Too many tools?

[Emiliano Achaval]

I'm afraid when beginners come to the club meetings they are worry they need as many tools as I have accumulated in over 20 years of turning!! I make a point of doing a demo where I turn a bowl with just one tool, a David Ellsworth gouge.
If I had to start all over, I would buy just one bowl gouge to begin with... Then again, I would need my industrial 3/4 HP Baldor grinder with CBN wheels. Oh, wait, my new RSG from Doug Thomson too. I I think my point tool and all my thread chasing tools too. And I can't forget my spindle gouges, with different angles. Or my bottom feeder bowl gouge with an 85 degree angle. Come to think of it, I have been using the Thomson Negative rake scraper a lot... I think I'm forgetting a few... Aloha

 

[Bill Boehme]

I have some tools that I haven't used yet ... and a few that I may never use. When I first started turning I bought a boxed set of Crown tools and figured that was all the tools that I would ever need. There's always something that I think that I need. Before I got into turning I managed to accumulate just about every flat woodworking tool known to man.

 

[Lamar Wright]

As a pen maker I used three turning tools, a small detail gouge, small parting tool and a small scraper, that's it. Now that I've expanded my desire to turn other things I purchased the Sorby starter set and I like it very much. It has all the tools I need as a beginner for turning small bowls, plates , platters ect. The only other tool I bought was the Sorby 5/8 bowl gouge because the set I bought only had a 3/8 bowl gouge and I knew sooner or later I'd need a larger bowl gouge. I sure that as I progress with my turnings that I'll be adding to my collection of tools as I need them. By the way, I've been turning a lot of green wood and dry wood also learning what each tool does and how it cuts. At 67 years old I don't guess I'm to old to learn! I've also bought the Wolverine sharpening system to sharpen my tools. There is a lot to learn, but I'm enjoying it very much!

 

[John Torchick]

You can never have too many tools. After all, the one who dies with the most tools, wins!

 

[Dave Fritz]

Or another: "I'm one tool from greatness."

 

[Bill Boehme]

Or another: "I'm one tool from greatness."

The only problem is that I don't know what tool that one is that I need so I have to buy them all.

 

[robo hippy]

I watched Eric Lofstrom at a demo up in Salem, OR. He did a box out of sugar maple, and uses his negative rake scrapers, several of which are specialty tools. So, I go home and make one. Took about 3 hours, at least half of which was spent grinding and reshaping some old tools that I don't use any more, into more specialized tools. That lead to calling up Dave Schweitzer to talk about metals and tools, and I am having him make me some blanks that I can grind to my preferences...... If it ain't broke, take it apart and fix it any way.... I am starting to prefer the burnished burr on my NRS tools. They are tending to be more 70/30 degree bevels rather than 30/30 though, and they work better for endgrain than for bowls...

robo hippy

 

[George Guadiane]

I think I'm forgetting a few... Aloha

I tried to walk away from this one but it pulled me back in...
I have a core set of tools. FOR THE MOST PART, they are the ones I learned with. I keep the add ons as I learn new things with them or when they help me do things better/differently than my core set.
I buy and sell things for a living, when turning tools come up, I try to use them all to see if they might be improvements over my core set... VERY infrequently do I find something that I could call a game changer.
I still use a number of old/antique screwdrivers that I started using when I was POOR and trying to find better specialty scrapers... They still work.I do have a few tools that I almost never use but cannot bring myself to get rid of... My bowl coring set would be an example.
The ones that don't work for me often seem to work beautifully in the hands of others.
I just keep telling people to use what works.

 

[AlanZ]

Many tasks can be done with basic, multi-use tools. But it's a joy to use special purpose tools... designed for a specific tasks.
I'm in it for the toys... errrrr, tools!
Learning to use new tools and materials is part of what makes this hobby fun for me.

 

[Lamar Wright]

When UPS comes knocking on my door with a new woodturning tool I'm like a kid at Christmas! Like AlanZ said, new materials is what makes this hobby fun and it keeps the tool company's in business.

 

[Tom Gall]

Or another: "I'm one tool from greatness."

You can never have too many tools. After all, the one who dies with the most tools, wins!

I have BOTH of those Tee-shirts!

