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Thin parting tool choice

Jamie Straw

Jamie Straw

Joined
May 28, 2015
Messages
1,616
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Location
Bainbridge Island, WA
I've heard nothing but rave reviews on the D-Way narrow parting tool. Pricey, though. Is there another "cat's meow" out there, or should I just bite the bullet? Dave's one of my favorite people, wish I didn't always have to consider $$.:(
 
I like the Chris Stott 1/16". Don't know if it is being sold by anyone.
One piece of steel with a rubbery grip on one end.

The crown 1/16" is similar the blade may be a bit longer and has a wooden handle.
About $35

Haven't used the Dway. By reputation it should be good.
 
Jamie we had Nick Cook demo at our club a while back and he demonstrated his signature parting tool. I think it is made by Sorby, I think he has a relationship with them. It is concave on one edge and makes a clean cut. he made a honey dipper and there wasn't any fuzzy edges. May have to get me one but I do mostly bowls.
 
I have the Crown (or its clone) 1/16" narrow parting tool. It's my favorite narrow tool. If you want to regrind to look like Nick Cook's, you can, but it works for me without the Nick Cook grind. You need to hone the edge from time to time, otherwise, you get an ugly cut.

For tenons & stuff, I use a 3/16" diamond parter. Ditto honing the edge.

A few years back, I needed a 1/8" parting tool quickly, and the only local store that had parting tools only had the fluted parting tool. I hate the fluted parting tool with a passion, but I may use it as a decorating tool.
 
I have two of the Slab style, Crown and Sorby, HSS about 1 1/4 wide by 1/16 thick. The problem I have is they have no taper (top to bottom) so shallow cuts or widen a bit to prevent binding. An Ashley Iles, milled from flat stock to a little less than 1/16 with a nice taper works well but I'm not sure its still being made. When I have to replace it I'm going for the D-way. I got to use one while taking a class at Arrowmont. When you pick it up, you can tell the difference, it feels nimble.
I think I've put this off long enough...Thanks a lot...I'll let you know if it's as I remember...
c
 
Hy,
I ended up with a fluted parting tool, the one used with the flute down...The one that cuts up your tool rest !!! I'm not sure what I was thinking, I'm not sure what Sorby was thinking...

On another note, I have, for sale, a fluted parting tool, used once...
 
I have a home made thin parting tool made from a reground worn out machine hacksaw blade It is 2mm (Approximately 5/64ths" in American) and 11"x 1.52. They are cheap, free, if you find a friendly metal stockholder/fabrication shop. Work in progress on this, I've mislaid the one I use

Thin parting tool.jpg Thin parting tool 2.jpg
 
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Thanks for all the info, guys. Near as I can tell, what sets the D-way apart from the others on the market is that the thickness of the blade is tapered to help prevent binding (plus, I assume, the M42 cobalt). I have a cheapie thin PT, will continue to use it for awhile, but I think I'm headed to a D-Way.
 
Jamie,

This is the one I use mostly.. Henry Taylor, 1/16". It's M2 steel so isn't the same steel grade as Dave's I guess. But I've been using it for a good while now and really like it. I mostly prefer to turn my own handles but this one is comfortable.

Last year, I bought a piece of HSS from flatground.com to take to a class with me. It's about 1/20" - just over 1mm, 1 1/4" wide and 18" long so I could make two parting tools with it. Worked out really well.

But it's sure hard to vote against D-Way or Thompson tools isn't it? :)

henry taylor.jpg

Final thought: If you're looking for a 1/8" tool, Doug Thompson's is outstanding. Made from round stock and ground flat. I've bought a couple extra just in case he stops making them. He says the scrap rate is high on them but I hope he continues to make them.
 
Fred Belknap said:
Jamie we had Nick Cook demo at our club a while back and he demonstrated his signature parting tool. I think it is made by Sorby, I think he has a relationship with them. It is concave on one edge and makes a clean cut. he made a honey dipper and there wasn't any fuzzy edges. May have to get me one but I do mostly bowls.
Click to expand...

I have this Nick Cook parting tool, and have been using it for about 5 years now. It works fine for me, and leaves a cleanly cut narrow groove. I'm using mine upside down as shown in the catalogue photograph.....flute up. Fred, did you notice if Nick Cook was using the flute up or down? I'm seldom grinding it, but am using a flat diamond hone to renew the edge each time I use it.......it ought to last pretty much forever! With the flute up, it will be similar to a scraper with a tiny ground bur on the top edge........

ko
 
odie said:
I have this Nick Cook parting tool, and have been using it for about 5 years now. It works fine for me, and leaves a cleanly cut narrow groove. I'm using mine upside down as shown in the catalogue photograph.....flute up. Fred, did you notice if Nick Cook was using the flute up or down? I'm seldom grinding it, but am using a flat diamond hone to renew the edge each time I use it.......it ought to last pretty much forever! With the flute up, it will be similar to a scraper with a tiny ground bur on the top edge........

ko
Click to expand...

