Crown tools?

[Jameshow]

Anyone brought any of thier tools?

Seem genuine and decent stuff but website is poor.

Google has a few recent reviews...

http://www.crownhandtools.ltd.uk/index.html
Cheers James

 

[marcros]

I have a couple bought at a show. Although they possibly sell direct, I think it is an old fashioned manufacturers website and direct sales were an afterthought. At the show, the lady looked through the printed version of the website and filled in a form for 1 thing that they didn't have on the day. The price was good when I bought them, but 1 tool is unique to Crown, and the other was a strange specific size that I needed to fit some clamps in a more box- whichever manufacturer had the right size would get my order!

I have a gents saw and a recess tool for turning pepper mills. It is hard to comment quality wise, both work fine but by their nature dont get huge use. I am not wild about the handle on the turning tool, but I dont like several of other brands either so I think it is me. The saw is sharp, cuts. Handle is ok. Solid utility level tool.

I would buy their tools again based on these but... I would probably want to have a closer look at things like bench chisels first, just because feel is a bit more important than with other things and is very personal. I would probably go to ebay or Ashley Iles for turning tools because the latter supply them unhandled which saves a few quid. Nothing against Crown though.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I have a Crown cryo spindle gouge (from Taylor's of Mirfield, that happened to be way cheaper than Axi, but are now out of stock of spindle gouges) which is an excellent tool. I was surprised how much better the cryo stuff is - I had a piece of pine (believe it or not - I have no idea what the pine is) that was so hard a newly ground Ashley Isles HSS spindle gouge wouldn't touch it, but the identically newly ground cryo one cut it easily. Weird.
I have a gift voucher on the way for Taylor's so may get either the 1/4" spindle or the 3/8" bowl gouge (I have already 1/4" and the 1/2"s). As per Marcross - I prefer a different handle, different shape and size in my case, that's a reason usually for going for A. I. unhandled.

 

[RichardG]

I note that Richard Findley uses their cryo M42 turning gouges, I’d be surprised if a production turner would use anything that was wasn’t fit for purpose even if they were sponsored....

 

[Cabinetman]

It’s a shame the website isn’t as good as their tools, I couldn’t make it work at all with a view to pricing or ordering. I have three of their tools a cabinetmakers screwdriver, marking gauge and marking knife. All good quality do what they’ve meant to do and should last for years. I ordered them through Axminster last year. Ian

 

[D_W]

Dried and old aged pine can be a bear - powdery earlywood and stiff fragile hard latewood and knots.

I have a few crown tools, mostly marking gauges and a powder metal fingernail gouge. They're good honest tools and not junk. Id imagine the saws probably aren't up to snuff with vintage, though, but I'm sure they work.

 

[Sideways]

I find the handles of their turning tools to be comfortable so Crown cryo are my first choice turning tools. I have a couple of their spindle gouges and a double ended blade that I use in one of Simon Hope's adjustable handles.
Good kit.
Buy the turning tools from Simon, other online dealers, from the show stand at Harrogate or from Axminster stores.

 

[gregmcateer]

They've a good reputation for turning tools. Mark Sanger sells their m42 tools.
I emailed crown asking difference in steels and benefits for a hobby turner. They emailed back asking if they could call and run through options.
The boss rang me, gave me as much time and info as wanted and personally guaranteed satisfaction if I bought their tools from any of their sellers.
Seems a pretty good offering, IMHO.
Christmas present for me soon to be ordered

 

[Gerard Scanlan]

I bought a crown sliding bevel a few years ago. Very inexpensive and really good quality. It was so cheap I nearly didn't buy it. It would seem not everything needs to break the bank.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

For spindle and bowl gouges have a look at Collections

I've just ordered two as they've just come in stock and surprisingly they haven't gone up. They're several quid cheaper than Axminster, but you get caught for P&P under £60.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I've just looked the warnings on the packaging for when the product is sold in California. The product in the package can expose me to chemicals including lead. I do hope my expensive pieces of cryo steel haven't got lead in them.

Taylor's prices don't seem to have increased (one hasn't, I didn't look at the other one before) - makes a change.

 

[dannyr]

There'll be no significant lead in the steel, they're probably just covering themselves regarding the varnish on the handle? Even fresh lumber/timber can have some lead, especially if grown near a highway.

