How many lathe tools are enough?

[Webb Willmott]

Like this. Many sets of the HSS look this way.

 

[Bill Blasic]

I know that I have given away well over a hundred turning tools. I have sold probably 25 or so. If I were to count what are in all the drawers and cupboards I'm sure it would be north of 250, the majority of which are Hunter and Thompson. I had a box of Craftsman turning tools (I think there were 18) that were brand new. They were all black and smooth. I do not know if I still have them or if I gave them away. If I find them I'll post a picture.

Looked for them yesterday and I cannot find them so they were probably given away.

 

[Steve Tiedman]

In 1995, when I naively bought the POS Craftsman monotube bed lathe, I also bought their 4-piece tool set (small skew, diamond parting, small scraper, and something that one could mistake for a spindle-ish gouge sorta shape that in reality is just a tent stake).

I think the skew and scraper are still in a drawer. The gouge got thrown away when I bought a real spindle gouge a few months in. If I ever become king of the world, I'll outlaw all diamond profile parting tools, freeing turners everywhere from their miserable, misguided design and "benefits" of use (I'll stop at that), same with oval skews... what the "H" were they thinking? Anyway, What was I ranting about...? (You kids, get off my lawn!)

 

[John K Jordan]

If I ever become king of the world, I'll outlaw all diamond profile parting tools, freeing turners everywhere from their miserable, misguided design and "benefits" of use (I'll stop at that), same with oval skews... what the "H" were they thinking?

Interesting how our experiences differ. Parting tools: I use two fluted, one flat (Thompson) and four diamond cross-section (one large), and several micro parting tools. As I mentioned, the diamonds are my favorite for most things. But we each work differently.

I did have a student who had trouble with a diamond parting tool until I gently explained again and again how to use it. I do use a custom grind which makes the tool more useful than any of the stock grinds.

I will graciously accept donations of any “diamond” parting tools from unsatisfied owners. I could regrind them and the turning lives of several friends and students would be enriched.

And no attempt to be contrary: I keep and often use two oval skews, one I bought, the other I think given to me by someone who didn’t use a skew. They are more difficult to sharpen free-hand on a platform than flat-sided skews, but otherwise no different in use.

We can agree, however, on the monotube lathe! Mine was the Ridgid (copied or licensed) of the craftsman. It’s only redeeming feature was the excellent beginning turning course in the back of the lathe manual The Craftsnman 6-piece tool set was great and I still use it: wide skew, forged shallow spindle gouge, “continental” roughing gouge, round-nose scraper, parting tool, and can’t remember the other.

JKJ

 

[Bob Vaughan]

There have been many valid reasons for having a large quantity of tools, particularly for those that are teaching.

While my own stash is in the 50-60 range, I don't do that much teaching these days. What I did observe was that scale and complexity of the various turning projects will dictate to some degree the special tool design to achieve the intended results. Examples below all required different tools, many being specifically ground.

 

[robo hippy]

Hmm, which tools do I use most???? Well, as a bowl turner, once turned, I use scrapers for all of my heavy roughing, specifically the Big Ugly tool. I use a 40/40 grind for the outside of a bowl, and the 40/40 on the inside down to the transition, and then a BOB/bottom of bowl tool for the transition and across the bottom of the bowl. My favorite is a spindle detail gouge with a ) shape nose and a 70 degree bevel. I have a number of shear scrapers, a spear point for the outside and a couple of round nose or ) nose shape for the inside of the bowl. I have a number of NRSs/negative rake scrapers for the inside and outside of the bowls, but they work better on dry wood which I almost never turn. That covers my bowl tools, almost.....

robo hippy

 

[John K Jordan]

Examples below all required different tools, many being specifically groundt

Ooo - it would be interesting to see the set of tools you use to make each one of those, especially the special grinds (unless they are carefully guarded secrets!) Might be an eye-opener for some and spur some new experimentation and interests!

I also grind some custom tools but only a few are unique to a particular project. I once hand to grind a tool to carefully cut the string drive grooves when making take-up spools on a friend's spinning wheel. Her spinning wheel came with just one spool.

For those who'd like to make a little money with turning, contact your local hand spinners guild. There are ALWAYS people to need wooden replacement parts for spinning wheels. Some want drop spindles for spinning by hand, easy to make. These allow making yarn from fibers anywhere. I even made a special "supported" spindle a friend wanted for spinning while riding on a bus.

Many drop spindles available cheaply and crudely made. We know someone who sold them from wooden wheels made for toys, fitted a dowel rod for the shaft, spray painted with colors. One made from good wood with some style is prized.

Bloodwood and maple.


There is a world-wide community of fiber-arts enthusiasts - shearing, carding, spinning, felting, needle-felting, knitting, crocheting. When you have camelids, you meet many who want to buy fiber, especially alpaca. I could sell all the yarn bowls I could make. (but I don't sell)

JKJ

 

[Bill Boehme]

If I ever become king of the world, I'll outlaw all diamond profile parting tools, freeing turners everywhere from their miserable, misguided design and "benefits" of use (I'll stop at that), same with oval skews... what the "H" were they thinking? Anyway, What was I ranting about...? (You kids, get off my lawn!)