The flute is supposed to be on the bottom side and you only sharpen the short bevel on the top side. The only downside is that it has to overhang the tool rest so that the flutes don't rub on the tool rest. If you use it with the flute up then the edges of the flute might get rounded over slightly. I've had mine for a long time ... I got it well before it became a Nick Cook signature tool. I think that the price jumped up about ten dollars when it suddenly went from ordinary parting tool to a signature [parting tool.

Anyway it is my favorite parting tool and I have worked in some really tight spaces with it. I bent it a couple times, but it straightened out just fine.
 
( Fred, did you notice if Nick Cook was using the flute up or down?


Odiie I'm not sure what is up and what is down. He make a point not to grind off the flute. I'm thinking he had the flute up but may be wrong.
 
Fred Belknap said:
( Fred, did you notice if Nick Cook was using the flute up or down?


Odiie I'm not sure what is up and what is down. He make a point not to grind off the flute. I'm thinking he had the flute up but may be wrong.
Click to expand...

Fred......I think Bill is correct that the original intent was for the flute to be down.....just wondering if Cook really did use it that way. Bill also makes a good point about the flute down requiring the tool to further extend over the tool rest, than the other way around.

Seems to me there was a discussion about this long ago, and there was opposing opinions as to whether it was best with flute up, or down.....(Or, maybe is was just me who was bucking main stream thinking, as I have been known to do! :D) While parting, quite a few loose shavings get squeezed in-between the tool and the kerf, and it's best to have a firm grip to keep it from tending to twist in your hands......just in case there is a grab. With the cutting edge higher up (flute down), there is a fulcrum disadvantage, should there be a grab. When truing up the edge, the bur created will cut best if it's presented up (like a scraper bur), and oriented within the flute, rather than down.....so, the direction of the grinding/honing will be dependent on how that person intends to present the cutting edge to wood.

ko
 
The Sorby instructions that came with mine said that it is used so that the fluted edge is down ... and I know, who needs stinking instructions, anyway. :D

Many years ago our club had Nick Cook here for a week of classes on spindle turning. One of the projects was to make a honey dipper. We used that parting tool to make the notches in the dipper ... flute was down. Having said all that, about half the turners that I know use the tool turned the other side up and it seems to work about the same
 
odie said:
Seems to me there was a discussion about this long ago, and there was opposing opinions as to whether it was best with flute up, or down.....(Or, maybe is was just me who was bucking main stream thinking, as I have been known to do! :D) While parting, quite a few loose shavings get squeezed in-between the tool and the kerf, and it's best to have a firm grip to keep it from tending to twist in your hands......just in case there is a grab. With the cutting edge higher up (flute down), there is a fulcrum disadvantage, should there be a grab. When truing up the edge, the bur created will cut best if it's presented up (like a scraper bur), and oriented within the flute, rather than down.....so, the direction of the grinding/honing will be dependent on how that person intends to present the cutting edge to wood.
Click to expand...

I seem to recall the same discussion. Name any tool where there aren't multiple opinions about the best way to use it. :D
 
Mark Hepburn said:
But it's sure hard to vote against D-Way or Thompson tools isn't it? :)
Click to expand...

Hi Mark........Yes, you are absolutely right! It's difficult to pass on some of the great precision made lathe tools being produced these days. The quality is outstanding, and for that reason, you certainly get your money's worth. The one thing that sticks in my mind, is I question whether these premium tools provide any utilitarian benefit.....other than it's nice to have "the best"......? I've pondered this question, and can't justify the expense above the "plain Jane" Sorbys & Taylors, etc. I suppose there may be flute shapes that some can become accustomed to, and get nowhere else, but when it comes to "rubber meets the road", I'm not seeing much difference.......

Another thing that seems useless to me, is all the specialized steels that are available. Yes.....very true.....the hardness does lead to sharpened edges that last longer, but to what practical applied benefit? I have purchased some of the harder steels, and have concluded that I like plain ol' M2 hss steels......mainly because they sharpen and shape much easier than the Rockwell leaders of the pack!......and, this is especially true for those of us who prefer to hand hone our lathe tools.

I suppose I should always mention that when I praise methods and preferences I've become accustomed to, this doesn't mean at all that my way of doing things is better than anyone else's.........except when I discuss those things being used by my own hands........:D

ko
 
Mark Hepburn said:
This site has a number of the Ashley Isles parting tools. I bought a couple of small skews for boxes last year.

https://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/store/item/IT-PPT.XX/Parting_Tools_by_Ashley_Iles
Click to expand...

