Wood carving gouges vs. Wood turning gouges

[diytoolbox]

What's the difference in their design and structure? Can wood turning gouges be used for wood carving? And vice versa?

 

[Sideways]

No.
Totally different.

Simplifying.

Wodturning chisels far stronger, heavier built to stand up to use on wood moving under power, made from high speed steel to retain sharpness longer and when the tool is heated by prolonged cutting. Tool and edge geometries designed for use on a lathe. Big handles to provide leverage.

Carving chisels, slimmer, smaller, hand powered, pushed rather than levered, razor sharp, typically carbon or alloy steel to enable that extreme sharpness, small handles. Very different shapes.

You will break a carving chisel most likely if you try to use it on a lathe. You'll sweat, curse and get nowhere if you try to carve with a turning chisel.

HTH

 

[Phil Pascoe]

What's the difference in their design and structure? Can wood turning gouges be used for wood carving? And vice versa?

It woud be akin to using masonry tools to work wood or woodworking tools to work stone.

 

[diytoolbox]

Great explanations. Thank you.

 

[Richard_C]

To add to the excellent answers above, my smallest wood turning bowl gouge, my largest carving gouge.

 

[diytoolbox]

View attachment 187968To add to the excellent answers above, my smallest wood turning bowl gouge, my largest carving gouge.

The turning gouge is really long and large. Thank you for the photo.

 

[Trafalgar]

On a very small turning (drop finials, drawer pulls and things like that) there are some carving tools that can be briefly brought into play, but there is no similar turnabout for turning tools when doing a carving, unless maybe you were carving a totem pole.

 

[Terry - Somerset]

Even contemplating using of small carving tools on a wood lathe is sufficient for an over active imagination to conjure up images - small, airborne, very sharp carving chisels heading directly for sensitive bits of my anatomy.

Don't even try it.