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Can I turn a bowl gouge into a spindle gouge?

Nathan Roper

Nathan Roper

Joined
May 11, 2022
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Location
Salt Lake City, UT
Title says it all. I got a "cheap" 3/8" or so bowl gouge from the seller of my used lathe. I've since bought other bowl gouges that I continue to use and I'd like to turn a candle holder or two. I'm wondering if there is any reason that I can't regrind this tool to work better at carving spindles.

I use a tormek for my sharpening.
 
You can use it to turn spindles I often use a bowl gouge to turn spindles
Goblet stems, faces of 3 sided turnings, spheres…

Spindle gouges and bowl gouges have very different flute designs so it can’t be made into a spindle gouge unless you can remake the flute.

You can grind a 40 degree bevel on it which could do ok on candlesticks.
I use a 30 degree bevel on my spindle gouges. a 30 degree bevel on a most bowl gouges will make a really long bevel making the tool a challenge to use.
However some bowl gouges with thin metal on the bottom of the flute might work with a 30 degree bevel.
 
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I would say that you can grind a profile on a bowl gouge that would help it work better on spindles, but flute shape, and what you intend to turn with a spindle type bowl gouge would make a lot of difference. A U shaped flute would work okay for a SRG, but not as well for a detail gouge.

robo hippy
 
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