Roughing gouge?

[SirNot]

So I had a nice little Christmas vacation.  My wife got me a new bandsaw, I got her some new diamonds...  I spent a good bit of time watching turning videos on YouTube and I noticed that the majority of the turners were taking logs and starting with their 5/8 bowl gouges right out of the gate as opposed to roughing them to round with a roughing gouge first.  Am I the only one who finds this a little weird?   What's the point of a 1 or 2 inch roughing gouge if not to quickly bring rough blanks into shape? Does it just come down to personal preference?  Is there some advantage to staring with a bowl gouge that I'm not thinking of?

[Mark J]

It depends on what they were turning. 

It's important to keep in mind that a spindle roughing gouge is only for long grain work.  That is wood blanks where the grain runs parallel to the ways.  So if the wood blanks you saw being turned  had grain running perpendicular to the ways it would be "normal" not to use a spindle roughing gouge.

Because of this limitationI have seen some turners use a heavy bowl gouge instead since this tool can be used regardless of grain direction.

[BobShep]

NEVER, EVER use a roughing gouge on a bowl. The tang isn't meant to take the stresses from the heavy cuts in roughing out a bowl, and can bend, or break. Plus, a roughing gouge is square across, so keeping the corners of the gouge away from the turning wood is more difficult than with a bowl gouge ground back.

A 5/8" bowl gouge a far better choice for roughing out bowl. Just look at the difference in the thickness of metal between the roughing gouge and bowl gouge.

Please be safe, and use the right tool in the right application.

[SirNot]

Thanks guys!  After Mark's initial response, I went right back out to the interwebs and sure enough, I found several videos explaining the why's and hows of it.