Quote Originally Posted by Adam Petersen View Post
Thanks Steve. I don't know why I couldn't beat that end grain. I was using a freshly sharpened bowl gouge (several actually as I tried to win the battle). I tried sheer scraping with them, I tried using my skew as a neg. rake scraper....I think maybe, reading the recent post about tearout, that I was cutting the wrong direction. I was moving large diameter to small diameter, but maybe the way I had it oriented I was cutting uphill and pulling up the fibers. I even put sanding sealer on it to lock the fibers but no avail. It was a fail in that regard, but a learning process so I'm not too frustrated. It's a process right? I'm pretty new at this.
Adam,

Anytime you get tearout it is because the wood is not being cut - it is being ripped out. Most times it is caused by cutting in the wrong direction and some times it is by a dull edge or incorrect tool orientation. Easiest way to find out is to change the direction of the cut.

You said you were cutting from the large diameter to the small. Just something to consider, when you rough turn the outside of a bowl with the tenon secured with the tailstock - you cut from the smallest to the largest diameter. Opposite direction will cause tearout and most likely a good sized catch as the gouge self-feeds into the wood.

The key to this whole learning thing is to experiment, ask lots of questions and then find out what works for you! Good luck!