Bowl Gouges vs. Spindle Gouges


MarkSpencer

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I have been turning for a little bit, but mostly doing pens and mandrel type items.  I am starting to venture into the world of bowls and hollow vessels.  I understand that spindle gouges are for spindles and bowl gouges are for bowls.  Looking online, it appears that the primary difference is that bowl gouges have deeper flutes for moving chips away faster.  My problem is that from the images that post with the descriptions, I can't really tell the difference.  Does anyone have a resource to point me to that clearly shows the difference between bowl and spindle gouges?

 

I have been given or won a couple of gouges, I think they are bowl gouges, but want to make sure.

 

Mark

 

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Spindle gouges tend to have a semi circle as the flute (around 1/3 - 1/4 of a complete circle id say (just from my experience)) and a bowl gouge tends to be closer to half circle flute, sometimes a parabolic flute design deep "U" flutes

I couldnt find a decent diagram.

Im sure if you put up pictures we could identify which are bowl/spindle gouges.

Personally i often use bowl gouges for spindle work and sometimes spindle gouges in my bowls, i find its less about what the tool is "supposed" to do and more of what works best in any given situation... Well what works best for you. I know i use many tools in ways they werent intended an get good results. (And sometimes i get poor results too, but its all about figuringout what works and doesnt)

Because i was turning for years before i even realised there was such a large turning community out there or even accepted anyhelp from anyone most of my techniques are completely out o trial and error, granted i messed up alot of wood in the process but i think i am a better turner because of it...

Sorry for getting sidetracted on autodidactism but one thing i believe in (especially in turning) is rules are meant to be broken, even its just to find out why its a rule in the first place.

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Here is a link to Thompson Tools with a picture of different standard flutes.

http://www.thompsonlathetools.com/default.asp

L to R

Bowl Gouge V shape, then Bowl Gouge U shape, Standard spindle Gouge, Detail Spindle Gouge, and last Shallow Detail Spindle Gouge.

Bowl flutes are your preference, some like V others like U.

The depth of the flute on spindle gouges is to allow reaching into tighter and thighter areas such as beads.

 

Here is a link to a short article that explains why bowl gouges are ground with different bevel angles.

 

http://www.woodturningdesign.com/askdale/14/14.shtml

 

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