Woodturning chisel

[Therapy]

Recently a good mate passed away.

One of his hobbies was woodturning (something of which I know very little).

On going throught my late mate's workshop for his widow, I found with his woodturning chisels a chisel unlike any that I have seen before. See attached photos. It seems to be some sort of gouge???

Could someone please help me.

What is the chisel called and what is its main purpose in woodturning?

Many thaks

Therapy

[rsser]

Nice one. New to me. Though I can visualise uses for it.

Was he a smoker?

Be good for holding a fat rollie or cigar while at the lathe ;-}

[TTIT]

Gotta be a roughing gouge Wonder how well it worked

[thompy]

Ahh the good 'ol SSGWPWSS gouge.... Slow Speed Gal Water Pipe Welded to the Shockie Shaft gouge.

Love the ingenuity, and skill to do that, weld and bend to get it just so. your buddy probably knew exactly where it wanted to flip over and where best to hold and guide it too.

Thanks for sharing the pic.

Neal.

[Jim Carroll]

It is a roughing gouge

I have seen 2 makers. Jock Golding in Geelong and Jack Tumney from ballarat.

Jack uses them on his pole lathe when making chair spindles.

Another idea for them was to attach a vacum so it will collect all the shavings.

[dr4g0nfly]

Nope, It's a ball/sphere turning tool. You rough the wood to the approximate size and then present this tool to it and move it around gently.

If you then cut it off the bits connecting it to the head and tail stock you can mount the ball between nylon holders (made to fit the head & tail stock) and make a full sphere.

I have a couple made from old hole saws (bi-metal and very sharp) held on a holesaw arbour without the guide drill and a bar screwed into the rear.

[bellyup]

This is great - our own CSI mystery - Jim and Dragonfly are the front runners IMHO. I lean toward Dragonfly - why would you use that as a roughing gouge when the standard issue would do a better job?
Bruce.

[rsser]

It would be horrible as a roughing tool with that canted shaft.

[bellyup]

Agreed Ern, and the smallish timber handle suggests there isn't too much effort or leverage needed.
Bruce

[sjm]

It's a tube gouge, and as has been stated, it's for making spheres.

Some info here:
Small Spheres With a Tube Gouge
and
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sourc...SlGMpw&cad=rja

[thompy]

Yeap, you definatly have to use the pipe section on the toolrest, thats the way i'd envision it used, scarey, otherwise using the shaft you'd have to have the toolrest like 2 inches off the work and need a far far bigger handle, and it'd be a life threatening dig in if it happened.

Mystery solved. good find there SJM. Might give this a go meself.

Neal.

[bellyup]

Well Done Dranonfly and Steve - you learn something everyday!

[Therapy]

Many many thanks for all the responses.

I searched high and low without any success whatsoever before asking the question on the Forum.

The depth of knowledge and experience of Forum members and their preparedness to share it is incredible. It is one of the key strengths of this Forum.

For info, the "tube" section of the chisel is heavy duty. The "tube" is approx 5mm thick with an internal diameter of approx 30mm and approx 48mm long. Including the handle, the chisel weighs just over 1kg.

Until around 15 years ago, my late mate lived in Ballarat and had been a member of the Ballarat Woodturners Guild.

On learning from Jim Carrol's reply (thanks Jim) that Jock Golding in Geelong and Jack Tumney from Ballarat made such chisels, I phoned a woodturning friend of my late mate, who is still a member of the Ballarat Woodturners Guild. He remembers the mate's chisel and in fact, bought one himself at around the same time as my mate, to use as a roughing gouge.

He remembers Jock Golding visiting a Ballarat Guild meeting many years ago and demonstrating the chisel to members as a roughing gouge. Also he told me that Jack Tumney (also a Guild member) used to make the same chisel.

There is no brand name on the chisel and after taking into account what my late mate's friend told me, I believe it was made by either Jock Golding in Geelong or Jack Tumney in Ballarat to be used as a roughing gouge.

I have little woodturning experience, but I could envisage it being used to cut spheres as suggested by sjm. sjm thanks for the tube gouge links - facsinating reading. Therefore I guess the chisel could be called either a tube gouge or a roughing gouge. I will call it a tube/roughing gouge.

I am selling some woodworking gear for my mate's widow on ebay including a bandsaw, woodturning chisels and camphor laurel slabs etc. Given this tube/roughing gouge chisel is not required by her family, I will list it on ebay this evening.

I will put a link in the Forum's "For sale on ebay" part of the MARKET PLACE in case any Forum members are interested in it.

Again, many thanks for all your responses. The mystery, I think, is solved.

Regards

Theraphy

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

I'd go with calling it a sphere-turning tool, though.

I've made up a few of various sizes that look pretty much just like that!

[RETIRED]

I will go with Jim on this being a roughing gouge.

The tube part sits on the rest and the the handle is cranked into the centre so that you can use the whole cutting edge.

I had one of Goldings years ago when I was playing around.

The problem I had was the shavings clogging up in the tube.