Loading ...If you are interested in buying one of these tools they can be purchased at Woodchuck Lathe Tools
I finally got a chance to test drive my new tool and I’m really pleased with it. Using the tool was very intuitive. I just set the tool rest so the cutter was at dead center and held the tool horizontal. The cutter has three cutting surfaces exposed and I used all three. There was never a hint of a catch and the main thing I had to watch for was not to get too aggressive with the cuts. I tried to only hog off about 1/4″ at a time.
I also found that the cutting was easier as I was able to increase the lathes speed. My goal for the tool was to be able to use it to rough out bowls. As I worked with it though I was surprised at the quality of the cuts and decided to finish the bowl completely just using it. The bowl is made from Hickory. It is 6 1/2″ diameter. There was some slight tear out on the end grain, but the face grain was very smooth. I don’t believe I spent much more time sanding than normal. In the hands of someone skilled with a bowl gouge I’m sure you can get a cleaner cut than with this tool. I’m still working at mastering the bowl gouge and while I think I could have got a cleaner cut with a bowl gouge, it certainly would have been with more effort and time.
Here are some pictures showing truing the blank, outside and inside of the bowl, end grain etc. All these pictures are before any sanding.
You can click on any of the images to see a larger version.
Here is the finished bowl. No finish, just sanded and buffed.
I had so much fun I turned another bowl. This one was cherry, 9″ diameter. No finish, just sanded and buffed.
I don’t think I’ll be selling my bowl gouge but I’m really pleased with how this tool performs. Easy to control and a cut that exceeded my expectations. It was also pretty cool too turn two bowls from rough log to complete without turning my grinder on at all.
Although the inserts are four sided you’d be mistaken thinking you can rotate it four times before changing it. I would guess you can rotate it once as you are using the front cutting edge and the front half of each side cutting edge. I’ve yet to find out how long each edge lasts. The tool was still cutting well after two bowls. Neither log was green. Although not totally dry as they have been sitting in my shop for 9 to 12 months.
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Recent Comments