Home made turning tools

[graduate_owner]

Hi all,
I have made a few scrapers from HSS bought from China (ebay) and they seem pretty good. I have been thinking of trying to make some more from steel I have in the shed, so was wondering if anyone has tried using things like old lawn mower blades, garden shears blades or rotavator blades. Any other suggestions, apart from the usual Allen keys or old files (not a good idea I am told)?

K

 

[Paul Hannaby]

You can make tools from most sources of high carbon steel blades such as those mentioned but turning tools are tempered to make them shock resistant so they won't snap under a shock load (as will certainly happen when turning at some point).
Files are best avoided as they are hardened to glass hard and can crack when dropped and may snap when shock loaded. If you are competent to re-temper the steel you can reduce the risk but unless you know that file has never been dropped or abused during its life, you won't know if there aren't already microscopic cracks in it which will weaken it even if you do re-temper it. Also, at the end of the day you would end up with a high carbon steel tool which will need sharpening much more frequently than a decent HSS tool so why bother!

You would be far better off buying a second hand HSS tool rather than spending a lot of time repurposing something which will never give you as good a tool.

 

[niall Y]

I have successfully made large scrapers for bowl turning, from O1 tool steel, Not as hardwearing as HSS, but a lot easier to temper in a domestic oven. I've also made some small beading tools from the same steel. This is easily purchased as ground flat-stock in an annealed state for hardening and tempering..
.Should you want to make use of what might be knocking around then leaf-springs are a fairly good source of high carbon steel. Admittedly this is not HSS, but that is much harder to heat treat because of the higher temperatures involved, which is why it is usually sold pre hardened and tempered, for grinding to shape.