I'm in love!

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad

jleiwig

Member
Joined
Jan 10, 2007
Messages
1,860
Location
Monroe, Ohio, USA.
Today I got my DIY wood chuck up and running. I purchased the inserts from Woodchuck tools aka bitshird here on the forum. I hemmed and hawwed around and finally broke down and bought the 5 mm .8 tap required to thread for the screws. I took it for a test drive on a piece of pine 2x2 that is probably older than I am, I was testing out some handle designs for the tool itself. This thing works like a dream, and fine control is super easy. I only had to do a touch of sanding.

If you can't or don't want to make your own tool, buy the readymade tool from their website http://www.woodchuck-tools.com/ . However for those that are more handy, I recommend you just buy the inserts and screws from Ken. I picked up a 12" piece of 1/2" steel bar from my local metal recyclers for about 50 cents. Sure it's rusty and not cool like Ken's tool, but I'm poor, and I have the ability to make things myself, so I made my own.

I think I have permanently retired the rest of my pen turning tools. :biggrin:
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad

jleiwig

Member
Joined
Jan 10, 2007
Messages
1,860
Location
Monroe, Ohio, USA.
Oh yeah, I'm off to pick up a piece of 2x2 oak or ash to make a real handle for this thing. When I get done I'll post some pictures of it.
 

bitshird

Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2007
Messages
10,236
Location
Adamsville, TN, USA.
Today I got my DIY wood chuck up and running. I purchased the inserts from Woodchuck tools aka bitshird here on the forum. I hemmed and hawwed around and finally broke down and bought the 5 mm .8 tap required to thread for the screws. I took it for a test drive on a piece of pine 2x2 that is probably older than I am, I was testing out some handle designs for the tool itself. This thing works like a dream, and fine control is super easy. I only had to do a touch of sanding.

If you can't or don't want to make your own tool, buy the readymade tool from their website http://www.woodchuck-tools.com/ . However for those that are more handy, I recommend you just buy the inserts and screws from Ken. I picked up a 12" piece of 1/2" steel bar from my local metal recyclers for about 50 cents. Sure it's rusty and not cool like Ken's tool, but I'm poor, and I have the ability to make things myself, so I made my own.

I think I have permanently retired the rest of my pen turning tools. :biggrin:

While I appreciate your exuberant recommendation of my inserts and tool I wouldn't quite consider retiring the rest of your tools, granted the carbide insert tools do cut faster and nearly as smooth as a well tuned skew, they still leave a lack of fitness in turning that I am just now learning. One review of my tool, in fact one that I make for Vizxp that was done in the North Florida Woodturners club news had some very good points, and I've taken them to heart. If you've been turning a while, and know how to sharpen your tools and are reasonably proficient with them then by all means get a Woodchuck, if you are just starting out, don't, otherwise you'll not bother to learn to sharpen your tools properly. This probably isn't extremely important for pen turning, but for turning bowls and platters it is an absolute must, I quite sure it applies to Skews, Scrapers and Gouges as well to a degree particularly to Skew chisels, Please don't shortchange your self, learn to use every tool you can get your grubby hands on, the more tools you know how to use the better your turnings will be, the keener edge you get on your tools the better your turnings will be, Carbide is a great thing but neither My scraper, nor the Ci1 or the Ci0 nor the Hunter tools will ever take the place of a well sharpened high quality Powdered Metal Bowl Gouge,
and probably not a good skew either.
 

jleiwig

Member
Joined
Jan 10, 2007
Messages
1,860
Location
Monroe, Ohio, USA.
While I appreciate your exuberant recommendation of my inserts and tool I wouldn't quite consider retiring the rest of your tools, granted the carbide insert tools do cut faster and nearly as smooth as a well tuned skew, they still leave a lack of fitness in turning that I am just now learning. One review of my tool, in fact one that I make for Vizxp that was done in the North Florida Woodturners club news had some very good points, and I've taken them to heart. If you've been turning a while, and know how to sharpen your tools and are reasonably proficient with them then by all means get a Woodchuck, if you are just starting out, don't, otherwise you'll not bother to learn to sharpen your tools properly. This probably isn't extremely important for pen turning, but for turning bowls and platters it is an absolute must, I quite sure it applies to Skews, Scrapers and Gouges as well to a degree particularly to Skew chisels, Please don't shortchange your self, learn to use every tool you can get your grubby hands on, the more tools you know how to use the better your turnings will be, the keener edge you get on your tools the better your turnings will be, Carbide is a great thing but neither My scraper, nor the Ci1 or the Ci0 nor the Hunter tools will ever take the place of a well sharpened high quality Powdered Metal Bowl Gouge,
and probably not a good skew either.


I take more of a best tool for the job mentality. And compared to my other turning tools, the DIY wood chuck I made spanks them all. I can do most anything except for coves smaller than the tool itself. Beads are super easy, tenons are stupid easy, and everything else is fine. I went ahead and handled it in my pine handle to try out the shape, if I like it I'll make the handle out of a hardwood. The only problem I see with bowl turning will be rounded corners deep in the bottom of a bowl, but with some creative thinking I may be able to get around that as well.
 

jkeithrussell

Member
Joined
Oct 20, 2008
Messages
1,277
I've been holding off on writing a review of my new Woodchuck (until I've gone through at least one insert), but I'll say now that since I bought mine I've only used one other tool -- a parting tool. I have never been able to get a very sharp edge on my gouges or skews. I still intend to develop that ability, but it's a much lower priority now that I have the Woodchuck. The tool is everything it is advertised to be and then some.
 

Rmartin

Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2007
Messages
1,263
Location
Columbus, Ga, USA.
I've seen these insert tools, but don't know much about them.

Do they come fully sharpened?

Do you resharpen as they get dull or just rotate to the next edge and then replace the insert?

I have 3 or 4 tools I use most of the time. They were all inexpensive. I've completed changed the profile on each for a specific need, but I constantly need to touch up the edges as I turn. I'm looking for something which will hold an edge longer for material such as Trustone. Are these ready to go, out of the box sharp for the harder materials?
 

bitshird

Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2007
Messages
10,236
Location
Adamsville, TN, USA.
I've seen these insert tools, but don't know much about them.

Do they come fully sharpened?

Do you resharpen as they get dull or just rotate to the next edge and then replace the insert?

I have 3 or 4 tools I use most of the time. They were all inexpensive. I've completed changed the profile on each for a specific need, but I constantly need to touch up the edges as I turn. I'm looking for something which will hold an edge longer for material such as Trustone. Are these ready to go, out of the box sharp for the harder materials?

Richard they are quite sharp when you get them, The inserts can be resharpened but you loose a bit of material and they don't fit the tool as well, and it really requires a Diamond bonded wheel to accurately sharpen them, given the cost of the inserts, it's money ahead to just replace them once all of the edges are dull. They work very well on Trustone and harder materials and the inserts I supply are excellent quality
 
Top Bottom