# Spindle gouge questions.....



## Kevin (Nov 4, 2016)

I broke my 1/2" spindle gouge many moons ago and just been using a 3/8" but I'm about to buy another 1/2". Mostly will be used for peppermills but also going to start doing more boxes and bowls etc. For those that don't know I just have a midi lathe so confined to max 9" blanks. 

What is your favorite general purpose spindle gouge? What style grind do you prefer on it?


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## Schroedc (Nov 4, 2016)

I use a Sorby 1/2 inch bowl gouge with a bit of a swept back grind (Not as much as a fingernail grind but more swept back than the stock grind) on it for almost everything, Bowls and Spindles.

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 1


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## Kevin (Nov 4, 2016)

Colin can you showing me the grind?


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## CWS (Nov 4, 2016)

I use Thompson tools They are high quality and his customer service is excellent.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Schroedc (Nov 4, 2016)

Kevin said:


> Colin can you showing me the grind?



Here you go Kevin, I'm going to give a qualifier here for anyone who has an issue with my sharpening  I use this for roughing, I have skews, scrapers, and a 1/4 inch gouge I call my magic wand I use for detail work plus the carbides, This gouge gets sharpened freehand on a 180 wheel on my grinder, no touch up, nothing else and right back to making thick shavings removing lots of material.

Reactions: Like 1 | Thank You! 1


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## DKMD (Nov 4, 2016)

I use a roughing gouge for most of the peppermills... I like the Dway gouge because it is milled from a solid blank rather than having a skinny tang. After that it's a skew or a Thompson 3/8 detail gouge for finish cuts and detail work.

In general, I prefer a detail gouge to a traditional spindle gouge.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## pinky (Nov 4, 2016)

On spindle work, roughing gouge, then skew or straight to skew. For bowls on a mini, I like a 3/8 bowl gouge swept back probably a little more than Colins'. For your peppermills, that have a long sweeping arc, what I mean is not a lot of fine detail, I would try to work on my skew technique. Not sure if you use one and they can be intimidating at first. I know it was for me for a long, long time. Once proficient, you will never go back. The finish left behind is really nice. Unless of course you really like sanding.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Kevin (Nov 4, 2016)

pinky said:


> On spindle work, roughing gouge, then skew or straight to skew. For bowls on a mini, I like a 3/8 bowl gouge swept back probably a little more than Colins'. For your peppermills, that have a long sweeping arc, what I mean is not a lot of fine detail, I would try to work on my skew technique. Not sure if you use one and they can be intimidating at first. I know it was for me for a long, long time. Once proficient, you will never go back. The finish left behind is really nice. Unless of course you really like sanding.



John the weird thing about me is I decided to try and master the skew before anything else, because I had seen so many posts on a previous forum I was involved with lamenting the scariness of that particular tool. That drew me like a magnet. I *certainly* don't have it mastered because I just don't turn enough, but it doesn't scare me and I am half-ass proficient with its use. I will say though that most of my mills have more arc than a straight skew can cut, I should probably grind and exaggerated curve on one though and try that. Thanks for your suggestions.


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## pinky (Nov 4, 2016)

I wasn't so lucky. I tried and tried and once you get a catch with a skew, you don't forget all that quickly. Put it away for years. Went back to it one day after receiving some tips from this old timer turner. That changed everything for me and now it's pretty much my go to tool on spindles. As far as the arc on your mills, it should be doable if you change the position/angle of the tool as your getting deeper into the arc. I don't know if that really makes sense in writing. As to your original question, I do own a spindle gouge and have/do use it on occasion with a shallow grind or not swept back at all.


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## barry richardson (Nov 4, 2016)

Schroedc said:


> Here you go Kevin, I'm going to give a qualifier here for anyone who has an issue with my sharpening  I use this for roughing, I have skews, scrapers, and a 1/4 inch gouge I call my magic wand I use for detail work plus the carbides, This gouge gets sharpened freehand on a 180 wheel on my grinder, no touch up, nothing else and right back to making thick shavings removing lots of material.
> 
> View attachment 116339


Colin, to me that looks like a bowl gouge, what's the difference? Honestly I don't know the difference between a bowl and a spindle gouge. I'm self taught and have a bunch of random turning tools, and just start trying them till I find one that works for what I want to do...

Reactions: Like 1


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## Schroedc (Nov 4, 2016)

barry richardson said:


> Colin, to me that looks like a bowl gouge, what's the difference? Honestly I don't know the difference between a bowl and a spindle gouge. I'm self taught and have a bunch of random turning tools, and just start trying them till I find one that works for what I want to do...



I know he was asking about spindle gouges but based on what I liked to use I gave him my opinion  

That is a bowl gouge. I mentioned to Kevin that I used it both for spindle and bowl work, A Spindle gouge is usually wider and more open, Traditionally, Spindle gouges had shorter handles and not as beefy a tang as they weren't needing as much leverage as a gouge working a big bowl. Using a Spindle gouge for bowl work can get dangerous if you had a bad catch and snapped it off.....

Here's a picture of a wider spindle gouge.

Reactions: Informative 1


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