Other than the Ellsworth grind looks cool, there is not one single advantage where the cut is superior to what you can get with the standard grind. I do feel I'm better informed by having used the Ellsworth grind almost exclusively for a couple decades,....,,
There is nothing wrong with using and preferring a traditional grind.
However the traditional ground tool has a single bevel angle - could be a good thing for some people.
It is just wrong to suggest a traditional grind can do what an Ellsworth grind can.
The versatility of the Ellsworth grind comes from the changing bevel angle. Which gives it capabilities you just don't get in a tradionally ground tool.
The grind has a nose bevel angle of about 60 degrees,
Off the tip at the leading edge of the wing bevel angel is 40-45
The wing has a bevel angle of about 25-30 degrees.
Most bevel riding cuts are done with the 40-45 bevel angle and if that is the only cut you ever do a traditional ground gouge would do the same when ground with a 40-45 degree bevel.
1. pull cut: Requies a wing. the 25-30 degree bevel angle on the Ellsworth wing is Very sharp! The pull is the best I have found at leaving a clean surface. It is especially effective in turning the outside of NE bowls and in turning multi center spindles. This cut cannot be done with a traditional grind.
2. roughing cut the wing can take a great big shaving. I routinely rough a 3/4" wide shaving with a 1/2" bowl gouge(5/8" bar) with an Ellsworth grind. With a tradional grind I am limited to about a 1/4" shaving. So 3 passes instead of 1. The traditional grind just cannot match the Ellsworth in roughing.
3. Scraping cut. The wing can be used as a scraper to smooth surface. The traditional gouge cannot do it.
4. Shear scrape. The wing edge can be presented in a shear shape angle and smooth the surface of the wood considerably. Traditional gouge cannot do it. Need a wing.
5. Shear cut with the flute up using the leading edge of the wing. This is an advanced cut I encourage people get hands on instruction before trying it. The Ellsworth grind works extremely well for this cut to produce a clean surface on the inside of cut rim bowls and is great for cutting the inside rim of natural edge bowls. The traditional gouge cannot make this cut on a convex surface.
traditional gouge can do the shear cut on a convex surface and can do it better than the Ellsworth if it is ground to a 45 degree bevel angle.
Bottom feeding- people often use a traditional grind with an 80 degree bevel angle.
The Ellsworth with the heel ground off making a micro bevel can go to bottom of bowls with a bevel riding cut until the depth gets more than 60% or so of the width.
I use the above 5 cuts on just about every bowl along with the bevel riding cut.
Ellsworth or any winged grind is far suspior to the tradional grind on natural edge bowls and larger cut rimmed bowls.