RETIRED
17th August 2012, 05:25 PM
rant prompted by watching so many people using the wrong tools for the job or bad techniques..:wink:
A lot it seems if you are into woodturning.
When I was learning to turn with an English turner there were only 3 names of grinds on spindle gouges, numerous bevel angles but only 3 grinds.
They were: Straight across as in Spindle Roughing gouges, a thumbnail grind which is shaped like the lunula (look it up) and a lady fingernail grind.
There were only 3 types of gouges. All hammer forged from flat bar. Round gouges were only coming onto the market at this time.
They were: Spindle roughing gouge,
219645
spindle gouge, shaped like a crescent
219646
and a long and stong detail gouge that initially was hammer forged but later machined from an oblong bar.
219647219648219649
These have a shallow flute and a rounded base. They were mainly used for doing work a long way from the rest as in posts or larger diameter legs.
These all came in various sizes and lengths but the shape was basically the same for each type.
These terms were easy to understand and gave a perfect desription of the desired shape and style of tool when trying to describe it to someone.
Comes to today and we have so much confusion about names of tools and grinds brought about by misinformation from manufacturers, suppliers, some demonstrators, some club tutors (that's another rant) and others that have not had the oppurtunity for correct tutoring.
Thumbnail grind seems to have been taken over by the description "fingernail grind" can mean any where from almost straight across to a lady fingernail grind, not very helpful when someone is trying to desdribe the shape.
Spindle gouges now come in traditional (original shape as above), round, continental, shallow fluted, detail (long and strong pattern), detail (round bar) German style and probably others I have missed.
To add to the confusion we also have bowl gouges (all with different flute styles) with grinds like Celtic, Ellsworth, O'Neill, Irish, O'Donnell and swept back plus a plethora of people and manufacturers saying that their particular grind is superior to all others.
These grinds are all good for a certain style of turning and suit the style of the turner whose name it is but it may not be right for all turners and in some cases are very hard for a beginner to get to grips with and have success.
My advice for new turners is to start with a traditional set of tools with normal grinds, learn spindle turning from someone who uses the correct tools, including the skew chisel, and then go and do bowls and play around with different grinds and shapes.
You will save yourself a lot of money not buying useless gimmicks and you will learn how tools work which will make you a better turner.
A lot it seems if you are into woodturning.
When I was learning to turn with an English turner there were only 3 names of grinds on spindle gouges, numerous bevel angles but only 3 grinds.
They were: Straight across as in Spindle Roughing gouges, a thumbnail grind which is shaped like the lunula (look it up) and a lady fingernail grind.
There were only 3 types of gouges. All hammer forged from flat bar. Round gouges were only coming onto the market at this time.
They were: Spindle roughing gouge,
219645
spindle gouge, shaped like a crescent
219646
and a long and stong detail gouge that initially was hammer forged but later machined from an oblong bar.
219647219648219649
These have a shallow flute and a rounded base. They were mainly used for doing work a long way from the rest as in posts or larger diameter legs.
These all came in various sizes and lengths but the shape was basically the same for each type.
These terms were easy to understand and gave a perfect desription of the desired shape and style of tool when trying to describe it to someone.
Comes to today and we have so much confusion about names of tools and grinds brought about by misinformation from manufacturers, suppliers, some demonstrators, some club tutors (that's another rant) and others that have not had the oppurtunity for correct tutoring.
Thumbnail grind seems to have been taken over by the description "fingernail grind" can mean any where from almost straight across to a lady fingernail grind, not very helpful when someone is trying to desdribe the shape.
Spindle gouges now come in traditional (original shape as above), round, continental, shallow fluted, detail (long and strong pattern), detail (round bar) German style and probably others I have missed.
To add to the confusion we also have bowl gouges (all with different flute styles) with grinds like Celtic, Ellsworth, O'Neill, Irish, O'Donnell and swept back plus a plethora of people and manufacturers saying that their particular grind is superior to all others.
These grinds are all good for a certain style of turning and suit the style of the turner whose name it is but it may not be right for all turners and in some cases are very hard for a beginner to get to grips with and have success.
My advice for new turners is to start with a traditional set of tools with normal grinds, learn spindle turning from someone who uses the correct tools, including the skew chisel, and then go and do bowls and play around with different grinds and shapes.
You will save yourself a lot of money not buying useless gimmicks and you will learn how tools work which will make you a better turner.