 

[hockenbery]

I'm content with an Ellsworth gouge, a 3/8 spindle gouge, a straight and a curved hollowing bar.

Then I look at my work table and see 1/4" bowl gouge, 1/2" spindle gouge, 3 parting tools, 2 point tools(both gifts) a couple more hollowing bars, a hunter tool( gift), a round nose scraper, and an Al Stirt scraper. ..... then there are all the ones on the shelf.....

Now I have two blast cabinets.....
If I can sell a couple lathes I will have room for another blast cabinet.

 

[odie]

I've actually sold a few lathe tools recently......big scrapers that I decided I'll never use. They were still new in the wrap. I've also sold my 6" Jet Jointer, and 20" Grizzly planer. These were for laminated bowls and cutting boards......made quite a few back last century, but have evolved away from these things. Sold a wet grinder, too! Will not sell tools that I know I'll use, though!

-----odie-----

 

[Emiliano Achaval]

You can never have too many tools. After all, the one who dies with the most tools, wins!

Do you mind if I tell my wife this? lol (The one with most tools wins)

 

[Emiliano Achaval]

I'm content with an Ellsworth gouge, a 3/8 spindle gouge, a straight and a curved hollowing bar.

Then I look at my work table and see 1/4" bowl gouge, 1/2" spindle gouge, 3 parting tools, 2 point tools(both gifts) a couple more hollowing bars, a hunter tool( gift), a round nose scraper, and an Al Stirt scraper. ..... then there are all the ones on the shelf.....

Now I have two blast cabinets.....
If I can sell a couple lathes I will have room for another blast cabinet.

I'm assuming a blast cabinet is for sanding? Have we seen any work sandblasted from you yet? I looked into it, there was a small one for sale...

 

[Bill Boehme]

Now I have two blast cabinets.....
If I can sell a couple lathes I will have room for another blast cabinet.

What do you think about the HF blast cabinet Secretary?

 

[hockenbery]

I'm assuming a blast cabinet is for sanding? Have we seen any work sandblasted from you yet? I looked into it, there was a small one for sale...

I posted a few pieces in the gallery here, a couple on Wow, my avitar is a sand carved globe and stand.
See American Woodturner dec 2016. It is sort of the florida issue with Biggs, Geiger, Wager, Hockenbery... I have an article on sand carving.
These are all sand carved: http://swat.hockenbery.net/gallery.pdf

What do you think about the HF blast cabinet Secretary?

I'm doing a couple of sandcarving demos at Swat. Come by if you can.

I have the HF stand alone and the tabletop. They are equal as far as blasting. The stand alone has lots of feature making it a better choice if you have the room and both are down right big if you are short on space. Both cabinets are siphon feed that recylce the blast media from a well at the bottom through the gun. The standup has trap door at the bottom that lets the media come out quickly the desk top has a little 1" pipe that requires coercing the media through it along with tilting and shaking the cabinet. Also the desktop does not have light inside so I put some IKEA sticker LEDs on the top.
Tap them for on off.
The really expensive cabinets have thing like pressure feed, foot switches, self contained dust collection. These are thing you can add to the harbor freights.

 

[john lucas]

There ain't no such thing as too many tools. That's a myth.

 

[RichColvin]

Yeah, but I end up having to get more tool boxes ...

 

[John Torchick]

Rich, what is your point?

 

[john lucas]

Been there done that. Bought 3 more tool boxes when I moved into my new shop.

 

[Don Bunce]

"The one who dies with the most tools wins..."

Actually, It is the guy that buys those tools from his widow that wins.....

 

[john lucas]

Naw it's probably the Auction company that sells them after he dies.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Yeah, but I end up having to get more tool boxes ...

Rich, what is your point?

I believe the point would be that it is a win-win situation.

 

[Emiliano Achaval]

I posted a few pieces in the gallery here, a couple on Wow, my avitar is a sand carved globe and stand.
See American Woodturner dec 2016. It is sort of the florida issue with Biggs, Geiger, Wager, Hockenbery... I have an article on sand carving.
These are all sand carved: http://swat.hockenbery.net/gallery.pdf


I'm doing a couple of sandcarving demos at Swat. Come by if you can.

