ROUGHING NIGHTMARE

[Drcal]

i am a pen turner mostly and I thought I would try a tea light. I got a beautiful piece of walnut - 5" diameter, 3" thick AND cut perfectly round and mounted it between centers to rough it. I only had a 3/8" bowl gouge so I used it. It was very sharp but I wrestled with the walnut for hours!!! When I moved the ouge in one direction, it keep pulling back, wanted to go backwards instead of forward. It caught numerous times even before I tried to curve or contour the blank.
In eventually used a scraper to rough it...believe it or not!

I was under 1,000 RPM, my tools were sharp, the blank was held tightly BC....
What was I doing wong??
Any help would be deeply appreciated.
Carmen

 

[ed4copies]

Carmen,

I am not a bowl guy. But, did you turn from the outside, in? or inside, out? This may help the bowl guys tell you how to improve.

 

[Drcal]

I turned from the inside out and tried to rub the side of the bevel with the open part of the down facing downward.

 

[spnemo]

Sounds like you may be holding the gouge incorrectly. I would need a very detailed description before I can understand the situation.

Where are each of your hands on the tool? In relation to the tool rest?

Which direction is the "U" of the gouge pointing in relation to the cutting edge?

Which direction is the grain of the wood facing in reltion to the ways of the lathe?

Are you roughing the inside or outside of the piece? Push cut or pull cut?

The list of questions could get very long.

Have you checked youtube for a video on the cut you want to make?

 

[ed4copies]

Start trying to turn (even with the lathe off, is ok) and have someone take a picture showing particularly the blank and the point of your gouge.

Post the pic(s) here and you will get LOTS of help!!

 

[gketell]

The general rule I see on a lot of videos is the rule of 45-45-45. Adjust your tool rest so that your tool is cutting on the mid-line when you are holding the handle down at 45 degrees from horizontal. Then hold the handle 45-degrees trailing the direction of the cut. Start the cut with the tip rotated "closed" (horizontal) then rotate it "open" 45 degrees once the cut is started. Now push gently in the direction of the cut. 45 down; 45 back; 45 open.

I've not had much difficulty when following this sets of rules.

 

[spnemo]

Also remember to support the tool until the bevel is supported or the tool will skate across the face.