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Tony Manella
 
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Default Norm Turned a Bowl Saturday

Hi George,
I do find myself in the throw zone quite often with many of the items I turn
but not too often with bowls. I turn them in a similar way to yours. But
woodturning is not about right and wrong but what works for you. If I
remember correctly you are one of the people who uses a roughing gouge to
remove the wood from the inside of a bowl. While I consider this rather
dangerous and opt for the tool designed for this purpose, you find it to be
completely safe to do this and encourage others here to do the same. Is
either of us right or wrong? No, just opinionated.

Did he wear, what I consider the most important piece of woodturning
equipment, a face shield? In my opinion anyone who turns without wearing
one is just asking for a face alteration.
Tony Manella
http://home.ptd.net/~ndd1/
Lehigh Valley Woodturners
http://www.lehighvalleywoodturners.org/

"George" wrote in message
...
Had to work, but SWMBO recorded all but the first few minutes of Norm

Abram
venturing into bowl turning Saturday. It was a repeat, I have to

believe,
as he was using what looked to be a 46-700 Delta.

Now I know that a lot of people, perhaps most, don't turn as I do, but I
found myself talking to the tube as he stepped up to the spinning blank,
placing his body in the throw zone. Then when he turned his gouge (yes, a
bowl gouge - Packard WW logo) almost nose up and began to round the blank
that way, I had to close my eyes. Does anyone really do things this way?
Have to believe Norm got some sort of instruction prior to the episode, so
someone must, but why?

I'm a coward, so I never put my body into the throw zone, rather I work

from
the tailstock end. Tried the other way and didn't like the odd dirt,

water,
and bark that could come off and hit me, much less the hidden crack that
might release a chunk in search of my chin. I also begin my cuts at the
base and orient the gouge so the paring cut is being taken across the

blank
from bottom to top, rather than turn the nose up where it might tear huge
chunks out of the end grain. With the paring cut there's no direction
difference felt, because I'm cutting face grain entirely, really rather

than
running the long grain and digging end.

It makes more sense to me to stand clear of the throw zone and pare,

rather
than cut and tear my way around. Maybe that's why people complain about
chucks being weak, needing full body armor to turn, and not using the
biggest edge they own to waste away wood - they're cutting like Norm!