These are fairly expensive tools (~$60-$100 each), and we don’t have that many. There are a couple of other gouges similarly mistreated; they are currently unusable in the state they are in. Correcting them will take someone 15 or so minutes each, as well as having to grind down (i.e. waste) a lot of the tool.
Correctly sharpening traditional lathe gouges is not a trivial effort, and if you don’t know how to make them sharp you shouldn’t be making them dull. For Ilúvatar’s sake, if you don’t know what you are doing…just ask!…Someone will help.
Can you hang it on the wall by the lathe and ask whoever did this to sign their name, so they can be taught the proper way to sharpen a gouge? Might be a good way to identify the person and get them trained.
Don’t confuse stature with capability … ask to borrow her shiv. It’ll be snapped out, open, and in front you in a single blur of motion … with a feral grin that’ll give you the willys.
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