"Arch" wrote in message
...
Thanks Darrell, Thoughts from actual experience are usually good ones.

George, you just knew someone would have to ask about very light
shear-scraping as the last cut before sanding. Your opinion? Darrell's
too.


Nope, but since you asked, I'm not sure what shear scraping is. I own no
videos and only one turning book. I picture it as a scraper on edge to
scrape a narrower face, based on comments here and elsewhere. As a
practice, I don't use scrapers unless I have to.

I find from reading here and working with other turners that they are prone
to gouge techniques like overextending from the rest and getting chatter as
they either turn the end of the gouge upward to pick up endgrain or pressing
into the side of the piece and getting out of circular as they follow the
gouges they make into the long grain and bounce up into short. For these
folks, a scraper is a way to get it back to round, because they (finally)
have a closer rest, or heavier section to reduce chatter, and they're
referencing to the rest, allowing the piece to bring the proud wood to the
edge. A broad contact surface perpendicular to the rotation will still tear
and pull, however.

My gouge selection and technique is different. I use broadly curved forged
or spindle gouges placed as close as possible to the work for best control
and rolled up on edge with the lower edge leading into the work slightly to
provide a bevel guide. This is the guide which I told you about which is
mostly parallel to rotation, not perpendicular. I may broaden or narrow the
cut by diminishing or increasing the angle into the work, because the dual
curve of the gouge ensures both that the exit is cut, not scraped, and that
the work cannot climb over the end of the gouge as it often does with narrow
bowl gouges.

This allows me to take out modest ridging left by less-than-smooth angular
changes on rough cuts as well. So you see I'm getting the broader bridging
of a scraper with the clean severing possible with a gouge - and no catches,
because I give no leverage and guide the bevel. I like to run rim to button
in one continuous motion.

I suppose where the form of the curve has an extremely small radius - where
I can't get a good reference with the bevel on a broad gouge, I might be
shear scraping. It does, however, generally give a surface inferior to a
smaller flat-section gouge cutting in that section alone. You don't have to
have a "scraper" to scrape, after all. Any edge will do.

I like the last couple of passes inside to produce tightly twisted
continuous shavings with the outside of the shaving smooth. I then make my
first pass with the supported disk basically 90 degrees to the remaining
gouge ridging.

http://personalpages.tds.net/~upgeorge/Smooth%20Two.htm
http://personalpages.tds.net/~upgeor...oth%20Four.htm