A Sampling of P&N Woodturning Tools(June 2004) - More ...

More Woodturning/June 2004/Page 5Top, side, and bottom views of theDetail Gouge.Crown, Hamlet, Henry Taylor andSorby fare. P&N follows the NorthAmerican convention of sizing all gougesaccording to the external diameter of thetool shaft, regardless of flute style. Thedetail gouges have very shallow flutes,the spindle gouges are slightly deeper,and the bowl gouges have deep fluteswhich to my eye appear slightly parabolicin shape, though P&N calls themU shaped. The flutes are adequately finished,about the same as a Glaser, thoughnot as polished as a Sorby. Of course,any flute will soon become polished ifyou regularly maintain it with a slipstone.Hardness varies from 58 to 65 Rockwelldepending on intended use. Some of theolder P&N tools have a sandblasted finish(much like you’d find on a Glaser),but most recent production goes thougha final “straw tempering” process andcomes with a black oxide finish.Of the several tools I have fromthe P&N line, three strike me as exemplaryin design and performance. Thefirst of these is the roughing gouge. Tomy knowledge, P&N is unique in offeringroughing gouges milled from roundbar stock, rather than the usual practiceof forging from flat stock. This allowsfor a much heavier than average roughinggouge (relative to others of the samesize) and a very sturdy transition fromside walls to tang. The round tang is farstronger than the narrow flat tangs ofother roughing gouges, and allows thegouge to fit into the round bores of steelhandles. Milling from round stock alsoallows for side walls of a constant radius,unlike most roughing gouges wherethe upper portion of the flute is flared.The potential down side of this approachis that with the deep flute ground belowcenter, the upper section of the side wallscurve in slightly. I have not found this tobe a problem, as I don’t tend to cut inthat area of my roughing gouges. Forthose that are concerned, one can lightlygrind down the upper corners until theGlaser and the Supa Bowl Gouge are compared in this photo.The P&N Roughing Gouge. Ground from solid stock it represents a verysolid tool.A Michael Hosaluk groundroughing gouge.front profile is exactly a hemisphere. Youcan also try a tip from Michael Hosaluk(one of the first North American P&Nimporters) who notches the upper corners(going back about 3/8 of an inch)of the gouge (see attached photo).Michael does this so that he can get aclean cut on the side of details (such assquare shoulders on tenons) with thisside bevel when the gouge is held withthe flute parallel to the tool rest.The second is the 22mm SupaGouge. This is a very ruggedly designedtool with a deep U shaped flute and thicksidewalls. Mine is almost 7/8 inches inoutside diameter. One could also get bywith using this gouge as a small spindleroughing gouge, and several turners haveSkew tip on the long point side.reported preferring it over a traditionalroughing gouge. Most will choose it forinitial roughing out of bowls, or use itsdiameter (and thus strength) to get bywith long extensions over the tool restwhen working with very deep bowls.For those of you who just can’t justifythe expense of a 3/4 inch V-15 Glaser,but would like a large rugged bowlgouge, the P&N Supa is very affordablyThe P&N Skew Chisel.Skew tip on the short point side.eral purpose skew. Its width makes it aparticularly good choice for both begin-CROWN HAND TOOLS LTD.Excelsior Work, Burnt Tree Lan, Hoyle StreetSheffield, S3 7EX Englandpriced. I keep mine with a traditionalstraight across grind, which works verywell with the large deep U shape of theflute.The third is their skew. Many arefamiliar with the excellent video preparedby Alan Lacer where he demonstratesthe use of the skew, and recommendshow to form the edges of the skew foroptimal use with either the long or shortpoint. Lacer describes how to round theedges of the short point side, and leavethe long point side with a flat edge withlightly radiused corners. Fans of this configurationwill be pleased to know thatthe P&N skew comes from the factoryin this configuration, and apparently hasalways been provided this way. I find ita very effective configuration (all the reasonsfor which I won’t go into here, butinstead refer you to the Lacer tape availablefrom most major woodworkingsuppliers), and appreciate that little ofmy time was required to make the P&Nskew ready for some serious use. I musthave near a dozen skews, including fivedifferent Glasers, but this P&N skewhas instantly become one of my favorites.For me, it has just the right combinationof width (30 mm), length, andbevel angle to make it an excellent genningand experienced skew users. It isalso a significantly thicker skew thanmost others (8 mm compared to a moreusual 6 mm), which adds to its weightand stability. P&N also offers a narrower24 mm skew from the same thick 8mmsteel.Finally, I should comment a bitmore on their Detail Gouges. Manygouge manufacturers offer one or twosizes of detail gouge, but P&N offersfour, ranging from 8 mm to 16 mm(roughly 5/16 to 5/8 inches). The gougenormally comes delivered with a bluntfingernail shape which is functional, butnot my preferred. I was fortunate in thatthe North American P&N rep, GregJensen, sent me an 8 mm detail gougehe had personally ground based onsome ideas of Stewart Batty that bothGreg and Mike Mahoney have adopted.(see photo). Basically Greg freehandsharpened the gouge with a spindlegouge fingernail profile, putting a 40degree bevel all around the tool, thenground off the bevel to give a convexshape. Stuart Batty contends you preventbruising the wood with this grind,and Greg also has found it is easier tocontrol the tool when the bevel is short(and thus provides less leverage to comeout of the cut). Greg notes that Battyactually grinds the bevel off all hisSpindle, Detail and Bowl gouges, makinghis cuts with the gouge flute as closeto a 12 o’clock position as possible,contacting the wood with the left sideof the gouge. I have had only limited experiencewith this grind, but have foundit effective. However, I have a lot moretrouble maintaining the geometry (mostknow I am not fond of freehand grinding)and so for me find it best saved fora single, special use tool. In this context,I found the 8mm P&N DetailGouge to have been a good platformfor this grind, as also would be the 10mm.1999 thru 2003 Issues of MoreWoodturning Now on CD ROMThe last five years of More Woodturningare available on CD-ROM in Adobe PortableDocument Format (*.PDF). It requires AdobeAcrobat Reader to read the files. This programcan be downloaded at several places onthe internet for free. These will work on Windows95 and 98 machines and they work onmy Windows XP machines. Cost for eachyear CD-ROM is $25.00 plus postage andpacking of $3.00 inside the United States and$5.00 outside the United States. This is a savingsover the cost of our limited number ofback issues. To order, send check or moneyorder for $25.00 plus shipping for each yearordered (or MasterCard or Visa charge cardnumber and expiration date) to:More WoodturningP. O. Box 2168Snohomish, WA 98291-2168Manufacturer’s of the Worlds Largest Range of FineWoodworking HandtoolsTEL: England 114 272 3366 FAX: 114 272 5252E-Mail: info@crowntools.com Web Site: www.crownhandtools.ltd.uk