I have just reground my spindle gouge.
It got murdered on the grinder, not by me.
It took me months to be able to sharpen a spindle gouge freehand on a grinder and do it reliably to a good standard.
I ground at least an inch off my tool whilst experimenting and learning what works.
Regrinding a spindle gouge requires grinding a flat on the top of the bevel revealing a parabolic curve which becomes the grinding target.
Sharpening the tool requires two synchronized movements, swinging the tool in an arc whilst rolling the tool. I sharpen from each wing to centre.
Its easy to remove too much wing, sharpen to a point, roll too much or too little, lift off the platform, or flatten the point. Movements have to be well judged and smooth.
A freehand sharpened spindle gouge can look absolutely perfect and be uncontrollable so the
tool has to be tested on the lathe.
I did a couple of test exercises using my weakest cuts, planing cuts with a skew and rolling beads with the spindle gouge.
For the purposes of my exercises I focused only on getting really good contact with the bevel and clean cutting. I didn’t focus at all on getting good form, I am just trying to get familiar with the cuts.
The spindle gouge worked great and I got clean cuts in a piece of pine.
