Bowl gouge jig improvement?

[Ern]

My favorite spindle gouge comes new with a fairly short flute so it's not long before there's none for the stepped brass block to fit into.

The manual suggests grinding a flat on the shaft for the screw to lock down on.

It's hard to place this accurately.  (Any tips?)

I wonder whether this would work better: a slight cove on the bottom of the stepped brass block to allow it to sit crossways on the shaft.  Or indeed a 2nd block with a V groove running lengthways on the bottom.

[Jeff Farris]

A cove or vee on the bottom of the clamping pad would not insure that the tool would be flat relative to the flute edges. 

The best tip for grinding a flat on the shank of the tool is to make a friend of someone who has a milling machine. 

Or, find a small machine shop, most of which would do it for a few bucks.

[Ern]

That's true Jeff but for me anyway it would be easier to line up than it would be to grind a flat and errors would be recoverable!

Thinking out loud, maybe fixing a strip of wood across the flute would help orient the shaft clearly vertical for a bit of grinding.

Yes, a good friend was unkind enough recently to swap from machinist to a new career.
Every turner should have a machinist or the like as a friend 

[Jeff Farris]

Ern,

The clamping pad as it is will clamp a round shank securely.  The issue is just one of alignment, which, as you say, can be accomplished by placing a straight edge across the flutes and manually leveling the tool.  I've also done a surprisingly good job of cutting a flat on a old spindle gouge with a draw file.