The best suggestion in my opinion is to join a local woodturning group.  I' m not sure if your bowl gouge is the bar diameter or the flute width, depending on the size bowl you are turning a 3/8" bar diameter bowl gouge may be a bit small for the inside bottom.

If you are getting lines on the inside bottom, you may be coming off the bevel.  When the sides of a bowl are vertical it can be a challenge to use the same bevel angle for the inside side, "transition," and bottom.

Scrapers can help, but scrapers come in all different widths and thicknesses - I prefer a wider, thicker one for the extra mass.  But again a woodturning group can be a tremendous help - some use several scrapers with different radii for the bottom and transition zone and perhaps a "box scraper" for the side.

In other words, if not careful one can very quickly get a number of different bowl gouges and scrapers trying to improve the finish without first understanding what is causing a less than ideal finish.

For beginning bowl turning I have suggested people learn on 5 1/2" lengths of 2x6 framing lumber.  Even at today's prices the individual bowl blanks are very inexpensive and therefore one doesn't worry about ruining expensive hardwood and perhaps is more willing to practice practice practice. 

My two cents.

Thank you so much for all of the advice.  Much to ponder.  There are no local woodturning clubs that I can find - so far.  I'll keep looking.

Don

Thank you so much for taking so much time to add this detail to what has been said before.  Discouraging?  Not at all, quite the opposite.

I am a very practical person who over many years has learned new skills - I recently completely restored a Lister D stationary engine and I've been building, for about three years, a model railway using the new digital control systems.  Both of these ongoing projects have taken considerable time.  Yes, because of budget - you have to save a bit and do a bit - but also because learning new skills takes time, sometimes a lifetime!

In time I am sure I will learn what techniques and tool combinations work for me in woodturning - but patience is required and I do understand that.  I have already turned three or four bowls which I am quite pleased with for first efforts.  I've attached a picture of one.

Thanks again for all the support and positive advice.

Well, a round nose scraper, or 'inside' scrapers are very commonly used for flattening out the bottom of a bowl. I have one video, 'Scary Scrapers' on You Tube which shows how to use them. Essentially, they work far better on the bottom of the bowl than they do in the transition and up the sides of the bowl. Another video is 'Shear Scraping' which is how I finish cut the outside of the bowl, and the transition and up the walls of the bowl. I do have another video about flattening the bottom of the bowl for those days when the gouges are not working correctly..... Most of my videos are dedicated to bowl turning. Another tool that is being used a lot is the negative rake scraper (NRS). This is a 'clean up' type tool. It works better in denser woods, and not so well on softer woods. I have yet to do that video....

If you get one scraper, get a round nose. If you get a couple of scrapers, my second one would be an 'inside' scraper, which has a short some what flat section across the nose, then at least a half round section, kind of swept back to the left side. I explain all that in my videos.

Have fun! Oh, where are you?

robo hippy

Back when I was beginning I had access to a bunch of worn out files so I made a couple of scrapers. Because of their hardness they held an edge and worked well. THEN when working deep in a bowl I felt a flex in my palm. Luckily it didn't  shatter and slash my hand. NO FILES. They can snap like glass. MOE