It has been said that the disappointment in poor quality lasts a lot longer than the thrill of low price. I am not shopping price, I don't mind spending extra money if I'm getting something for it. At the moment I'm looking at Hurricane tools over at the Woodturning store, but my questions probably apply to other brands as well, and I would welcome suggestions on other brands and sources. They offer four grades, M42cryo, M2cryo, M2HSS, and HSS. The first three are said to be made in cooperation with Crown Tools, the last not so. The description of the M42cryo and M2cryo claim to hold an edge three times longer than M2, and are similar in price. The M2HSS claims to hold an edge six times longer than carbon steel, and curiously, the HSS claims to hold an edge eight times longer than carbon steel. The HSS (M1?) is significantly less expensive than the other three and is available in sizes that are not available in the other three. They even suggest buying multiples and grinding them into custom shapes, an idea that I kind of like. Where is my money best spent? If it makes a difference most of my turning is going to be kiln dried hardwood, mostly Ash and Maple.
After turning nothing but bowls for the past 41 years, I've used many brands of tools, and types of steel. I have come to settle on M2 steel as the ideal turning steel. There are other steels where the makers claim it has so many times the edge holding ability over M2 steel.....but, in reality, this is not the most important aspect of turning and tool steels.
What's really important is keeping the tool at it's sharpest level.....continuously. The aspect that's really wrong with the exotic steels, is the rate of dulling the edge becomes so slow that determining whether you can get the best possible cut at any one moment during the edge's lifespan becomes problematic. Many turners (including myself in the past) end up wasting a lot of effort turning with a tool that isn't as sharp as it could be. Not only have you wasted your effort, you've also wasted wood that could have cut with better precision, had it been just a little bit sharper.
From my point of view, the whole object in turning a cross-grain bowl, is to do it with as little necessary sanding as possible, while eliminating aggressive sanding entirely. That way, the geometric integrity of the entire surface is better upheld, opening doors to more intricate detail in the finished turning......details that are impossible to create cleanly, and precisely......with "eye appeal". Aggressive sanding destroys any chance of having this high level of intricate details.
My advice is to stick with M2 steel tools, and there are many brands that use it. In recent times, the most popular brand with me has been Henry Taylor made "Artisan" brand tools available from Craft Supplies USA. They are the same tools that Henry Taylor uses for their name brand tools, but a little less attention to polishing. They are bargain based tools, and are the same M2 steel.
The most important thing is to learn sharpening......
and the art of honing a cutting edge with diamond hones. Get a good sharpening system and learn it, but be well aware that a traditional grind, when formed right for the task at hand, is every bit as effective as the almost universally popular swept back grinds turners are using today. I started out using the traditional grind, and evolved to the Ellsworth type grinds over a period of 20+ years or so......and, then returned to the traditional grind that I exclusively use today. The traditional grind is done using the v-arm of the wolverine sharpening system, while rotating the gouge along it's longitudinal axis against the grinding wheel. The grind angle can be increased, or decreased, depending on the intended use of the gouge. The wings can be done with more or less curve to them, and this is something you'll discover, the better you get at shaping a traditionally ground gouge. I'm using an 80gt SG Norton wheel, but keep in mind that my grinding is never to form a cutting edge.....it is to remove metal and shape the tool up to the edge.....but, the edge itself is completely done with the diamond hones. (Major shaping is done on another grinder with a standard 60gt wheel.)
Although the shape of the grind is done totally on the wolverine jig, the tip of the cutting edge is completely the product of honing with diamond hones. I'd say I re-sharpen bowl gouges 10+ times with the diamond hone for every time I return it to the grinder. The more often you re-sharpen with the diamond hones, the easier it is to do.....because the less steel at the tip needs to be removed to restore that finely created cutting edge. Because you do it so frequently, you naturally get better at doing it......and, the faster it is to do. It takes less than a minute to refresh the cutting edge with a diamond hone. The whole trick is for the turner to make the decision to return the tool to the bench for refreshing the edge.
When the tool edge dulls a little more quickly, it's far easier to make that decision.
-----odie-----