"robo hippy" wrote in message
oups.com...
There is a problem with getting a good cutting angle on larger and
deeper bowls. The tool rest and the rim of the bowl are in the way when
using a swept back grind gouge. I have 2 gouges that have a profile
similar to the roughing gouge, only with the wings slightly rounded
back and not square (I don't like catches)

My solution to the problem, albeit somewhat clumsily photographed, as I had
to hold the tools with one hand and the camera with another, is the use of a
forged gouge. For the outside work, you may substitute a broad roughing
gouge. The tool doesn't catch because the bevel angle is ground the same
all around. It can't roll without you changing the horizontal angle of the
tool and taking a deeper cut, because the bevel angle is the same all around
the nose. No gaps or steeper fingernailed bevels means no catches.

http://georgephoto.photosite.com/FlatGougeAngles/

As you can see, even though I slipped and let the handle fall on the forged
gouge comparison, any point on the arc formed by the nose is equivalent to
another. Gives a lot of fresh edge with different handle angles, and the
work sees the same edge as that half of the bowl gouge.

Note the bevel is referenced along the cut, more or less parallel to the
shearing edge, rather than perpendicular to it. Works the same, inside and
out. Both are shown, as well as a wedge cut away to visualize the face of
the cuts both inside and out.

This was with an as-is edge, the wood is dry birch, which has a tendency to
tear, and yet the surface is easily 150 or better.

Nicest thing about it, for folks who love their elbows - and groins - is the
gouge is firmly supported throughout on the rest, giving a nice close
fulcrum for nearly effortless shaving, and the gouge handle never drops more
than two-three inches from the horizontal, depending on where you're cutting
on the arc of the gouge.