Strange as it may seem, I like my diamond parting tool and oval skews. I can understand why you don't like them if you don't have a Tormek. There was a special Tormek fixture for holding both of those tools. Unfortunately, Tormek revised the fixture so it no longer works as well with the diamond parting tool.

 

[John K Jordan]

I like my ... oval skews. Tormek revised the fixture so it no longer works as well with the diamond parting tool.

I've sharpened the oval skews on the Tormek but never the diamond parting tools. For that I use the platform on the Wolverine. When I get a moment I plan to machine a jig to hold the tool perpendicular to the wheel. Sometimes I accidentally introduce a slight angle on the cutting edge and have to regrind.

But since I bought all the original jigs that Tormek had (back at the birth of Tormek, I think) and later bought a second (used) Tormek that came with more jigs, I looked through jig drawer and found the SVS-50 which looks like it could have been designed for the oval skew. Inside it has "V"s on either side to hold the edges and a lip that slides along the Tormek.

Long time ago I made an adapter to hold an extra Tormek tool guide bar so I could use it with a bench grinder AND not interfere with the Woverine/Varigrind use. I had to special order the bracket that holds the bar, made the mount of of white oak, cut away to clear the Wolverine handle.

I locked the oval skew into the Vs, set the angle to match what I'd ground by hand, set the bar distance for the bevel angle and with 30 seconds of sharpening on the 600 grit wheel plus a few seconds stropping had a perfect shaving-sharp edge. If not for your post I may have continued forever in my fumbling inefficient ways. Thanks!
I ALMOST remember using the jig for these skews a long time ago but forgot. (worthless memory...)



I do love the oval skews, find them easy to control, great for planing cuts.

Now, do you remember which jig will hold the parting tools? Maybe I'm using the revised version.

I like my diamond parting tool ...

BTW, this is my gradual evolution towards the perfect diamond parting tool grind. It's getting closer but needs another go. By having the upper bevel curve to nearly horizontal as it meets the widest part of the tool it works more like a skew peeling cut. For me, this angle cuts quite well. The only thing I do with the bottom bevel is hone it lightly to resharpen a bit before going back to the grinder. I find the diamond cross-section shape perfect for clearance on the sides, especially if I very slightly twist the tool back and forth around the tool axis during the cutting, may just a couple of degrees in each direction.

Another reason I like this parting tool is the width of the cut is PERFECT for sizing with the kind of calipers I often use.

I was looking at some old Craftsman tools and the finish on the steel looked like orange peel paint or a rusted tool that was painted black. Then I looked at fleebay and all the sets looked that way. There must be a reason Craftsman lathe tools were finished that way. Why?

I pulled out all of my old HSS Craftsman tools. While the sides of the tools are not polished, they don't have the orange-peal surfaces you showed. I couldn't find the spindle roughing gouge, prob gave it away.



Could some over-zealous worker have had too much fun spraying? Is it a coating that will scrape off?

JKJ

 

[Steve Tiedman]

The problem, by it's design, is that for a diamond parting tool to work properly by limiting tool contact within the kerf (its advertised benefit), the cutting edge has to be dead-on at the widest line of the cross section. If not, the wide section is not able to get into the relatively narrow kerf. In John's close-up image of the parting tool, the edge is below the widest point. Then, as John points out, you have to swing the handle left and right to widen the kerf to clear the widest cross section. But, with a normal, uniform width parting tool, one should swing the handle slightly left and right anyway (a fraction of a degree, hardly noticable in practice) to create clearance for the tool sides within the kerf. And placement of the edge on the height of the tool is not critical at all with a normal parting tool. So that begs the question, what is the point of the diamond parting tool if it takes more care and deliberate practice to keep it sharp?

Same for the oval skew, essentially the same shape as the diamond parting tool, but lacking the hard angles. Rounding the sharp corners of a rectangular section skew gets it to not beat up the tool rest, but with Sorby bringing the oval to market to solve the same issue, they went too far and removed a lot of steel from the tool. Completely unnecessary, and making it difficult to sharpen without complex jigs. 20+ years ago the discussion boards of the day were constantly criticizing oval skews.

Diamond parting tools and oval skew chisels, two tools trying to offer solutions to problems that never existed.

 

[Michael Brown]

Officially the correct number is n+1, d-1
Where n is the number presently owned, and d is the number that results in a trip to the courthouse...

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

@John K Jordan You probably didn't know that @Webb Willmott also builds airplanes so may be overloaded with aeronautical tools but still working on turning tools.

I know I have 28 wood planes but no idea how many turning tools. Most definitely more than the number of planes.

 

[R Henrickson]

I know I have 28 wood planes but no idea how many turning tools. Most definitely more than the number of planes.

I have more than a dozen each of drawknifes and spokeshaves for Windsor chair making. Far fewer than the number of turning tools.

 

[Jonathan Silwones]

Strength in numbers!
Remember what happened to that guy who said “One tool to rule them all!”

 

[JeffSmith]

You might ask this question at the symposium trade show of the guy with 5 bags, one of which is the last tool he'll need....

 

[Paul May]

I use four. 1/2" bowl gouge, skew, parting tool and interior bowl scraper.

 

[Rusty Nesmith]

One tool away from greatness. When I get that tool I will have enough.

 

[John K Jordan]

One tool away from greatness. When I get that tool I will have enough.

I'll send you that tool. I obviously haven't used it.