I have some experience with bowls, and am reasonably comfortable with them.

Today I tried my first spindle; a baseball bat for my son out of a large
branch someone left in the street.
I can't get my spindle gouge to do much of anything other than scrape. I am
having better luck with a bowl gouge, but only occasionally.
I presume the problem is that the spindle is a much smaller diameter than a
bowl, so catching it at the right angle isn't the same.
Any suggestions for making the transition?

Hello Toller,

A spindle roughing gouge would work best for what you are trying to
do. After you have the bat roughly shaped with the roughing gouge,
switch to a skew chisel. If you don't have a roughing gouge and can't
handle a skew chisel properly, then try a round nose scraper.

When I first started turning many years ago, I found a round nose
scraper a very friendly tool. It doesn't always leave the perfect
surface finish and you'll have to do more sanding, but it will allow
you to get the job done. If you don't have a scraper, find an old leaf
spring and grind one end round then grind a bevel with an angle of
about 80 degrees. Use the scraper with the handle up a bit, because
you are cutting with the burr that is turned up when you grind the
scraper. The burr doesn't last very long, so you will have to regrind
often. An even more friendly scraper is one with a negative rake (this
is a second bevel ground on the top of the scraper, just a slight
slope to the cutting edge).

Good luck, spindle turning is actually more difficult than faceplate
turning (aka bowl turning).

Fred Holder
http://www.fholder.com

On Jun 10, 1:47 pm, "Toller" wrote:
I have some experience with bowls, and am reasonably comfortable with them.

Today I tried my first spindle; a baseball bat for my son out of a large
branch someone left in the street.
I can't get my spindle gouge to do much of anything other than scrape. I am
having better luck with a bowl gouge, but only occasionally.
I presume the problem is that the spindle is a much smaller diameter than a
bowl, so catching it at the right angle isn't the same.
Any suggestions for making the transition?

Toller
Just guesses here, not seeing what you are doing but going from faceplate to
spindle:
1) raise the tool rest a bit. You want to hit above center.
2) turn from the high point to the low
3) use a roughing gouge sharpened at 45* for the initial shaping
4) finish shaping with a skew or with a spindle gouge sharpened to 30*

If you are just starting spindle turning do the first cuts with the lathe
off. Hold the roughing gouge in your right hand with the cutting edge not
touching the wood but the body of the gouge on the wood. Rotate the wood
toward you with your left hand as you raise the tool handle with your right.
The edge of the tool will drop until it starts cutting the wood. This is the
spot you reach for when spindle turning. Good luck, have fun, be safe.
--
God bless and safe turning
Darrell Feltmate
Truro, NS
http://aroundthewoods.com
http://roundopinions.blogspot.com

"Toller" wrote in message
...
I have some experience with bowls, and am reasonably comfortable with them.

Today I tried my first spindle; a baseball bat for my son out of a large
branch someone left in the street.
I can't get my spindle gouge to do much of anything other than scrape. I
am having better luck with a bowl gouge, but only occasionally.
I presume the problem is that the spindle is a much smaller diameter than
a bowl, so catching it at the right angle isn't the same.
Any suggestions for making the transition?

On Sun, 10 Jun 2007 21:47:35 GMT, "Toller" wrote:

I have some experience with bowls, and am reasonably comfortable with them.

Today I tried my first spindle; a baseball bat for my son out of a large
branch someone left in the street.
I can't get my spindle gouge to do much of anything other than scrape. I am
having better luck with a bowl gouge, but only occasionally.
I presume the problem is that the spindle is a much smaller diameter than a
bowl, so catching it at the right angle isn't the same.
Any suggestions for making the transition?


I don't do much spindle turning either, but I have found that the
angle of the tool needs to be pretty dramatically different than when
I am turning a bowl. When bowl turning, I usually keep the gouge at
or near perpendicular to the ways and adjust the cut vs. scrape by
raising and lowering the handle.

To shear with spindles, I've often found it helpful to turn the flute
towards me, and hold the tool at almost 45* to the ways. Couldn't
tell you exactly why that is offhand, but it works well enough.

"Toller" wrote in message
...
I have some experience with bowls, and am reasonably comfortable with them.

Today I tried my first spindle; a baseball bat for my son out of a large
branch someone left in the street.
I can't get my spindle gouge to do much of anything other than scrape. I
am having better luck with a bowl gouge, but only occasionally.
I presume the problem is that the spindle is a much smaller diameter than
a bowl, so catching it at the right angle isn't the same.
Any suggestions for making the transition?

They haven't done us any favors with those cylindrical gouges, regardless
what they name 'em, that's for sure. You're either compensating by drawing
an edge back for a fingernail and losing tool support to cut at a weird
angle, or cutting with a narrow portion of the nose. It's that, or the heel
gets in the way because of the variable thickness. They're fine for small
work where you're doing a lot of rolling (or a bowl), but not so good at
planing.

Fred's right on with the business of the roughing gouge. It'll do about the
whole bat, and a lot easier than the small stuff, because the thickness is
uniform and the bevel angle ditto. Mine's got a U shape with a generous
nearly vertical portion, so he's my planing chisel too.

Until you get one, or better yet, some like these,
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d1...hree-Noses.jpg get
close with the gouges you have and plane with your skew or a chisel - the
traditional bodger's tools for straight spindles.

Some old fat guy peeling downhill with a forged pattern one at
http://s35.photobucket.com/albums/d1...TrueBottom.flv
to give you an idea of how well you can support and control a good gouge.