🔧 Turning Tool Selection Guide

A quick reference matching common woodturning tasks to the tool typically used for that step. Individual technique and tool preference vary — this is a general starting point.

The line the chart is drawn along

Two rows look alike - roughing a spindle blank, roughing a bowl blank - and get different tools. Grain direction is why:

spindle work   grain runs along the axis
               the edge cuts with the fibres for most of a turn

faceplate work grain runs across the axis
               the edge meets end grain twice per revolution

End grain arriving twice a turn is what a bowl gouge's deep flute and heavy shaft are shaped for. The nine rows sort into four groups by what the edge does:

Group	Action	Rows it covers
Gouges	slicing on a supported bevel	roughing, shaping, hollowing
Skew and detail	planing and V-cuts	smoothing, fine detail
Parting tool	plunging to a depth	sizing, parting off
Scrapers	a trailing edge	texture, shear cuts

Using the chart

Read down the left column to the task in front of you, not down the right column to the tool you already own. The nine tasks collapse to a handful: a bowl gouge and a spindle gouge cover five rows between them, the skew two, the parting tool one.

This is a starting point, and the page says so. Grinds vary, and any tool is only as good as its edge - a blunt tool of the right type tears where a sharp one of the wrong type would not. Where a maker states what a tool is and is not for, that governs: the caution against taking a spindle roughing gouge to faceplate work comes from the people who make them.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a spindle gouge and a bowl gouge?

Flute and shaft. A bowl gouge has a deeper flute on a thicker bar, so it can hang further over the rest and take the interrupted end-grain cuts of faceplate work; a spindle gouge is lighter and shallower, for beads and coves along the grain.

Can I rough a bowl blank with a spindle roughing gouge?

Tool makers advise against it, and their instructions are the ones to follow. The chart puts a bowl gouge on that row for the same reason.

Which turning tools should I buy first?

Buy for the work you plan to do. Spindle work leans on a roughing gouge, a spindle gouge and a parting tool; bowls want a bowl gouge first.