Shaping with woodturning tools.

Briarfox · Post by **Briarfox** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 12:56 pm

Well I took a class on wood turning and loved it. I've began to shape beads and such in stems with some decent success. My next undertaking is to turn the top half of the stummel. I have a 1/4 gouge. Could I use this to rough the shape or do I need to by myself a roughing Gouge?

Post by **KurtHuhn** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 1:19 pm

It will do the trick, but personally I'd get a heavier gouge. Maybe a 1/2" spindle gouge.

But, don't ask me. I do it all wrong.

(one of these days I'll post a video of how I usually do it)

bscofield · Post by **bscofield** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 1:21 pm

You can turn it with a flat head screw driver if you want... but it's not ideal.

For my first several turned pipes I used a skew chisel... it worked OK but it's not as nice as having a gouge. Gouge's really take down corners quickly. Then I always move to a skew chisel after that because it's easier for me to fine tune the shape I want with a skew. As for the size... My gouge can't be much larger than 1/4". I have a set of pen turning chisels from woodcraft. I like the size of them. They are not small and flimsy but they are also not so big that you can't sneak them into smaller areas when you need to.

android · Post by **android** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 1:49 pm

hey briarfox, i can't tell you this from a pipeturning standpoint but can from a woodturning standpoint, a 1/4" gouge will be sort of difficult to knock a cylinder shape with, especially if the turning is off-center. if you have a harbor freight near you, they sell an 8 piece set of turning tools that has a few gouges in it that i use quite often and like.

Briarfox · Post by **Briarfox** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 6:32 pm

Any recommendation on setups and jigs to sharpen the gouges? I got my set sharpened at woodcraft but I'm not sure my next set of tools will come from there? Anything DIY would be great.

android · Post by **android** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 9:02 pm

you can make a jig to sharpen yourself, for sure. check out this site, this guy has a wealth of info about wood turning. this is a link to his sharpening jig, you could probably simplify i a bit to suit your needs.

http://aroundthewoods.com/sharp.shtml

i personally like sharpening by hand, this eliminates any jig making.

and with the HF tools, i know if i screw up an edge i won't be out too much money. but i haven't screwed any edges up enough yet to warrant a new tool. i just sort of use the rest and one or two fingers to get the right angle. with a little practice, i was able to get a relatively uniform looking bevel. i think there's a few good videos on youtube about sharpening freehand.

good luck.

android · Post by **android** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 9:04 pm

one other thing. if you have DVDs at your local library, look for any turning videos and they'll generally have a section on sharpening. i got a few richard raffan (the man when it comes to turning) videos a while back and they had a pretty good sharpening section on them.

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 8:28 am

I do all of my shaping on a wood-lathe. A skew and a spindle gouge do the trick for me.

Briarfox · Post by **Briarfox** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 12:23 pm

Thanks for the info guys. I've started lookingup youtube video's and it's helping. I think I'll need to get a better bench grinder. Mine's only 6" and I'm hearing 8" is ideal.

Briarfox · Post by **Briarfox** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 12:34 pm

Nick, do you round the stummel with she skew? If so how, I can't find any videos.

Post by **Tyler** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 1:03 pm

I rough shape with a 3/8" spindle gouge. Works great.

I think I do it in a video on my site, though as I recall it was a terrible shape to illustrate the process. I think I was making a hawkbill for my neighbor, and I only turned about 1/2" of the top of the bowl, and that only to use as a gage for perfectly round while I did the vast mojority of the shaping freehand.

Tyler

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 1:29 pm

Yep, I use the skew for most of my shaping - turned pipes at least. Its worked well for me so far. Although there are much better carvers here and elsewhere who do things differently. The best advice I could offer is just to get the basics and figure out what works best for you.