I have the HF stand alone and the tabletop. They are equal as far as blasting. The stand alone has lots of feature making it a better choice if you have the room and both are down right big if you are short on space. Both cabinets are siphon feed that recylce the blast media from a well at the bottom through the gun. The standup has trap door at the bottom that lets the media come out quickly the desk top has a little 1" pipe that requires coercing the media through it along with tilting and shaking the cabinet. Also the desktop does not have light inside so I put some IKEA sticker LEDs on the top.
Tap them for on off.
The really expensive cabinets have thing like pressure feed, foot switches, self contained dust collection. These are thing you can add to the harbor freights.

Would love to see you at SWAT... The wife is having some health issues, can't leave home for a while. Had to cancel my trip to Sparta Illinois, for the world championship trapshooting, going on now... I'm going to take a look at your article... Aloha

 

[RichColvin]

The problem is running out of floor space !

 

[Doug Rasmussen]

No small wonder suppliers are promoting all sort of "must have" accessories.

Couple weeks ago I phoned a manufacturer/supplier to turners. We were having a nice discussion about turning, etc. I happened to mention the what I thought were the extremely high prices for small quantities of finishing products. This really set him off on pricing and markups. He mentioned the big ticket items like lathes have relatively little markup at suggested retail pricing. It's in the accessories where the dealer makes the killing.

 

[Jay Mullins]

You can never have too many tools. After all, the one who dies with the most tools, wins!

I've heard that before, but never heard what the prize was.

jay

 

[Jay Mullins]

Naw it's probably the Auction company that sells them after he dies.

In my case the kids would have a dumpster parked outside the shop and throw everything away.

Jay

 

[Pete Blair]

I too am a tool junky. This month I added a metal lathe. I'm having trouble finding a spot on my lathe tool carousel for it!!
I'm afraid that I am unable to turn down a new tool(pun intended), in addition I just love to make tools for my wood lathe.

 

[John Torchick]

I've heard that before, but never heard what the prize was.

It is an honorary prize, just knowing you are the Grand Kahuna of Turning Tools.

 

[john lucas]

Yes I have a metal lathe, and also a blacksmith shop.

 

[Bill Boehme]

It is an honorary prize, just knowing you are the Grand Kahuna of Turning Tools.

The prize is that you are spared the pain of seeing what happens to all your tools after you're gone.

 

[john lucas]

I had a nightmare one night. I dreamed I was gone and they were auctioning off my equipment. They had my router in one box and a lot of my really useful jigs in another and they sold separately and I was screaming, no those go together. Same with all my odd pieces for the lathe. Someone took out the bigger tools and just threw all the more useful things away. It was a nightmare, no one understood how important all those things were. And my moulding planes were being sold individually for people to hang on their wall. Aaaaaaahh.

 

[Doug Rasmussen]

I had a nightmare one night. I dreamed I was gone and they were auctioning off my equipment. They had my router in one box and a lot of my really useful jigs in another and they sold separately and I was screaming, no those go together. Same with all my odd pieces for the lathe. Someone took out the bigger tools and just threw all the more useful things away. It was a nightmare, no one understood how important all those things were. And my moulding planes were being sold individually for people to hang on their wall. Aaaaaaahh.

I think that's a form of PTSD. For at least 10 years out of the university occasionally I'd have dreams about not being aware of or being prepared for a final exam. Apparently I'm not alone in having that particular dream.

 

[AlanZ]

Doug, it's been more than 40 years for me... and I still have those dreams!

 

[John Torchick]

Been out of college for 46 years and grad school for 40 years. Never looked back- awake or sleeping.

 

[Bill Boehme]

I think that's a form of PTSD. For at least 10 years out of the university occasionally I'd have dreams about not being aware of or being prepared for a final exam. Apparently I'm not alone in having that particular dream.

I thought that I was the only one who had that crazy dream and also dreamed that there was an essential course that I forgot to take and other variations on that theme. Dreams are strange. It's interesting that when I retired I never dreamed that I had to go back to work because I wasn't old enough to retire.

 

[john lucas]

Ha Ha Bill you are so right. I also have had the dreams where you couldn't graduate because you hadn't done something. I have never had those dreams about retirement. Probably because I worked my ass off and earned every minute of it.

 

[John Torchick]

John, I noticed that your walk was a bit unusual. Now I know why.