Turning the Inside of a Bowl??

Hog and trim is my method. Initial hollowing is done with the gouge cutting broad, interrupted shavings. I really don't mind that I'm leaving the end grain rough, I'm getting the bulk out of the way. Choice of gouge is optional, depends on availability and overhang, though deeper gouges should have their wings trimmed back so you can sweep from side to side, cutting on either wing. Spindle gouges rotate in, hog wide, then must rotate out, not taking as deep, but considerably wider shaving.

Within a quarter inch or less of the desired shape, I go sharp and finesse the cuts. Now my objective is to sever the fibers cleanly, so I generally go with a flat forged gouge almost on edge like the Woodcraft "Bowl Skew" pictures. With a bowl gouge, since I'm cutting over the bed, I use the left wing, and nose in and down to shave. My objective here is a narrow face on the cut and a continuous shaving, which indicates I am severing the end grain. The best grind for this is not one you'll normally see; it's an intermediate between long wings and blunt nose. Folks with handle room use right wing and keep the nose right at midline or below to minimize catches.

It's always a bit of compromise when trimming, between broadening the cut, which references on the surface already produced (riding the bevel), and keeping it narrow, which severs the fibers more cleanly. With practice you can have a bit of both, as you hold the tool firmly on the rest, and touch a bit of the bevel to reference without riding it. The thinner you go, the more important this skill becomes, because the end grain is tougher to sever than the face, and the bowl will squirm away from the cut and can chatter, causing digs as it enters the uphill side of the endgrain. Some people like to reduce the thickness of the piece incrementally from the rim, taking advantage of the thicker section inside the bowl to stabilize the squirm, but that compromises the continuous cut, and can easily result in a less than continuous curve which is a bigger PITA to sand than a few chatter marks. I don't scrape, except on the bottom of the bowl.

Enough. I'll defer to the pros now.

Turning the inside of a bowl takes a lot of practice. Don't get too frustrated. After much trial and error, watching videos and reading books I have settled on David Ellsworth's signature gouge ground too his specs. If ground and used properly you can rough cut and finish cut both the outside and the inside of a bowl with this one gouge. Sometimes when I run into problems I find that a good heavy duty scraper can help but most of the time the Ellsworth ground gouge is all that is needed. He has a video that shows some of his techniques using this gouge. It would be helpful to watch.

Good Luck, Ted

I like an appropriate sized Oland tool with long edges for both the inside and outside of a bowl.

I use either a 1/2" or 3/8" bowl gouge depending on size of bowls, and type of wood. If you're turning endgrain it helps to drill the center of blank and work out from that center hole. Turning on the plank work from rim to center working into the bowl. Hope that wasn't too simplistic sounding. Technique more important than sharpness of tool IMVHO. 8-)

Spy in Hawaii

Went to your site, and just found out I use an Oland tool too, only I call it a "pointy gouge."

Best to convert to same are "detail" gouges, with good body underneath. I also round mine underneath, which makes it possible to cut shavings on end grain work which are half inch wide. Wastes away the inside really rapidly, or with the edge closer to the previous contour, takes a shaving you can see through.

I use a 1/2" bowl gouge and generally sharpen about 3 times. Once as I start the outside, once as I start the inside and a final time after I have the bowl to an even 1" thickness.

The whole inside of a 5" bowl should take less than 15 minutes. I would say about 6-10 minutes for me. How thick a pass do you make at a time? You should be able to take 1/8" passes in dry wood with most lathes. What horsepower is yours? What tools do you use? I recommend using heavy tools including bowl gouges. Light tools chatter much more easily and overheat and go dull on dry wood.

Maybe you should invest in a video. The Del Stubbs video is very good. I have purchased about 10 videos and learned something from each one. I purchased videos to get the education for building my own house. They are much better than books - a picture may be worth 1,000 words, but a video is worth 10,000 or 100,000 words.

Derek

Thanks for all of the great advice. I took one of my standard gouges and rounded the ears off with my grinder. It only took 20 minutes to turn the inside of a 6" bowl. I'm sure I'll get quicker as I improve upon the grind and the turning technique. Thanks again....Joel