Bowl gouge

[Philip Davies]

This is a 2 inch gouge I made a couple of years ago, and has stood up satisfactorily in use. I forged it from a piece of steel cut from a salvaged bill hook.

Encouraged by this, I set to and made several others.
But, o dear, I am having trouble in tempering them. It did not help grinding a bevel after normalising, polishing & hardening. I used oxyacetylene to draw the colours, but they either they ran where I did not want them to, or they hardly ran at all!

My plan now is to blunt the bevels and re-harden, then temper using a tray of hot sand over a charcoal fire. I shall have to do this outside, it's too dim in the forge to see what's happening.

Any constructive comments on design or tempering beforehand would be welcome. The tools, if finished, will be gifts.