Types of Turning tool...

[CHJ]

If you have the opportunity to handle tools before you purchase you may be surprise at the difference of 'feel' in your hands, both weight of the steel (Length/thickness of bar) and the handle proportions can make a great deal of difference between brands regarding feel for what ostensibly are the same description tools.

This is where a club may be of considerable help, I know it was only after about 12 months turning that I realised I was picking up a particular gouge over another similar because of the balance in my hands, and subsequently went on to mixing and matching extras after handling various brands rather than on description.

This may well be another incentive to limit your initial purchases until you have a 'feel' for first tools. The turning tool is an extension of your body proportions and there is nothing to be gained by trying to use a tool with extra long handles or steel shafts say if it forces an uncomfortable stance.

 

[chipmunk]

+1 for Chas' comments.

The other thing about turning your own handles is that you don't become precious about keeping the set looking the same if they're not right. If the handle feels wrong then change it - make it longer, shorter, thinner or thicker but you are in control - but at the end of the day you can make them the same if you want to as well.

I noticed Eli Avisera at Harrogate and he had the most beautifully elegant hand turned ash handles on his tools. They were quite uniform but distinctly his own shape and size.

HTH
Jon

 

[Robbo3]

Interesting problem.

Common advice given to beginners is that you need a lathe, turning tools, a grinder & probably a jig to aid spindle & bowl gouge sharpening.

You then have to learn three things ;How to mount the timber, how to use the tools & how to sharpen them.

If you decide to go with the Turnmaster system & it works, you may be the brave person who changed conventional thinking.

That's not a lot of help to a beginner, however for conventional tools, a small flat diamond stone rested on the tip & heel of the concave grind then gently moved sideways may just keep your tools honed for long enough until you can afford a grinder.

- http://www.toolpost.co.uk/pages/Grindin ... html#Slips

The toolpost Compac set linked to earlier looks very nice & the Axminster is still a good value for money set @ £71.50

- http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-hs ... -tools-set

 

[deejaymobile]

Sorry for the delayed reply guys, work has really got in the way of my forum browsing today P

Ian - Thanks for the reply regarding the grinder. Would I only use the white oxide wheel then and forget using the coarse stone as a beginner?

Jon - I really do like the idea of buying just two / three tools and then making handles for other tools as and when I need them. Would you happen to have the address to a website where I could purchase the Ash handle blanks online? Anyone you have used previously maybe? I do have quite large hands so maybe making my own handles will improve the feel for me too.

Chas - Indeed, I would love to get hold of some tools and feel them first, but I there are no clubs anywhere near me. SL Hardwoods is an actual shop that I could get to on the train from where I am fairly easily though, so I may pop along there and have a feel for the tools. See if anything stands out or gets dismissed feel wise.

Robbo - I'm really not sure about going it alone as a beginner and trying to change decades of conventional thinking, but there is a little bit inside me that just keeps bringing me back to that Turnmaster system. Maybe if I can get to SL Hardwoods this weekend I can weigh them up better in person.

Again thanks all for the input so far, it is much appreciated indeed!

 

[chipmunk]

Jon - I really do like the idea of buying just two / three tools and then making handles for other tools as and when I need them. Would you happen to have the address to a website where I could purchase the Ash handle blanks online? Anyone you have used previously maybe? I do have quite large hands so maybe making my own handles will improve the feel for me too.

Well the Toolpost sell ash turning square blanks 50mm x 300mm nominal http://www.toolpost.co.uk/pages/Hardwoods/Domestic_Timbers/domestic_timbers.html

...and Stiles and Bates have a bit more choice of sizes 2" x 12/24" or 18" (bowl gouge maybe) would be about the same price...
http://www.stilesandbates.co.uk/product.php/section/6273/sn/ASHSB_MST

I must admit I very rarely buy wood by post but I would from both of these places.
HTH
Jon

 

[deejaymobile]

Thanks Jon, that is very helpful indeed! I'll also ask in the shop at the weekend too.

Cheers,

Dave.

 

[Silverbirch]

Ian - Thanks for the reply regarding the grinder. Would I only use the white oxide wheel then and forget using the coarse stone as a beginner?

Basically, yes. If you are buying new tools, they will be ground to useable profiles and initially, you will just need to touch them up lightly, as you work, on the finer wheel. You shouldn`t need to do any heavy reshaping.
Later, you may find you want to reshape one or two of your tools to your own particular preferences. A standard white wheel will still do this quite adequately, if not quite as quickly as a coarser stone.
Learning to sharpen is an integral part of learning to turn, and is best tackled from the outset, IMO. Your skills in this regard will develop in tandem with your turning skills.

Ian

 

[deejaymobile]

Ian - Thanks again for this and I totally agree with learning to sharpen. Back in my carving days I would have to strop the knives and gouges after using a stone. Do I need to strop my turning gouges after using the grinder or am I good to go right off the grinding wheel?

 

[CHJ]

No stropping is not needed, a very fine edge will be gone in a couple of revs of the wood anyway.

Unless great care is taken when trying to hone a very small rounded bevel forms on the cutting edge, not a problem for carving but acts to lift the cutting edge above the surface when the main bevel is rubbing.

 

[Silverbirch]

Gouges are normally used straight off the wheel. A few turners will hone or strop to refine the edge further, but I think most would argue that there is no need.
An exception might be the skew chisel, where a really keen edge can help to give the best finish under some circumstances.

Ian

 

[Robbo3]

Just to clarify my previous post .... I suggested honing as a stop gap until such time as you can afford a grinder.

The honing process produces a flat along the cutting edge & the heel of the grind. Further honing results in the flats getting progressively wider & the honing process takes longer & longer until such time as the tool has to be taken to the grinder to have the flats removed.

 

[deejaymobile]

Thanks again all, I can't tell you just how helpful you are being!

I think I am going to look around for grinders [Axminster do one with a white stone for £45] and also try and get over to the near'ish shop at the weekend if time allows to hold some tools and make a decision from there.

I'll report back on the Lathe delivery this Saturday too.

Cheers,

Dave.