thompson bottom bowl gouge

[John Grace]

Check out Carl Jacobson's recent video on making tool handles...he makes it very explainable to the person making their own first handles.

[Joe Kaufman]

Check d-waytools.com I believe Dave shows how to sharpen his bottom feeder or whatever it's called on Bowl Gouge Sharpening. I haven't seen Doug's gouge and grind. I do have 2 of dave's but presume they are very similar.

[Bob Bouis]

John, I guess I should have been more clear: I know how to make the handle; I just don't know how long I should make it, and that depends on how it's used. If it has to be held at an angle a long handle could get in the way, whereas if it's held level with the centers it might provide better balance or support.

Joe, the Thompson version seems to be different for the D-way; it's wider with a shallower flute like a spindle roughing gouge. The Thompson version came to me ground straight across. I originally thought that was the way it was intended to be used, but after reading this thread I suspect it may just be to preserve the end-user's option as to how he wants it ground.

[robert baccus]

A straight across grin is fine--so is a 75 deg, bevel. To use it just ride the bevel, even on a flat platter surface. This same grind on a 1' roughing gouge is a favorite of mine for vases and bowls-exterior only of course. I have spindle and deep bowl bottom feeders and prefere the deep bowl version.

[Reed Gray]

I don't care for the straight across grain, and always put 10 or so degrees of sweep into the front. I like to roll it up on its side and cut for a slightly higher shear angle. 70 degrees is what I use for most of them, and grind away most of the bevel, leaving at most 1/8 inch or less, and really round back the heel too.

robo hippy

[Pat Scott]

... since I don't own a protractor I couldn't tell you the angle I set my grinding platform to. I can tell you that it is a #7 on my RoboRest!

My understanding is #7 on the Robo Rest means 70 degrees. 6 means 60 degrees, 5 means 50 degrees, etc.

[Reed Gray]

Correct. There isn't enough room to write all the numbers in any size that could be seen. Upper row is the 5's, so in between 4 and 5 is 45, or close to it. Can't make them to fit every grinder perfectly...

robo hippy

[Bob Bouis]

I tried grinding a slight "D" shape to the Thompson bottom gouge. The result was a tool that handled much better, or at least more intuitively, but the quality of the cut was just fair, not nearly as good as a regular bowl gouge when I can get in there with it. I guess that'd be because no matter how I rotate the tool, I'm still cutting with no shear angle. Any thoughts?