OK, now use that analytical expertise and ask if you _want_ the shavings to
fly. If they're flying, Newton says they're running from something. Only
one place for a properly made shaving to go - down the flute of the gouge,
or, if the gouge is cutting almost vertically, to the floor. While hogging
the interior of a bowl they are carried away from you, but even there you
can keep things neat by grabbing and bagging a double handful each time you
move the toolrest.

When you get the twist and drop, three grits of sandpaper will become
superfluous.

Greg G. wrote in message
...
George said:

Oh yes, rubbing the bevel doesn't mean at right angles to it. That's
chopping. Rubbing parallel to the point of contact gives you your best
shaving, one with a clean exit. Depending on your gouge choice you may
strive for a continuous twisted shaving, produced when you're shearing,
versus dust and shave when you're chopping. Let the rotating wood do the
work by coming to your edge, don't push the tool.

Having a new toy sitting in the garage pretty much precluded reading
anything on the subject, I'm one of those stubborn, diehard, figure it
out the hard way kinda people. ;-) So I pretty much discovered the
tool angle deal on my own. On the first turning I played with each
tool and experimented with it's behavior. It brought a smile to my
face when the scrapings turned to ribbons of wood shooting out like a
fountain - "Hey, this is pretty neat." Pressure on the tool is
*definitely* not needed - and would probably result in gouging, hangs,
tool breakage and at minimum, bending of thin work pieces.


My last observation is this - What A Mess! There are ribbons of wood
under, around and on top of everything within 10 feet! I would be
most interested in other's ideas of dust/ribbon control! I have a DC
for the all the flat woodworking tools, but there is not dust port on
the lathe. ;-) I had to keep brushing piles of wood from under the
lathe bed, for fear they would choke off the cooling air to the motor!