A good number of the reviews for the Carter and Son SRG on their website talk about using it (often right out of the box) on bowls, very large bowls in some cases. While that 3/4" round tang probably wouldn't flinch at a serious catch, I'm having a hard time seeing the advantage of such a tool for roughing out a bowl. I'm sure it can be done, but a hefty bowl gouge is a lot cheaper.
Discussions on the use of SRGs anywhere near grosgrain work raises safety issues and is also likely to cause some controversy, so I'll ponder on that for a bit before venturing into making any comments on that.
OK, the discussion has drifted into SRG use on bowls and crossgrain work, so let's cut to the chase on that before anyone gets chased by the cut with that.
IME, there is only very limited
safe use of an SRG on crossgrain work. They were designed for roughing down spindle work where the grain is running along the spindle and parallel to the bed ways. It is an excellent tool for removing a lot of wood quickly when used for that purpose.
There is only one place on a grosgrain blank where similar grain orientation applies and that is across the face of the blank before starting to turn down into the side grain at which point a bowl gouge becomes the more efficient and safer tool.
The issue with the SRG is two fold. Firstly the grind, which is mostly straight across on a U flute profile, and secondly the size of the tool, which is at least 1" or more.
Unlike a bowl gouge with some sweep back along the wings, an SRG with a straight across grind has high and protruding wing edges that are waiting to start to self-feed into any side or endgrain that it is pointed towards. And, if it starts to self-feed you won't know anything about it until it is all over!
The other issue is the size of the tool. If you haven't done any turning with a 1" bowl gouge you won't know how much force is transmitted through the handle to you. With tools of that size we have to use long handles to manage the leverage involved. Most SRGs don't have the length of handle required for the potential forces involved should the tool engage in some side or crossgrain. Even the Narex handles in the above photo posted by Asher and Sam are on the short side for a tool of that size for anything other than spindle work, IMO.
Would I ever use my SRGs to do fine peeling cuts on the outside of a bowl? No, because the wings on a BG do that as well or better and I already have the BG in my hand from having roughed down the outside of the bowl.
Would I ever use an SRG on the inside of a bowl?... Never, never, never!!!
An SRG on the inside of a Bowl is a disaster waiting to happen... very quickly and more than likely quite spectacularly...
That is what Bowl Gouges were developed to do and they do it exceedingly well.
SRGs predate BGs by many centuries and evolved to do a specific task very well that didn't include deep bowl work.
Having said that, I do make very limited use of my modified SRG (modified with slightly swept back wings and a longer handle) to face off my bowl blanks before I begin to turning into the side/endgrain with BGs. Why use an SRG for that? Well, it's just a bit quicker and easier for doing that particular step than a bowl gouge, but I put it away and continue with the bowl gouges after that. Note that I have modified the wings for doing this and it has a much longer handle than most SRGs.
Here is a video showing how my modified SRG is quicker and easier for facing off bowl blanks than a 3/4" BG by at about half the time, so probably there is not all that much advantage in doing so given that I'm going to have to put it away and pick up a BGs to complete most of the bowl anyway....
View: https://youtu.be/mMyXMSKtHaA
