Gouge Shapes
What's in a name ?
Identify woodturning gouges by their shape
Let's face it, simply knowing the name of a particular tool isn't enough to give you the technique of Richard Raffan. It's not enough to give you the artistic eye of David Elsworth. It's certainly not enough to create the works of Ron Fleming. But it can help you and your fellow woodturners be able to know what each other is talking about! So often we get confused about what a turner is calling this tool or that tool. We might assume we know what they are talking about but we really aren't all that sure. There's just so much confusion about it all. And the manufacturers are absolutely no help at all! Marketing, it seems, trumps tradition and convenience.
* Unfinished
Yeah, it would be great if everyone in the world could just call them what I call them. But I think that might be pushing my own influence just a tad bit, wouldn't it? I do a lot of demonstrations, classes, workshops and just traveling around talking with woodturners. I've gathered what I consider to be the best consensus of what most turners consider to be the characteristics of each tool. This list will continue to be expanded....
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The Detail Gouge is probably the most misunderstood, misrepresented, and mis-described tool of them all! Here's a few of it's defining characteristics... - Round stock - A very shallow flute. This is the basis behind all actual detail gouges. Just how shallow is up to the manufacturer but it's easily half as deep as a regular spindle gouge. - The flute design gives a lot of mass of steel under it. This stiffens the tool a lot causing less chatter and more control when having to overhang the toolrest a lot. - The flute is short. Meaning that it's not very far away from the cutting tip. Having it short adds to the stiffness. A Detail Gouge is usually used sparingly so you're not going to use it up too fast anyway. - Again, the flute design contributes to having a very long bevel. Sometimes, these bevels go to extremes. The purpose of the very long bevel is to allow the tool to get into tight spaces that any other tool, except perhaps a skew, would not be able to reach. - A swept-back or "fingernail" grind is always found on a detail gouge. Depending on just how far back the bevel is swept, there may not be much of a sweep to create. But in order to get into those tight spaces, the grind must be really swept back.
Turners are always confusing this tool with a spindle gouge. Usually, a spindle gouge that has the fingernail profile and a fairly long bevel and sweep-back grind. Some even consider a spindle gouge and a detail tool the same thing with the only thing, maybe, to differentiate them is just by how they are used. The detail gouge really is a completely different tool and it comes down to that flute being the big difference. Where is this tool used? Anywhere where you can't fit a regular spindle gouge such as a detail bead at the bottom of a deep and close cove. Anywhere where you aren't confident enough to use a skew. Anywhere where you have to hang over the toolrest a lot and can't use another tool such as working the bottom of the foot of a bowl but the form won't allow the toolrest to be close.
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