I don't guess there's any kind of practical limit other than one of safety.
As long as your edge is still thick and stiff enough to support the kind of
work you're doing without chipping or breaking then you can have it to
whatever angle you need to get the job done.

Assuming you're talking about cross-grain/faceplate/bowl turning orientation
of the wood as opposed to engrain hollowing...

I tried doing what you described below before and it worked but it was a
pretty specialized bowl gouge that I couldn't really use too much elsewhere.
What I ended up doing, and still usually do for those steep sided turnings
where you don't have a lot of tool swing space to work with was just to use
a fingernail ground shallow fluted gouge (aka spindle gouge) instead. The
more steel you have under the flute, such as in what many call a detail
gouge but usually larger diameter than those most often seen, the better as
the deeper you go. Less vibration that way. Keep that flute pointed to
around 4 o'clock and cut with the edge just to the right of the tip
centerline of the tool. It takes a little getting used to but it works well
and you don't have to pretty much dedicate a bowl gouge to the purpose.

Otherwise, I'd just do as much as I can with a "regular" swept back bowl
gouge; drill to (close to, of course) my final depth and as wide as will
accomodate the bowl gouge; start cutting from center to outside (bowl/vase
depth up to rim). It's a far more tricky thing to do but does work. You're
only riding that left side bevel and doing a pull-cut instead of push-cut.
Get it over-rotated to the right and you'll get a good catch. Keep the
bevel around the 9-10 o'clock position and just slightly rotate the tool to
the right (clockwise) until you start cutting. I usually have to shear
scrape after this procedure as I can't get a smooth finish just from the
tool this way.

BTW, these flute positions everybody always talks about (including myself,
of course) is so very dependent on how your gouge is formed (V-shaped,
U-shaped, depth of flute, size of flute, etc.) as well as how it's ground.
They are only rough approximations. Many of the techniques themselves that
we discuss are also dependent on these things too. I wouldn't even think of
doing some of the techniques that I regularly do with some of my friends
tools. They're just not the same kind of tool (and especially grind) even
though they are all called a "bowl gouge". When in doubt, stop the lathe
and hand turn the piece with the tool in the position you're thinking of.
See how it acts this way before turning on the machine. If still in doubt,
maybe you shouldn't be trying that cut right now anyway. grin

Good luck,

- Andrew


I'm relatively new to turning. I got a lathe for Christmas and my table
saw
has turned into a table for the most part. I have a crown bowl gouge that
I
have modified the grind on the edges to cut down on catches. I am grinding
it at about 60 degrees now. I am wanting to do deeper bowls. More like
wooden vases actually. I know that I can make the grind steeper to go
deeper. What is the practical limit for the bevel? At 60 degrees I can't
seem to rub the bevel in anything over 3 inches deep. I really want to do
taller items. If there is a practical limit how do I hollow out a deeper
item?

This turning thing is addictive. Am I going to have to find a 12 step
program? I can't seem to go more than a day without making shavings.


--
Dennis W. Ewing Sr