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SWMBO has offered to buy some turning tools for my birthday. I'm just getting into bowl turning. Are fingernail gouges (which I see mentioned in some tutorials) the same as a bowl gouge? I don't expect to do anything over about 8 inch in diameter on my little lathe. What two or three gouges or sizes would be good to start with?
Thanks
Bowl gouge is a tool.
"Fingernail" as you referred to it is a grind. Some call it Ellsworth, English, etc. etc.
Your bowl gouge can have different grind depending on what you want to put on it.
If I will buy only one gouge and it is for a small lathe...it will be a 3/8" Crown ProPM. If you can afford another, get the 1/2" too.
Buy the regular grind ones (much cheaper) and buy or make (I did) a vari-grind jig (or similar) to re-profile your gouge. You will need one anyway to sharpen your gouge (unless you are a wiz at hand sharpening).
Fingernail grind is a type of grind which can be applied to either a bowl gouge or a spindle gouge.
There is a difference between a bowl and a spindle gouge. The bowl gouge flute is generally deeper than a spindle gouges.
For turning bowls, start with a 3/8" bowl gouge. This size is recommended as the best starting tool for bowls by Raffan and Rowley (and probably many, many others).
Note that this tool has a 3/8" flute and a 1/2" outside diameter. If you are buying a Sorby, Hamlet, or Crown it is called a 3/8" bowl gouge (based on flute size). If you are buying a Oneway or PSI tool it is called a 1/2" bowl gouge (based on outside diameter).
It is confusing, but it is a screwed-up lack of standardization that you need to know about.
... be applied to other tools like scrapers, etc. It is a shape rather than a specific tool.
The fingernail grind features steeper grind on the side than at the nose. Makes it easier to plunge the nose and roll the gouge to shave with the sides. Real handy with bowls, not necessarily so where you want to plane rather than plunge, though. I've got different plunging angles on my gouges. Greater bevel length on the larger, less on the smaller flutes because I use the smaller inside smaller spaces. Keeps me from hitting the handle on the opposite while trying to get the best plunge angle. If you have one gouge, suggest a nose at about 65 degree included angle and a draw at the wings of about the flute width. Pretty easy to do the same roll at the grinder that you do at the lathe, so I freehand. Try to keep a bit of a curve on the edge profile so you can control your cut a bit easier.
To quote Roy Child " Instead of the 50 degreee angle at the tip ( of a swept grind for bowl gouge) it should be 80 degrees " He also recommends one watch John Jordans video on " bowl turning " to see what he ( Roy ) means. Roy should know, he helped pioneered the " modern " bg back in the 60's with Henry Taylor grinding his first " super flutes" for sale as Peter Child & Son.If you go to www.wnywoodturners.com one can read his take on all of this.
I agree with Dario. Get a 3/8" if that is the only one you can get but if you can get two get the 1/2" also.