About four years ago, I bought a Vacu Gouge from a clearance sale. I
think it is a 1-1/4" roughing gouge. The tube is steel and is about
24" long, with a 3" section of high speed steel at the end which is
sharpenend like a rouging gouge. The other end of the gouge is shaped
to fit a standard 1-1/4" shop vac hose. When hooked up to a shop vac
and used like a standard rouging gouge, the shop vac collectly nearly
100 percent of the shavings. It is pretty impressive.

I've posted this information before (several years ago)..............

When I first had the tool, I tried it with a variety of woods, both
with and without a shop vac attached. Here are my results. When
using the gouge with a shop vac, the gouge did all that is promised.
It rarely clogged, took nearly 100 percent of the chips and, with a
sharp edge all the way around the end, required very little sharpening.


What I did not like was three things:

1 - The shop vac hose tended to get in my way. As you twist the tool
to get a fresh edge, the hose tends to twist and coil. This made it
less convenient as you move the tool on your work piece.

2 - The shop vac must be close by. I have a crowded shop and do not
have space for a shop vac at my back. Because the hose is not 100
percent flexible, the location of the shop vac is pretty important for
comfortable turning.

3 - Shop vacs are noisy, especially when close to you.

I also used the tool without the shop vac attached. When doing this, I
positioned a 5 gallon pail at the discard end of the tool to collect
chips. This worked pretty well when the wood was very dry and the
chips came out small. It worked best when the gouge was held at a
steep angle - maybe more steep than you would mornally hold a rouging
gouge. Again, nearly 100 percent of the chips found their way into the
bucket.

However, when the wood was wet or oily, the chips tended to stick in
the opening of the gouge causing the gouge to clog. I kept a 3 ft
dowel handy to poke the chips from the discharge end back out the
cutting opening.

Is the gouge a value? The gouge does exactly what it says it will do.
If I did a lot of spindle turning, I would consider this tool worthy of
considerable use. However, I don't use it very often because I rarely
ONLY use a rouging gouge. Consequently, regardless of how many chips I
collect in a shop vac or bucket, the balance of the chips from all the
other tools go everywhere. It doesn't provide a sufficient incremental
improvement in shop cleaning to make it worth my use to compensate for
the limitations mentioned. My bowl gouges, hollowing tools, etc.
generate far more chips than the rouging gouge.

Joe Fleming - San Diego

In article .com,
"Joe Fleming" wrote:

considerable use. However, I don't use it very often because I rarely
ONLY use a rouging gouge. Consequently, regardless of how many chips I
collect in a shop vac or bucket, the balance of the chips from all the
other tools go everywhere. It doesn't provide a sufficient incremental
improvement in shop cleaning to make it worth my use to compensate for
the limitations mentioned. My bowl gouges, hollowing tools, etc.
generate far more chips than the rouging gouge.

My system, which I regard as prior art, while I'm sure the VG inventor
would mistakenly claim that his possession of a patent means there was
no prior art (I came up with it circa 1980) is much simpler and adapts
to many tools. Simply mount a vacuum intake on top of whatever tool, a
few inches back from the edge (basically far enough that if you want to
look at the edge rather than the profile, you can). Duct tape or more
sophisticated means work. If you use a vacuum hose extension you can
simply plug into the hose. The disadvantage of being loud is still a
problem - one of these days I'll get the dust collector set up and try
to see if it works that way. I came up with this when my lathe was
located in a shed with a bunch of other stuff at the entrance to my
parent's house - it was far faster to collect all the chips directly
than to vacuum them out of the crevices and clutter later. With a clear
area to work and clean up, it's simpler by far to let them fall, though
it might be of worth with those irritant exotic species I hardly ever
turn at present.

FWIW, I used 2-1/2" vacuum hose, as that was what my shop vac had. I
necked down a bit on the collection tube itself so that the tube and
tool combination could be grabbed in the hand comfortably.

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by

Thanks Joe & Lawrence, Two examples of how to post information in an
interesting and informative style from experience. I learned something,
not only about the concept & the tool, but also what a good post can be
like.


Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter



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