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Why not a carbide bowl gouge?

Can't think of a better way to ruin a CBN wheel than to use it to sharpen carbide, yes it will for awhile but it will ruin it.
 
Bill Blasic said:
Can't think of a better way to ruin a CBN wheel than to use it to sharpen carbide, yes it will for awhile but it will ruin it.
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Bill I ground a Hunter cutter completely to the middle like cutting it in half so I could photograph the profile. Did not hurt my CBN at all as near as I can tell.
 
Bill Blasic said:
Can't think of a better way to ruin a CBN wheel than to use it to sharpen carbide, yes it will for awhile but it will ruin it.
Click to expand...
Yes, I think you need a diamond wheel to sharpen carbide. I’m not an expert but that was one of the reasons I replaced my original Tormek wheel with diamond when Tormek offered them. It allows me to get more service from some carbide cutters. There are still a number of carbides that just can’t be sharpened because of their design. The only way I know that Easy Wood type round cutters can be sharpened is with diamond.
 
Another vote for carbide being sharpened on diamond. You may be able to find diamond wheels for the standard grinders, but the problem is that at even the low speeds of the slow speed grinders, the diamonds degrade really quickly. The Tradesman grinder from up in Canada does have diamond wheels for it, and the grinder is very slow speed. It was originally made for sharpening the tools for the CNC machines. I did have one set of CBN wheels that died after I sharpened some carbide on them. They were close to being worn out at the time, but the carbide killed them. Go with the Tormek diamond wheels.

robo hippy
 
I've had a 300 and 600 grit Tormek diamond wheel since they became available a couple of years ago and mine show no signs of wear. I haven't used the 300 grit very much; just for larger grinding adjustments. I have used the 600 grit and the results are excellent. No wheel maintenance and a great edge. For turning, I doubt that anything finer than 600 would be necessary. On my Crown Ellsworth Pro PM gouge, a single sharpening on the 600 diamond wheel lasts a long time. While I do use it for my Easy Wood carbide cutters, and it works well, I use it more for my HSS tools and it works really well for those tools also.
 
You can grind carbide on green wheels that are made for that. I use for my metal lathe tools. Doubt it would be good for grinding the tops of flat carbide.
 
think it kind of depends on the green wheel - I have a couple of them that go with an old (dare I say ancient?) Foley-Belsaw Sharp-All (for grinding carbide tipped saw blades) as much as I have used them (and Dad got that sharp-all back in the 1990's) they are still going strong... I used them for various other things besides carbide saw blades (for the time and trouble to sharpen the semi-cheap blades, it's cheaper to just replace them anyhow)
 
Sorry, I don’t know how to see private messages. There seems to be a lot of love for Hunter carbide tools. Harrison Specialities has a saucer shaped tool. Is that similar to the Hunter tool and is it better, worse than the Hunter tool? I got the basic Harrison square, round, and diamond shape tool. I am a relative beginner. So should I invest in the Harrison or Hunter saucer shaped tool? Thanks.
 
When it comes to carbide tools there is only one brand that I will use and that is Hunter Tool System carbide. Its not only the fine grade carbide used in these tools but also the tools are actually made to do the job they are designed for using correct angles and shaft design. Where most carbide tools scrape (just glorified scrapers) the Hunter tools slice the wood. They can also be used in a bevel rubbing attitude. The fine nano grade carbide stays sharp for a very long time and all you have to do is loosen the cutter and turn it a little for a new cutting edge. They are very well thought out in design and a great addition to your turning arsenal.
 
John Sisak said:
There seems to be a lot of love for Hunter carbide tools. Harrison Specialities has a saucer shaped tool. Is that similar to the Hunter tool and is it better, worse than the Hunter tool?
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The Hunter tools work extremely well and last a fairly long time.
The Hunter carbides are remarketed by several hollowing tool makers.
The hunters are the ones sold by the major woodturning supply houses, also easy wood and sorby

May have difficulty finding someone who has done a reasonable comparison between the Harrison and Hunter.

Unlike gouges, There is little opportunity for instructors to see and use student owned carbides.
When teaching you get to see, sharpen and occasionally use students’ gouges by many manufacturers.
Carbides aren’t used in many classes except hollowing.
 
Does the Hunter tool work so well because of the angle that the carbide blade is mounted to the shaft? Which Hunter tool should I buy first? I have been turning bowls 6”-12” diameter, vases 3+” diameter several inches tall. I have also been turning cheese knife handles to go with cheese cutting boards.
 
John Sisak said:
Does the Hunter tool work so well because of the angle that the carbide blade is mounted to the shaft?
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That is part of it. The other is the shape of the cutter. Most carbide inserts are flat top. The Hunter “gouge” style use a cupped cutter, creating a sharper edge. The cannoat be resharpened like a flat top. Do not use them like a scraper - how the flat top style is used. @john lucas has some utube vids on how they work.
 
Pretty much what Doug said above. The standard flat cutters are intended to be used as scrapers, and not for any shear cutting. This is why they are on square bars rather than round. The cupped tools like the Hunter ones are designed for shear cutting, which is an angled cut.

robo hippy
 
Maybe @john lucas has a good list of his videos he can share here. John’s videos are great.

But his are easy to find. Go to YouTube with an App or a browser.
Then search “John Lucas Hunter”. You have to look through the titles. There is one on carbides. 2 on the Hunter viceroy, one on the Hunter Hercules, and #5 Hunter badger. You may have to scroll down to see them all. There could be more…

You can also search “John Lucas woodturning” the same five come up here too intermixed with a bunch of other videos by John that have a few by Glenn Lucas and one by David Ellsworth these are other turning skills but worth watching too.
 
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Have not tried the Harison tools. I have if course used a lot of Hunter tools. My favorite is the Hercules, Viceroy, and Badger. I like the Hercules because it cuts just like a bowl gouge in a push cut. It's also great for bulk removal if used like a scraper. The Viceroy is now my go to tool for small thin hollowing like vases and my Angel's. I can hollow out my little Angel's to 2mm think faster than any tool I've tried. The Badger is my box finishing tool and my bottoming gouge. I like it for bowl bottoms because it has an outside bevel of 82 degrees to you can cut across the bottom of very steep bowls while riding the bevel. However the cutting edge is 60 degrees so it cuts cleaner than blunt grind bottoming gouges. For finishing the inside of boxes its unsurpassed. I can cut a flat bottom that looks like its cut with 600 grit. Use it as a shear scraper to do the sides of the box and you can get a finish like 350 grit . Here is my video on the tool he now calls the Badger.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfp2kvhH6Mo
 
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