What to add to my turning tool collection?

[justinpeer]

I’ve been posting recently about renovating the coronet lathe and tools I’ve been given. I now have a selection of tools that are useable and another selection, mostly scrapers, that may be of use in the future. I’m going to get a new parting tool and thought I’d get anything missing from my current set while I’m at it that would be useful for a beginner and would appreciate advice on what to choose. All these tools are carbon steel but sharpen up nicely so far. Any new ones would obviously be HSS.

I don’t want to go overboard buying tools until I have a better idea of what direction I want to go with turning but I know I’d like to try my hand at bowls and I think the only tools I have suitable for that are the scrapers unless one of the gouges below is actually a bowl gouge.

These are the small tools, couple of spindle gouges, a skew and a scraper, all freshly sharpened. Their short length means they don’t fit correctly in the wolverine sharpening jig so I’m looking to use the longer tools more than these but the spindle gouges are 10mm & 6mm which is what Rowley recommends to start with and they’re sharp now and work.

The larger (1/2” & 1”) skews and a couple of scrapers

These are the gouges. The one on the left looks more like a bowl gouge profile but I don’t know if it is. The other two are ¾” and pretty meaty, I wondered if they were suitable as roughing gouges. The Sorby’s need the flute polishing deeper to get the pits out, I’ll be making a disk of MDF to try and do that. The one on the right has been sharpened.

And these are the ‘yet to be sharpened’ scrapers. By the time I get to needing something specific I can use these to experiment with different shapes as needed and then buy something in HSS.

I was looking at a 1/8” diamond parting tool but Keith Rowley recommends 1/4” parallel sided, any reason to choose one over the other?

I was thinking of adding a spindle roughing gouge and a bowl gouge but unsure if the ones I have are already suitable for that, if not I’ll need to buy those but which sizes to buy first. Roughing seems to be either 3/4 or 1 1/4”, I was thinking the larger one would likely do anything I’m going to need unless there’s a good reason to choose the smaller one. 3/8” seems the most recommended bowl gouge size. Hamlet tools seem to cost about a third less than Sorby, is there much difference in HSS tool brands or are they all pretty much made of the same steel? If so, I’d probably go with Hamlet for all the new tools.

If the gouges I have are suitable as roughing and a bowl gouge then perhaps I should buy a couple of new spindle gouges which are larger and easier to fit in the sharpening jig and match the size of the other tools I have.

Thanks.

 

[Sideways]

Mick Hanbury seems to get away with one good bowl gouge for almost everything.
Less is more !
Become expert with a handfull of good tools ?

 

[Richard_C]

The one in the set of 3 that you say 'might be a bowl gouge' is. Look at the handle end,, a bowl gouge will be made from solid bar as this one is, it gives the strength you need to safely work cross grain pieces.

 

[justinpeer]

Mick Hanbury seems to get away with one good bowl gouge for almost everything.
Less is more !
Become expert with a handfull of good tools ?

That’s what I’m trying to do here, figure out what I’ve got so I’m only using a small set of tools but to make sure the set I build has all the basics. I didn’t know if what I thought was a bowl gouge actually is

 

[justinpeer]

The one in the set of 3 that you say 'might be a bowl gouge' is. Look at the handle end,, a bowl gouge will be made from solid bar as this one is, it gives the strength you need to safely work cross grain pieces.

Thank you Richard, that’s just what I needed to know. I’ll make up an MDF wheel to polish out the pits and give it a try.

 

[Sachakins]

Ref gouge prices. Not all steels are the same. A lot of the "cheaper" gouges by comparison do tend to be on the low end of the HSS hardness and quality, resulting in poor sharpness and dull quickly, and can need sharpening often during turning.
The harder HSS, M42, Cryogenics and other higher quality "steels" do provide sharper and longer lasting edges, just a touch up with a few swipes of a diamond card, rather than back to the grinder as softer cheap HSS need.

You can get handleless gouge steels, if you can turn and drill your own handles to suit. 5 minute epoxy is enough to secure them on a neat size hole. You can make ferrels from some 15/22/28mm copper tube offcuts to suit.

I've got some crown starter bowl gouges, but my goto is a 5/8 bowl gouge for most of my bowls.

One thing to note is that there are different grind shapes finger, sweptback, standard, differentangles, and different groove shapes too.

I tend to favour the finger nail/swept back grind, but keep one or two as 40/40 grinds and standard grinds as they come in handy with steeper sided bowls etc.

I have 3 5/8 bowl gouges, two Sorbys in two different grinds and a fairly cheap no name brand, that's softer steel, but I use that now for trying different grind styles shapes and angles rather than grind away the sorbys every time to reshape.

That's how I eventually settle on my preferred grind shape, style and angles.

It was a case of trying out many variations until I found what's comfortable for my way of turning.

As there is no single grind that is universal, but rather tweaking and testing to find what you like.

Took me a couple of years to settle on what I use now, but do experimental grinds from time to time, as and when I have a problem with my current grinds.
But not so often now, as your skill increases, you soon work out what does and doesn't work.

 

[Sachakins]

Here's a good read on steel
types...

https://www.dictum.com/en/blog/tool-knowledge/steel-types-for-woodturning-tools

 

[justinpeer]

That's great, thanks very much indeed. I'll have a proper read tomorrow.

 

[Vulcan]

I bought a Crown M42 razor edge spindle gouge and it doesn’t seem any sharper than any of my other M2 gouges. And if it does hold an edge longer I haven’t noticed it. Very nice looking tool though with it’s Black handle and copper ferrule.

 

[Katomi woodsmith]

Give the handles a wipe over with linseed oil…. REM to allow a few days so it’s dry
I see a nice selection of tools there. Nice restorations

 

[justinpeer]

Give the handles a wipe over with linseed oil…. REM to allow a few days so it’s dry
I see a nice selection of tools there. Nice restorations

Thank you. They mostly seem to be finished with a lacquer or varnish which is cracking so I was planning to take the handles off, chuck them on the lathe and sand them smooth and treat with oil. I have regular linseed, blo, danish oil and some beeswax in the cupboard so figured the oil would be a nice finish

 

[Paul Hannaby]

These are the gouges. The one on the left looks more like a bowl gouge profile but I don’t know if it is. The other two are ¾” and pretty meaty, I wondered if they were suitable as roughing gouges. The Sorby’s need the flute polishing deeper to get the pits out, I’ll be making a disk of MDF to try and do that. The one on the right has been sharpened.

None of those gouges are bowl gouges, they are all spindle gouges. The one on the left just happens to have a shallower flute than the other two.

By the time you have spent time ground the rust pitting out of the flutes, you might as well have bought a decent spindle gouge.