen how much work it will get. For shaping tenons and foot (feet?) I use a spindle gouge.

Have to check sizes with the seller.
I use a 3/8 inch bar diameter Thompson that replaced my worn out 1/4” g laser.

Now it’s gotten more complicated.
A 1 1/4 tool is likely to be 30mm or sometimes 31mm and both are smaller than 1.25 inches

English bowl gouges are 1/8” less than the bar diameter.
Spindle gouges are the bar diameter.

Two 1 1/4 continental gouges both are smaller
.

 

[Bill Alston]

The English bowl gouge measurement is/was quite a strange way of describing the size of a tool. Thankfully manufacturers are slowly beginning to use the bar stock diameter instead!

 

[Doug Freeman]

The English bowl gouge measurement is/was quite a strange way of describing the size of a tool. Thankfully manufacturers are slowly beginning to use the bar stock diameter instead!

The euro flute measurement predates bar stock mfg. I don’t think sg and bg were differentiated. Gouges were made from flat bar stock, forged into a curve. Commonly called a continental gouge today.

 

[Bill Alston]

The euro flute measurement predates bar stock mfg. I don’t think sg and bg were differentiated. Gouges were made from flat bar stock, forged into a curve. Commonly called a continental gouge today.

Due to the weakness of the tang, were bowl gouges ever made from flat stock like continental spindle gouges?
I read a history of the modern bowl gouge somewhere, I’m sure it’s a relatively new invention. Up until that point many folks hogged out bowls with a scraper, some still do.
Before that hook tools were used on mostly green wood on a pole lathe but that’s another story.

 

[Kent Reisdorph]

Have to check sizes with the seller.
I use a 3/8 inch bar diameter Thompson that replaced my worn out 1/4” g laser.

Now it’s gotten more complicated.
A 1 1/4 tool is likely to be 30mm or sometimes 31mm and both are smaller than 1.25 inches

English bowl gouges are 1/8” less than the bar diameter.
Spindle gouges are the bar diameter.

Two 1 1/4 continental gouges both are smaller
View attachment 60226. View attachment 60227

That explains it. I would never have guessed English BGs are bar diameter minus 1/8"

 

[Dean Center]

That explains it. I would never have guessed English BGs are bar diameter minus 1/8"

To be perfectly accurate, they are not. The -1/8" gives us a workable estimate, but the true British measurement is across the flute. So your 1/4" flute measurement Crown gouge has a shank diameter close to 3/8", but not exactly. Maybe it's 9mm, which would be 0.35 inches, close to but not exactly the 0.375 inches which is 3/8.

All that being said, I love my Crown bowl gouge, which is called 3/8 on the east side of the Atlantic, but measures about 1/2" on the west side of the Atlantic. Smaller than that is a little flexy and hard for me to control/keep out of mischief.

 

[John Grace]

Turning my own handles makes turning so much easier with my arthritis...just the right size and or texturing can make all the difference these days. Individual results may vary...