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Bowl gouge history

john lucas

john lucas

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Does anyone know the history of the bowl gouge. Were they always around or is that a fairly new (as in 20 to 30 years ago) tool. What were the grinds like. When did the swept back grind come into being. Is there a difference in what some call the Irish grind vs the Ellsworth grind. I know there are a lot of mildly different versions of these grinds I'm just trying to figure out if they are roughly the same or is there some radical difference.
 
John, I know small pieces

Liam Oniel invented the side grind on the bowl gouge. Since he is from ireland it got called the Irish grind. I took a class with Liam in the mid 90's. He used a long wing (2 ") almost flat on the top.

He came to the US a few times. David Ellsworth made some major changes shortening the wing and putting more of curve on it. I had a class with David the year after the one with Liam and he explained how he derived the grind.

We also have the Michelson grind by Johannes Michelson. This grind id the micro bevel and has a convex bevel great for turning thin as there is almost no bevel drag. This grind is well worth learning.

Most of the major turners use some modification of the o'neil or Ellsworth grind.
This grind makes the bowl gouge do amazing things.

Happy turning,
Al
 
Bowl gouge history? Ask David

John:

Alan's comments are good. Another source would be to ask David Ellsworth for his knowledge on this. He and I have discussed this, but I would rather have him tell you directly.


Don Geiger
 
Bowl Gouges

John,
Hand or Simple Turning by John J Holtzaffel was published in 1881 and republished by Dover Press in 1976 has a great deal of information on the state of the craft at that time plus a history of the craft. It has pictures of gouges. Peter Child wrote The Craftsman Woodturner in 1971. It has the state of the craft in England at that time anain pictures of then bowl gouges in England. F. Pain wrote The Practical Woodturner in 1974. It too has the state of the craft in the US at that time. and it too shows pictures of various gouges in use over the years. Laim came over in the mid eighties if I remember correctly and as he traveled about his grind became popular. Curiously though Bob Stocksdale used a spindle gouge, in the his later years were made by Jerry Glaser. Stocksdale had a finger nail grind when I saw him turn in the late eighties. I found that rather interesting in that he almost made only bowls. He introduced me to the worn eighty grit gouge.
I have copies of each of the books if I can help further.
Peter
 
Most interesting. I remember seeing an old gouge by Rude Osolnik that was rectangular but had a flute ground in it. It was made from High Speed Steel. I don't remember the actual flute shape or depth.
Dave, thanks for Peter child's pages. I had seen those before but forgot about them.
Thanks Don and Al. I just did a demo on tool shapes and their uses, but got to wondering how this all started.
 
Hand or Simple Turning by John J Holtzaffel was published in 1881 and republished by Dover Press in 1976
Click to expand...

half.com has several copies of this book

thanks P Lamb for sharing
 
I would think you could get a lot of info from turners who were there at the time of its origin. Names that come to mind are Wally Dickerman, Russ Fairfield, Dale Nish.
 
Started in the British Isles. The old fogies here were still using long and strong deep patterns into the early seventies - if they had the money. The new stuff was way cheaper. When I got my first, it was about 1/4 the price of a long and strong. Mid seventies.
 
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