The term "riding the bevel" confused the heck out of me.

I kept getting these funny marks on the outside of the bowls that were
fibers slightly roughed up, not smooth.

I've heard them called bruises.

I couldn't get rid of them until it was pointed out to me that "riding
the bevel" didn't mean pressing the bevel into the wood. For me the
better term is "guiding on the bevel" to hold the cutting edge in the
right position, but putting pressure on the tool guide to hold the
tool steady, and light pressure against the cutting edge, to feed the
tool into the cut. (And if the light pressure became heavy pressure,
to take a few seconds and sharpen said bevel).

Made a world of improvement in my cuts, so now I am on to other and
greater faults.

Old Guy


On Mar 18, 5:20*pm, John wrote:
A thought came to mind today whilst sharpening some gouges, what is the
optimum grind.

Let me explain

If I grind a tool on a 3 inch wheel I get a bevel with a radius of 1.5
inches,
but
If I grind a tool on a 12inch wheel I get a bevel with radius of 6
inches.

I would guess that the ideal radius of the grind would be larger than
the radius of the piece of work? My understanding is that if the radius
of the bevel were less then you would ride the back of the bevel until
the front touches, nothing in between, with an increased chance of dig
in on contact. If it is larger radius you can pivot on any point of the
bevel till the front touches, better control *and less chance of dig in
on contact..

So assuming I have this correct, what is the best bevel radius to use
when you start getting to a really large diameter turning say 24inch
dia? Would no bevel be the best option ?

--
John