I made a small vase of highly figured maple this afternoon, including two crotches and some quilted figure surrounding a branch stub, basically spindle orientation but with the grain going every which way. I was getting some wicked tearout blocking it out with a spindle roughing gouge sharpened at 45* so I decided to experiment with a lower bevel angle as mandated by Michael Darlow. I spent some time on a shallow radius spindle gouge (aka "continental", c.f. Christopher Walken but don't get me started), modifying it to 35* from 40*. Didn't take it to 30* to save time and figured the lower angle would show if that was the right direction.
It did very slightly better than the 45* roughing gouge, but still showed significant tearout with a very light feed rate and depth of cut. I switched to my go-to spindle gouge with an Ellsworth grind, 55* at the nose, and got very good results on material that responded better overall to cutting in what would normally be considered an "uphill" direction for spindle work. This accords with my experience with hand planes, where figured wood works best with a steep rake angle, whether with a high bevel angle bevel-up blade or a tightly set chipbreaker. I would say based on this little project that the optimum bevel angle for turning depends on the specific circumstances, and don't be afraid to experiment to get optimum results.
One of Mr. Darlow's arguments for using a 30* bevel angle is that it is more durable. That may be, and I encourage more experimentation to prove it in this context, but if a higher bevel angle works better on a particular piece of wood I will happily sharpen it as often as needed for optimal performance.
It did very slightly better than the 45* roughing gouge, but still showed significant tearout with a very light feed rate and depth of cut. I switched to my go-to spindle gouge with an Ellsworth grind, 55* at the nose, and got very good results on material that responded better overall to cutting in what would normally be considered an "uphill" direction for spindle work. This accords with my experience with hand planes, where figured wood works best with a steep rake angle, whether with a high bevel angle bevel-up blade or a tightly set chipbreaker. I would say based on this little project that the optimum bevel angle for turning depends on the specific circumstances, and don't be afraid to experiment to get optimum results.
One of Mr. Darlow's arguments for using a 30* bevel angle is that it is more durable. That may be, and I encourage more experimentation to prove it in this context, but if a higher bevel angle works better on a particular piece of wood I will happily sharpen it as often as needed for optimal performance.
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