On Nov 30, 9:20 am, Exbrat wrote:
On Nov 29, 6:42 pm, Kevin wrote:





I was reading over the last couple topics on tool making. One was
posted prior to the MI5 deluge on 21 Nov and the latest on 26 Nov. and
they got me to thinking last night whilst I was happily turning away
about the number of tools I own vs the number that I actually use.
Now I am speaking of things like gouges, scrapers, parting tools and
the like. I thought and realized that I use perhaps 3 tools on all
the bowls I make - a bowl gouge, a scraper, and a parting tool. I
use the latter for making a tenon as well as to mark out the top edge
of the bowl so I have some idea of where the curve will begin and end.
Very rarely do I use a spindle gouge on a bowl but occasionally it
does come into play when I want to get at a bit of roughness near the
outer edge of the tenon. That I use around three tools is not really
news. I recall reading on this group several years in the past that a
lot of folks here are about the same.
It's not that I am cheap or anything (I believe the better description
is frugal) but that up to now I haven't really had any need for more
tools. More tools are always welcome. They stand (or lay) in a row
and greet you when you enter the workshop and can be likened to old
friends. And if you only have a few, well they are really good
friends.
Lately however I am starting to think that perhaps one or two more
would not be an unwelcome thing. I would like to experiment with the
Oland tool along the lines of Darrell's design. I've heard it is a
nifty little item for bowl making.
Another I would like to experiment with is one that will allow me to
get under the rim. This would be handy for those bowl designs where
the opening in the top is less than the maximum width of the bowl.
(Not gonna go to the 'is it a hollow form or a bowl' discussion).
Having one would certainly be easier than contorting myself over the
ways of my Jet 1236 to get at the inside sides of the object.
I think I can rather easily handle the building of an Oland as in a
past life was a tool and dye maker. My idea on an 'under the rim'
tool would probably be based on a similar design in that instead of
putting the tool steel straight in parallel to the shaft, to just
crank it over 30 or so degrees.
I suppose that if my turning develops any further and I branch out
into more esoteric designs (esoteric for me anyways) I may start
building my collection up as perhaps some of you have done. I could
see having three or four tools just for cutting a groove for inlays,
several more for different tenon or mortise designs, perhaps a few
more for finishing up rims. The possibilities are really endless.

Almost 30 years ago I was taught woodturning for about a year or so in
one to one lessons by Dennis White, a dear old chap (must have been
approaching 80 at the time). An excellent craftsman and teacher. Made
quite a few videos. He got into woodturning immediately after WW2. He
suffered a very serious head wound on active service and needed
special rehabilitation. The War Office, as it was then called, looked
into his civilian background (I think he'd worked with his father in
the wood business) and came up with the therapeutic idea of setting
him up in a barn with a wood-turning lathe in the quiet countryside of
southern England. It was his saviour. When he taught me, his workshop
was a cosy garden shed in a London suburb. The problem you mentioned
with turning bowls 'round the corner' as it were, he had an unusual
technique for solving. I don't know whether he ever showed it in his
videos (maybe he thought it was too risky). His solution was to use a
bowl gouge cutting from the farther side of the bowl, that is on the
up-coming side. Needs quite a bit of down force on the gouge to keep
it on the rest and not a little nerve - not for the faint hearted.

Exbrat- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

ps No, he wasn't using his gouge technique whilst on active service,
just in case 'friendly fire' or 'collateral damage' crosses someone's
mind.

Exbrat