I have had an Ashley Iles thin-kerf parting tool for a number of years now and absolutely love it. It cuts a 1/16" kerf and the the blade is only ~23/32" high, unlike most other brands that are >1" which is needed to maintain the stiffness when you have a long and thin blade. Mine has a thicker back (11/64") to provide the stiffness on the 1/16" cutting part. This design allows a narrower kerf when you cut rings out of a disc, like when you make a bowl-from-a-board. (Or, I can cut two rings out of one "feature ring" for my segmented work.) Additionally, the thin blade is tapered so it would not bind. Unfortunately, Ashley Iles appears to have dropped this product. It is not shown at the site you quoted here and not even at Ashley Iles' own website. D-Way had a similar product but the picture and description on their current website do not show this design.
 
A SawsAll blade with the teeth ground off sharpened on one end any way you like and electrical tape wrapped around the other end makes a real good one and doesn't cost an arm and a leg.
 
odie said:
Hi Mark........Yes, you are absolutely right! It's difficult to pass on some of the great precision made lathe tools being produced these days. The quality is outstanding, and for that reason, you certainly get your money's worth. The one thing that sticks in my mind, is I question whether these premium tools provide any utilitarian benefit.....other than it's nice to have "the best"......? I've pondered this question, and can't justify the expense above the "plain Jane" Sorbys & Taylors, etc. I suppose there may be flute shapes that some can become accustomed to, and get nowhere else, but when it comes to "rubber meets the road", I'm not seeing much difference.......

Another thing that seems useless to me, is all the specialized steels that are available. Yes.....very true.....the hardness does lead to sharpened edges that last longer, but to what practical applied benefit? I have purchased some of the harder steels, and have concluded that I like plain ol' M2 hss steels......mainly because they sharpen and shape much easier than the Rockwell leaders of the pack!......and, this is especially true for those of us who prefer to hand hone our lathe tools.

I suppose I should always mention that when I praise methods and preferences I've become accustomed to, this doesn't mean at all that my way of doing things is better than anyone else's.........except when I discuss those things being used by my own hands........:D

ko
Click to expand...

Hey Kelly,

You have a valid point. It's the same reason I don't by "designer" jeans or whatever. I like my Sam's Club jeans and they're every bit as good as anything else I've worn so, for utility value there's little point in spending more. Same for signature tools I think in many cases. Now, my favorite tools are my Ellsworth and Thompson tools. But I'd say that it is their noticeable (to me, anyway) difference in quality that makes me willing to spend more. I'd spend more for increased utility value if I needed to, but a "name" is meaningless unless it brings with it some value that is otherwise unobtainable.

I ground my first bowl gouge - from a Benjamin's Best set - to an Ellsworth grind and it worked fine, but I could sure tell the difference in how long it lasts, and really, how well it takes an edge. And I do believe that the PM tools and Doug Thompson's tools are worth it. Actually, I think that Doug's tools are a bargain compared to a lot of the stuff out there. I just bought a 1/2" spindle gouge and a 3/8" detail gouge for less than my 3/8" Crown PM bowl gouge. Quite a bit less, actually.

But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. :)
 
John Brown said:
A SawsAll blade with the teeth ground off sharpened on one end any way you like and electrical tape wrapped around the other end makes a real good one and doesn't cost an arm and a leg.
Click to expand...

John, I confess. I've done that too. Except I slapped some knife scales on it with some epoxy and it worked pretty well. Lately I also use a small veneer saw for a parting too. Lathe reversed, turning slowly, it works very well for small stuff.
 
Well, I've missed some good discussion since Odie's last post -- we've been dealing with the aftermath of a car missing a curve at the front of our property, becoming airborne, going through the front hedge, landing about 50' in and then plowing into our old boat and trailer. Made quite a mess, and we have to fence off that big hole in the hedge to keep the dog in. I feel that, just perhaps, we should put up a "No Entrance" sign also. Poor guy, evidently had a seizure of some sort -- OK though.

Back to parting tools and tool snobbery. A couple pics -- car at rest (and totaled), and car being winched out the way it came in.

Auto+Officer.jpg Auto leaving1.jpg
 
Jamie, I'm sorry to hear about all the excitement ... not a good day for all involved.

My opinion is that Thompson tools are a good deal since they cost less than Sorby or others, are made of more exotic alloys, sharpen just as easily and just as sharp, and hold an edge longer. If there's a downside it would be that they are sold unhandled. I can't imagine that a woodturner would feel that making a tool handle is anything other than an opportunity to personalize their tool. How much trouble is it to make a handle anyway? Odie, my favorite bowl gouge is a Sorby probably for no reason other than it was the first one that I owned. I have managed over the years to get quite a collection of bowl gouges for reasons that defy explanation and most of them are Thompson... not that I dislike the others... they're all very good, but whenever possible I buy US made products.
 
