Selecting Turning Tools
Lathe tools come in a variety of shapes and sizes and usually fall into five major categories.
•Gouges—Mainly used for rough cutting, detail cut- ting, and cove profiles. The rough gouge is a hol- low, double-ground tool with a round nose, and the detail gouge is a hollow, double-ground tool with either a round or pointed nose. Figure 14 shows an example of a gouge.
•Skew Chisel—A very versatile tool that can be used for planing, squaring, V-cutting, beading, and part- ing off. The skew chisel is flat, double-ground with one side higher than the other (usually at an angle of 20-40˚). Figure 15 shows an example of a skew chisel.
•Scrapers—Mainly used where access for other tools is limited, such as hollowing operations. This is a flat, double-ground tool that comes in a variety of profiles (Round Nose, Spear Point, Square Nose, etc.) to match many different contours. Figure 16 shows an example of a round nose scraper.
•Parting Tools—Used for sizing and cutting off work. This is a flat tool with a sharp pointed nose that may be single- or double-ground. Figure 17 shows an example of a parting tool.
•Specialty Tools—These are the unique, special func- tion tools to aid in hollowing, bowl making, cutting profiles, etc.
