I see you are a very proficient bowl turner, Could you tell us what tools and techniques you have acquired and used over the years to turn such gorgeous bowls. I see lots of turners with all there new tools only to go back to a few good tools when they get proficient on what they are turning.
Your bowls are flawless in finish in your pictures. I find mine lots of times have compression marks on the inside that only show up after finish is applied. I turn a lot of hard curly eastern maple.
Do you find scrapers are a necessity for clean up, and do you use negative rack scrapers. I have some scrapers which I’m tempted to grind a bunch of steel away and turn into negative racks. But not sure on best angles for scrapers. I good turner once told me a 1/4 inch bowl gouge can do a lot of clean upon tight places. Unfortunately, I could not attend his class at the time.
Thank you, Glenn.......
It's 12:30am here, and I'm just getting back in from the shop......spent a long day out there today!
I just completed a black and white ebony bowl that went through some discussion about cracks and warping last year. I'll update that thread shortly.....or tomorrow!
There are a lot of questions there, and it would be hard to cover it all.....without writing a book!
......but, I'll contribute a few thoughts for now. (some may be controversial!
)
There is that saying among woodturners that they're just one tool away from greatness! I did a lot of experimenting with different gadgets and "latest and greatest" tools a number of years ago, but I'm now back to using nothing but traditional tools in various sizes and shapes of gouges and scrapers. I have some skews that I play around with once in awhile.....but, seldom have a need for them, since I am doing nothing but bowls. I used the swept back grinds on my gouges for about 25 years, but several years ago, I completely abandoned using any of the swept back grinds......I've gone back to my roots, and am using nothing but traditional grinds on all my gouges......some with longer heels/bevels, and some with shorter bevels. (The traditional gouge grind is done with the Wolverine V-arm, and the tool rotated along it's longitudinal axis while grinding......the vari-grind jig is no longer used by me.)
I did some experimenting with exotic steels in gouges and scrapers, and have concluded that the old reliable M2 steel is the best for my turning. The reason for my beliefs on this, is an edge that lasts a little less time before needing a re-grind actually has a great advantage that most won't realize.......namely, tool steels that hold an edge for a longer period of time, will be used by the turner for a longer period of time when the tool is in that zone of not quite as sharp as it could be, and not quite dull enough to obviously needing re-ground. I've found that if I sharpen a lot more often, that my cutting edges are actually more sharp than if I were using the exotic steels. Of course, this means just resolving oneself to stopping what he was doing more often, and go back to the grinder.......I've just learned to "get over it"!
Glenn......For now, that ought to be enough for getting myself in hot water with some of the "experts" that frequent this forum! In the past, I've been told just how wrong everything I do is.......but, I keep suggesting that results are the ONLY thing that really matters.
-----odie-----