"Harry Pye" wrote in message
groups.com...
Well, no. If you learn how to use it, it's great at moving wood off the
outside of a bowl.

Used to be the only choice, you know. The "bowl gouge" is a relative
newcomer to turning. Came on scene when it became cheaper to mill a
groove in rod rather than forge a bar.


Except that a sharp, swept back bowl gouge does a much better job of
clearing wood out of both the inside and outside of a bowl.

Outside? Absolutely not. People who turn their rest into a tool "lean" to
try and use those wings should look at the edge as the wood sees it. They'd
discover that a large-radius gouge can be fully supported on the rest and
present the same edge as the one that's bouncing off of their body because
they have the gouge angled more than 45 degrees to the chord under cut.
http://personalpages.tds.net/~upgeor...orged-Spot.jpg Shows what
portion of the edge was in contact with the wood (turn it upside down
either mentally or on the computer), and the constant angle grind that keeps
the gouge from rolling. Difference is you're cutting at centerline, so you
get full support from the rest, you're able to stand out of the throw zone,
and your elbow is at the same comfortable bend you chose when you set the
height on your lathe. With a longer edge for the wood to shear against
relative to the depth of cut, the shallow gouge is ideal for making
smooth-surface cuts.
http://personalpages.tds.net/~upgeor...20Pictures.htm Shows the
cutting angles. The path of the chips - downward - shows they are being
removed with minimal force. You can make either of these cuts one-handed
once you have circularity, since you're two-point safe on bevel and rest
automatically.

Inside clears faster with a hook tool, but it almost needs you standing on a
stool. Bowl gouges work nearly as well at hogging, and pretty much at your
elbow. Longer wings clear center to edge best, shorter wings edge to
center. That way you don't have to lean over the bed and get a crick in
your back. Once the hogging is done, however, it's back to the large-radius
gouges which keep you from having to use unnatural angles of gouge and body
to get the same sort of tightly-supported shearing cut you got outside.
http://personalpages.tds.net/~upgeor...oth%20Four.htm