Help Santa Choose Some Tools

[Aaron Harris]

Santa being my wife, of course. So she has offered to get me a couple of turning tools on my list for Christmas. I am pretty well outfitted at this point with the basic gouges and skews, but one tool that I think would help me on that pesky transition zone in my bowls is a bottom-feeder gouge. As I currently turn on a Laguna 12/16," most of my bowls probably average between 7"-10" in diameter, if that helps. I am looking at the Mahoney 5/8" Bottom Feeder, or maybe one of the D-Way ones. As I also have and love Thompson's Lyle Jamieson grind bowl gouge, any tool from "the big three" would work great, I'm sure, though I would also consider others if they are highly regarded.

Some of your posts have also convinced me to start adding Hunter carbides to my arsenal. I was considering starting with the Hercules for hogging out problematic areas. But I also want to turn more shaving bowls and lidded boxes, most of which will be about 3" wide x3" deep, so one of the smaller tools? Packward Woodworks up in Tryon, NC is a dealer, so it might be worth a trip. It's a beautiful little town anyway.

FInally, I will probably also get the Beall Buffing System-no convincing needed on that one.

Thanks in advance for any help spending our Christmas money.

 

[Dean Center]

The most important thing in deciding is what you want to do and how you will be doing it. It's totally a personal choice.

That being said, if you are not using a 40/40 grind on bowls, IMHO you really shouldn't need a bottom feeder for 7-10" bowls. The 50-60 degree ground gouge should be able to get the job done. What you do need, IMHO, is to turn 100 more bowls.

(I'm really hating this post, with all the opinions) Also, IMHO, you almost always pay more for tools with someone's name attached to them than the same tool without it. You're paying extra for them to grind the end the way the Pro does. In my hands, that grind lasts exactly one time on the grinder, and then it's a little different even if I'm trying hard to copy the Pro's technique. You can save some dough and buy your lovely, thoughtful wife a better Christmas present, if you buy the no-name tool and put the grind on it that you're going to end up with anyway. So the D-way, one of Doug Thompson's new bottom feeder gouges, or possibly any U fluted gouge would be a place to start. More IMHO--if you're really only going to use it for transition zone finesse, M2 steel should be OK, as you'll sharpen before each bowl and use it briefly, and therefore won't see the benefit from more expensive steel.

I turn a fair number of boxes in the size you describe and use the Hunter Badger with great appreciation. It's the one with the straight, round, tapering shaft, ending with a size 3 cutter. You might be able to get away with the straight shaft size 3, if you're only going 3" in. The ornament sized tools would be a little too small, IMHO. John Lucas would be the one to advise on the broader array of Hunter options, as I've only use the original style tools.

 

[Aaron Harris]

"What you do need, IMHO, is to turn 100 more bowls."

You are correct, Dean. I've done a couple dozen at most so far, and am learn something new with each one. The good thing is that I have several dozen more in various stages, from log to round blank to rough-turns, in various local species on a pallet in my shop. I'm slowly working my way through my current stash of black walnut, hickory, pecan, sweetgum, cherry, bradford pear and dogwood, learning as I go.

I will say that at some point I mostly stopped getting catches inside bowls, and have just gotten a lot smoother cuts overall. I even went pretty deep roughing out a cherry bowl yesterday without issue, even a few inches past the tool rest. I appreciate the advice of you experienced turners.

 

[robo hippy]

Well, as for bottom feeders or BOB (bottom of bowl) tools, any half round flute or U flute gouge will work. It is the grind that is important. I am not sure that the V shaped flutes would work as well. I have a bunch of them, including some spindle/detail types and an old Artisan half round flute from my first set of tools ever from Craft Supplies. I don't own or use any of the swept back grind tools any more, but most of them have a 60 or so degree nose bevel which will get you through the transition area of most bowls. I keep all of mine ground to 70 degrees. I prefer a nose shape like this ). You don't want square corners or ground straight across like a spindle roughing gouge because the corners can dig in.

The 40/40 works great for plates and platters, but not so well for most bowl shapes as it does not navigate through the transition area well.

For lidded boxes, and I really need to do a video on them, the NRSs (negative rake scrapers) are an essential tool. Especially with end grain, you can get almost glass smooth surfaces. The Hunter tools will work very well for curved bottoms in boxes. If you want a more square bottom, then the NRS is the better tool, well at least as far as I am concerned. There are a host of them you can want, use, and need....

My go to tool for heavy roughing in bowls is a scraper. I have a bunch of mostly bowl turning videos up on You Tube.

robo hippy

 

[Allen Mattsen]

one of Doug Thompson's new bottom feeder gouges, or possibly any U fluted gouge would be a place to start.

Which Thompson bottom feeder are you referring to? I've been looking at BOB gouges across the land and can't decide - 5/8 or 3/4 - or from who? I have a 1/2" D-Way but need something bigger. It seems the Thompson 3/4 can only be found via Ashley Hardwood's website but maybe I'm wrong.

I turn a fair number of boxes in the size you describe and use the Hunter Badger with great appreciation. It's the one with the straight, round, tapering shaft, ending with a size 3 cutter. You might be able to get away with the straight shaft size 3, if you're only going 3" in. The ornament sized tools would be a little too small, IMHO. John Lucas would be the one to advise on the broader array of Hunter options, as I've only use the original style tools.

I second this. The Badger is excellent for these things. End grain killer w/ a great finish off the tool. John (Lucas) has some must-see video on the Hunter tools, if interested.

 

[Aaron Harris]

Thanks, Reed-I have and use the big roundnose 1 1/2" scraper from D-Way. I love and use this huge beast, and it helps me on the sides with tighter curves, but way too big for small lidded boxes!. Maybe I need to get some smaller ones.

And Allen, I am eagerly checking out the Badger.

 

[Allen Mattsen]

Thanks, Reed-I have and use the big roundnose 1 1/2" scraper from D-Way. I love and use this huge beast, and it helps me on the sides with tighter curves, but way too big for small lidded boxes!. Maybe I need to get some smaller ones.

And Allen, I am eagerly checking out the Badger.

I have a large NRS from D-Way and its great. I'd like to add a few more scrapers from them at some point. Perhaps from the Boxmaster line. 2-in-1!

 

[Dean Center]

I use the Hunter tool for flat bottomed boxes and it work well, except right in the corner. If you want a small radius corner, it will work. If you want a sharp corner, as Reed says, you need a scraper. I generally use a simple 3/4" square end ("89 degree") scraper, but I find a Drozda end/side NRS works well, too.

 

[Aaron Harris]

Well, I decided to just get the Hunter Badger #5. I've watched all the videos, and practiced with it a bit. It is an extraordinary tool, for sure. I think I'm going to try it for smoothing the transition zone. I didn't get the bottom feeder gouge. I am now thinking that it is best to learn one tool and its capabilities instead of getting multiple tools at one time.