Carving with Turning Tools?

[kman-oz]

I had the need to carve a plane tote from Red Ironbark this week and didn't really want to resort to rasps and files, but I don't own any carving tools at all. The closest thing I have in the shed is a small radius turning gouge. So I sharpened it and away I went.

Having a really long handle made this tools perfect for the job, especially considering I have *no* carving skills.

Does anyone else use turning tools for carving?

Dave.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

I do it on my lathe all the time.

[kman-oz]

Improvising... "Actually it really need to be a *lot* thinner around the middle."

Maybe it should be called a long handled carving gouge.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

I'm no carver, not by a long shot, but I do do a little bit of highlighting on my turnings.

And, of course, my turning tools are quite close at hand to the lathe...

I've found that they're not the best for carving, the angles & bevels are all wrong, but with perseverance they'll do the bulk of the job. Then I use my "proper" carving chisels to clean up & fine tune.

The main turning chisel I use for this is a 1/4" v bowl gouge with swept back wings. Not quite an ellsworth grind. Because the bevel is on the outside of the tool, the cutting edge being the flute, it'll only take shallow cuts... any depth and the bevel starts rubbing on the piece you've just carved. No good for narrow, deep grooves, but OK for bulk removal in wider strips.

I guess I could regrind it so the bevel's on the inside of the flute with the cutting edge on the outside diameter, but then it'd be a carving chisel, useless for turning, which makes your question moot.

[kman-oz]

The main turning chisel I use for this is a 1/4" v bowl gouge with swept back wings.

Same. Though mine has been ground with very low bevel angle, maybe 35 degrees which probably helps. Then again I know nothing about turning either, so it could be something different.

[Whittling]

I must admit, I've thougt about it but being more a carver than a turner, I've never been game to regrind my turning chisles sufficiently to make it worth trying. Being an novice turner,I don't know how it would effect them as turning chisles afterwards. Besides I've got all the carving chisles I need already to hand anyway so what's the point?

I really think that to do a decent job you need the right tool. Improvisation can take you some of the way but a decent outcome is going to almost always require the right tool. Every time I've tried to do something like that, it ends up taking heaps more effort than is otherwise required, usually resulting in a less than satisfactory outcome than if I'd used the right tool in the first place. That's been my experience anyway.