Bill Boehme said:
Thompson tools are a good deal since they cost less than Sorby or others,
Click to expand...
I agree Thompson tools are competitively priced. I have a about eight 5/8 diameter bowl gouges with the Ellsworth grind. I find I get a much nicer edge on the PM tool's with the CBN wheels.


In order of how I like them.

Jamieson by Thompson.
Ellsworth signature Crown
3 Henry Taylor's M2
2 Packard (crown?) M2
Thompson V - just use this one for roughing I don't like it for shear cutting. Flute is too narrow.

al
 
Bill Boehme said:
My opinion is that Thompson tools are a good deal since they cost less than Sorby or others, are made of more exotic alloys, sharpen just as easily and just as sharp, and hold an edge longer. If there's a downside it would be that they are sold unhandled. I can't imagine that a woodturner would feel that making a tool handle is anything other than an opportunity to personalize their tool. How much trouble is it to make a handle anyway?
Click to expand...

I also prefer to buy tools unhandled. Another benefit of Thompson tools to me at least.
 
Jamie, I think you are correct. Like I mentioned earlier, I have not been able to replace my Ashley Iles thin parting tool. It was well made, and, better yet, it worked. Now it's just a little short at one end. One of our club members gave me a power hacksaw blade to try out. I outfitted it with a beautifully made duct tape handle, tried a few different grinds and decided it was adequate, so, yes, it worked but it wasn't fun to use. I have one made from a steak knife that looks like it may have come from the outback, same thing, it works, but you still have to widen the kerf to keep from binding/burning if parting deep. A few others that I mentioned in an earlier post work ok.
I got to try out Dave's parting tool last year and knew I'd get one eventually. It will arrive tomorrow...I'l let you know If it's as I remember...
 
I've had the Sorby fanged tool since it was $29.95 - maybe twenty years. No problem with the tool rest, as I stress often, when you hold the tool to it with your off hand so it won't bounce. By doing that, rotating up and into the area to be parted (or down), you toolrest will remain undinged.
 
MichaelMouse said:
I've had the Sorby fanged tool since it was $29.95 - maybe twenty years. No problem with the tool rest, as I stress often, when you hold the tool to it with your off hand so it won't bounce. By doing that, rotating up and into the area to be parted (or down), you toolrest will remain undinged.
Click to expand...

Howdy MM.......

Theoretically, it would seem that rotating the tool down into the cut would be pretty dangerous.....:eek:

You might need to explain that a bit further......

-------------------------------------------------

Most of my parting tool use is removing a finished bowl from the waste block. It doesn't have to be as clean a cut as possible, but the fluted Nick Cook tool does a very decent job of it, nonetheless. For those who'd like to try a fluted parting tool, Richard Raffan explains how to do this in his video. (Or, it might have been in his book.....can't remember off hand.) A couple barbs can be created on the leading edge of the parting tool by using the corner of the grind wheel. All that's necessary is to grind a V into the leading edge, and the tool has a couple "spurs" that act similarly to the fluted gouge. It's good for several sharpenings, or until it's necessary to renew the V spurs.
 
That's a clever descriptive name, fanged. At today's prices I might feel like I got fanged in the pocketbook. I noticed that Sorby has two variations of fanged parting tools. Mine is what they now call the Nick Cook parting tool where the angled fluted portion is meant to overhang the tool rest, but I have done up close work with the fluted portion on the rest. I am always more concerned about dinging the flutes than the tool rest since the tool rest in my case has a hardened steel bar.
 
Bill Boehme said:
My interpretation is that it would be like a peeling cut where the tool makes an arc towards the center rather than straight plunging into the side.
Click to expand...

Could be, I suppose......but MM did say he was holding the tool to the rest with his offhand. If that is so, then the cut would necessarily be an arc at a fixed pivot point, and the tool not moving on the rest.......I'm a little confused about just what he's telling us.........

ko
 
I have done the sawsall blade parting tool, if you go that route I highly suggest you get a "fire and rescue" blade. they are the strongest blades made for a sawsall. I didn't really care for that route because it was not very stout. I ordered a sorby thin parting tool from amazon, it was like 30$ handled so it's kind of hard to go wrong with that. I have no issues so far with it.
 
odie said:
Could be, I suppose......but MM did say he was holding the tool to the rest with his offhand. If that is so, then the cut would necessarily be an arc at a fixed pivot point, and the tool not moving on the rest.......I'm a little confused about just what he's telling us.........
Click to expand...

I've never parted off anything where I didn't stop to check my progress and adjust the rest so for me it would be a moot point.
 
Jamie Straw said:
landing about 50' in and then plowing into our old boat and trailer
Click to expand...

sounds like Kansas city and now I do not have to move boat every time to mow.......glad he is ok
 
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