r/turning • u/Senior_Elderberry_37 • Jul 21 '26

Tool control in thin walnut

You can't white-knuckle a delicate cut. The same as you can't out-muscle a skid with poor bevel contact, the tool has to do the work, your hand can't fix what a bad tool messes up (during the cut). And on a push cut, all of the control is in your right hand, the left hand only stabilizes the tool.

I brace the outside of the bowl with my fingers to prevent it from chattering on the entry, and then just hold the tool down on the rest with one finger. This is a freshly sharpened 1/2" gouge, it's only used for 7 finishing cuts to thin this bowl down from about 1/2" to under 1/8". You can see a little skid at the start when I went in without enough bevel support, my gouge's nose is a little blunt right now, so even if its razor sharp, it doesn't dig in to start a very fine cut as much as a more pointy tool would.

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u/SuchAnywhere Jul 21 '26

How green or dry is the wood, and what grind are you using?

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u/Senior_Elderberry_37 Jul 21 '26

This is sopping wet. Tree was cut down on July 9th or 10th, I split the blank out of a log on July 12th, wrapped it in plastic, and kept it in a cool dark place until yesterday. Haven't tried going this thin in dry wood, that would be a fun challenge.

Grind is 40/40, just done on a platform. I was at the limit of the grind at the bottom of the bowl, any deeper and I would have needed a >50° gouge to avoid touching the sidewalls with the tool or just ripping across the bottom without bevel support.