"Bill" wrote in message
...
On 11/6/2011 7:48 PM, Vic Baron wrote:
Tools sharp - balance fine - it's my technique for sure. The main
problem is after I've hollowed out the sides and am using the scraper to
flatten out the bottom. Probably pushing too hard.



I've turned a fair amount, perhaps not as much as some here, but enough
that I can generally concentrate on what I want to make rather than how
(see the gallery page on my web site, www.wbnoble.com under hobbies) -
anyway, I really don't like scrapers, I find them catch prone and
dangerous, I rarely use them and then only in shear with the scraper very
lightly touching the wood - for flattening a bowl bottom I use the same
gouge I hollowed it with - typically a 1/2 to 5/8 gouge with a very swept
back fingernail grind. MY guess is that you are cutting too broad a swath
and if you went to something much thinner (in cutting width) you would
fare better -


But then aren't you just using the tip of the gouge as a scraper? My little
cup for example is just 2 1/2 inched in diameter. So for the bottom, only
the tip would contact until it got to the sides. I'm having difficulty
visualizing the cut. I assume you push the gouge - level - in the center -
rotate it to about 9 or 10 o'clock while pulling across the bottom to the
outside wall, then pulling the gouge out along the wall.

I'm having a tough time with that cut - since I really can't see inside the
hole, I'm still having a tough time 'feeling' the bevel, if you understand
what I mean. But, that's what practice is for. Still can't make a v cut with
a skew either!

Vic