I once got stopped by officious French customs with some metal which they confiscated because the alloy contained Titanium - a military strategic metal for France at the time. It was no use telling them that the mud on their boots certainly contained more titanium than the <0.07% listed in the spec.

 

[D_W]

If there is brass on the tools (ferrules, etc), it likely has lead in it to make it easier to machine.

Funny enough or not so funny, if you ground the cryo steel often and had small bits hanging in the air (this may sound unreasonable, but I've run the belt grinder before in still air and had what looks like a sunbeam coming down from the overhead lights - you can *taste* it) and breathed it, you'd be at greater risk than you would from touching a free machining brass ferrule (free machining brass is usually cheaper and takes machining and surfacing a lot better - it's not gummy and doesn't stick to things). I'd be more convinced of its use on marking gauges or things with larger brass faces than tube, though.

California isn't apparently worried about your respiratory health - they're much more concerned that you will sand and sniff the brass ferrule several times a day for sport.

 

[D_W]

By the way, re: the comment above about sheffield tool price - the few places still making tools in sheffield do a superb job for the price. Prissy customers have passed them by, so if you get a rosewood gauge that is a bit sticky in use, instead of lightly adjusting the wood in the tight spot, the prissy customers (and sorry, we are at the head of the class of this in the US) will return the entire tool and badmouth the maker. For someone like me (who is choosing between buying and making the entire tool), when a maker like sheffield makes the entire tool for cost of materials for the average person, I'll gladly make a small adjustment. It's the $200 versions of a $40 tool where all of the difference is in faffing and surface finish that I just don't have much for.

I spend a fair amount of time on the american forums arguing on behalf of the iles chisels, which get the same criticism I've seen on here ("the bevels look a little bit uneven, like someone did them by hand in a hurry". ....

.....yes, they probably did them by hand!!! try to duplicate it for $30 retail!)

 

[Cabinetman]

By the way, re: the comment above about sheffield tool price - the few places still making tools in sheffield do a superb job for the price. Prissy customers have passed them by, so if you get a rosewood gauge that is a bit sticky in use, instead of lightly adjusting the wood in the tight spot, the prissy customers (and sorry, we are at the head of the class of this in the US) will return the entire tool and badmouth the maker. For someone like me (who is choosing between buying and making the entire tool), when a maker like sheffield makes the entire tool for cost of materials for the average person, I'll gladly make a small adjustment. It's the $200 versions of a $40 tool where all of the difference is in faffing and surface finish that I just don't have much for.

I spend a fair amount of time on the american forums arguing on behalf of the iles chisels, which get the same criticism I've seen on here ("the bevels look a little bit uneven, like someone did them by hand in a hurry". ....

.....yes, they probably did them by hand!!! try to duplicate it for $30 retail!)

No criticism of you and thanks for sticking up for Sheffield tools, but you’re right your countrymen can be more than a little picky, and sometimes they don’t realise what they don’t know! Ian

 

[Phil Pascoe]

The ferrules on the Crown cryo's are steel (not that its's of much importance.)

 

[D_W]

No criticism of you and thanks for sticking up for Sheffield tools, but you’re right your countrymen can be more than a little picky, and sometimes they don’t realise what they don’t know! Ian

The customer is always right goofiness is partially responsible for that. I will fix anything that I can buy rather than returning it if the balance of fixing is less than boxing and waiting. It's a matter of courtesy as well as practicality.

(there's also been a race for convenience and modernity that started here in the 1800s - my grandparents lived through the transition from farming with mules to machines with air conditioning and hydraulics, and they were not particularly sentimental about old ways. Disconnect people from doing things with their hands, or making things in general, and they get ridiculous and prefer sterile CNC uniformity in every element).

 

[D_W]

The ferrules on the Crown cryo's are steel (not that its's of much importance.)

Hmm i wonder where the lead is!! or if there isn't really any - do finishes really have lead in them? I can't imagine lead is something in steel in any significant amount, but with powder metal, I guess you could put hamburger in the mix and still make a uniform steel.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

From what I've seen of warnings for California the best thing to do is to put every known warning on every product, inventing a few more would probably be wise, as well.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I did buy exhausts for my bike - rifled shotguns, the longer of the pair was 6'2" from the manifold - that came with the warning not legal for use in California. That's good enough for me, I thought.

edit - the irony being they were made in ................ California.