I've been turning some dry ash branches (firewood), about 4-5 inches in
diameter, for between-centers practice. And I was curious: what do you
experienced turners use to rough out such stock? I have a 1/2" bowl gouge
with what could best be described as an Ellsworth-type grind, and I also
have a couple of more traditional shallow roughing gouges. Oddly enough the
Ellsworth bowl gouge does a far better job of roughing the bark and knots
off the branch sections than the roughing gouges. The answer seems obvious,
but I was curious--why, if an Ellsworth-type gouge is superior for roughing,
do the traditional shallow roughing gouges even exist? Apparently the
answer is not quite so simple. I'd love to hear from others on this.

Jeff