Fluteless gouges

[Reed Gray]

I made this clip because the fluteless gouges have become one of the tools I can't live without. Hope the moderators don't consider this an advertisement, but most who have them or similar tools just don't understand what they can do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suRxCxdMn4k

robo hippy

[Fred Belknap]

Hippy that is a neat video, looks like something I can't live without. Appreciate the time you put in doing the video.

[Steve Schlumpf]

I've yet to use one or even see one in action... so I much appreciate you taking the time to demo the tools! Looks like a really good all-round tool!

[alex grams]

excellent video and tutorial. I had heard praises of the fluteless, so I purchased one from Thompson a few months ago, but have been so busy that I haven't gotten around to putting a handle on it. Now I need to get home and mount that sucker.

[Scott Hackler]

Interesting. I have some old Craftsman gouges that are so shallow that they might be concidered fluteless (don't use them though, the steel wont stay sharp enough!).

What is the deal with that Robust head stock? Looks liek it's laying on it's side (or is it just me)???

[Glen Blanchard]

What is the deal with that Robust head stock? Looks liek it's laying on it's side (or is it just me)???

It's not just you, Scott. It looks funky to me as well and I'm still trying to figure it out. Reed???

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

Is Reed turning on the Robust lathe made for handicapped. It looks like the "sit down" lathe.

[Reed Gray]

I am turning on a Robust Liberty. It has a frequency drive motor or some thing like that, not sure of the technical terms. It applies more torque when needed, and had only one speed range. Another really nice lathe from Brent.

robo hippy

[Scott Hackler]

That's what I thought but I didn't think so after seeing Reed standing behind it and his elbow seems to be at center spindle height, so now I am not for sure.....

[John Keeton]

Scott, looks like you and Reed "crossed in cyber space!"

[robert baccus]

Thanks for the heads up Reed. Woodturners can be a tunnelvision bunch. We all need educated.

[Rich Harkrader]

So is that considered a gouge and not a scraper simply because it's made with round and not flat bar stock?

[George Overpeck]

Great video, thanks for going into all the detail of the different types.

Question - did you have the tool rest lowered to compensate for dropping the handle when you did the interior of the bowl? I get a little thrown off if the tool is off the center line.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Sigh. Now I have to spend more money on a fluteless gouge.......

Nice video. I may have to dig my spindlemaster out of the useless tool pile as well as my skewchigouge. I think I'll re-grind the skewchigouge to a more useful shape. Both of those tools gives me fits. I must say the spindlemaster makes a really nice weeder.

Never turn with cargo pants on.

[Reed Gray]

Oh, I remember now, it is a vector drive motor. Maybe the lathe looks different because it isn't my big Beauty.

I have a number of bottom feeder type tools. An old half inch bowl gouge with a ) nose profile/minimal sweep, a couple of spindle/detail/shallow fluted gouges, and the fluteless gouges. They all seem to have their uses. The thing with the detail gouges and the fluteless gouge is that you can really roll them up on their sides for a very high shear angle. The higher the shear angle, the cleaner the cut. Some thing like driving over speed bumps in the parking lots. If you hit them square you get a pretty big bump. This is similar to a scraper flat on the tool rest. If you hit them at a 45 degree angle, you get a much reduced bump. If you hit them at a steeper angle, you get less than that. Frequently in the center of the bowl, when I am using the fluteless gouge, the last quarter to 50 cent size in the center comes off in one piece rather than shavings. This is how gently the tool gets under the wood shavings and lifts it off.

I don't think the Spindle Masters would work well this way, but I don't know. I haven't tried it out. Mostly they are too thin, and the half round stock will be much more sturdy. Not sure about the skewchigouge. Being made of round stock, they should be fairly sturdy. The tips/nose profiles can be ground many different ways.

Scrapers are made from round stock, and that makes them stable in a scraping cut. I don't know why scrapers are not all made with rounded edges on the bottoms for working in a shear cut mode. I prefer them for shear scrape type cuts to a gouge. I did see Tracy Owens using his tools in San Jose, and he said they work fine as a scraper. I have not tried it. I will stick with my standard scrapers.

In the inside center cut, I do have the tool rest slightly below center. I do like to drop the handle slightly for this cut, which makes it impossible to cut above the center line of the tool. On the rim and wall of the bowl, this is not a problem, but when at the very center of the bowl, in order to cut all the way across, you have to lower the tool rest a tiny bit.

robo hippy