what angles do people usually sharpen their tools to:
parting tool
scrapers
spindle gouge(s)
bowl gouges(s)
skew
I am interested to hear the different opinions and any specific reasons behind the chosen angles.
My double bevelled parting tools are 25 deg, which is how they are supplied. I have a couple of thin parting tools with a single bevel, which are at 45 deg, which again is generally how they are supplied.
I grind my scrapers to 60 deg. They are usually supplied at 80 deg, but I find that 60 gives a much sweeter cut, for both flat and shear scraping.
The "go to" spindle and bowl gouges are all fingernailed to about 55 deg. I find them a much more versatile tool that way than the standard 45 deg. I also have both types of gouge with a traditional flat grind at both 45 and 60 deg, which I don't use all the time, but make life simple when the need arises. A traditional grind bowl gouge at 60 deg makes short work of the inside bottom of a deep bowl for instance, with no risk of hitting the rim with the bar or handle.
I also have a continental style spindle gouge fingernailed to 35 deg, which is bloody handy for tight areas such as consecutive beads for instance. I should really do that sort of thing with a skew, but I seem to spend my life chasing my tail, and I've never got the time to practice tight beading with a skew to the point of proficiency.
I keep my flat bar skews at 35 deg, which for most jobs is perfect for me, and I have an oval bar skew at 25 deg, which I tend to use for shaping work (not tight beads) I think in both cases, that is how they are supplied.
One cutting tool you haven't mentioned, which a lot of people scoff at on this forum, is the barrel trimmer. Mine is ground to 80 deg, but with a the cutting tips falling towards the edges. That way I get a slightly concave cut on the blank, which firstly gives less opportunity for torn grain, and secondly gives a better guarantee of a good fit without gaps. I am obsessive about keeping my tools sharp - you cannot turn effectively with blunt tools, and its easier to touch us a dull tool than it is to sharpen a blunt tool, but none mere so than my barrel trimmer. I have a jig for my pro-edge, which allows me to keep it ultra sharp at all times.