Starting wood turning-wht tools ?

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad

bitshird

Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2007
Messages
10,236
Location
Adamsville, TN, USA.
I just won a Steel City 60100 variable speed lathe, (I know about the electrical problems/switches) but for 205.00 N.I.B. delivered to my door,I had to, So my question is what turning tools will I need to start over using a wood lathe[:0].
Are the HF Windsor sets any good,40.00 metal wise that is, I know the chinese metal lathe HSS bits are pretty decent for an holding an edge.
I only have about 150.00 left, and I need to get some slimlines, Euros, and Cigars to learn the difficult way.
Are there nay good tool sets available for around 40-60 dollars,other than the HF sets?
Or what individual tools other than just a Skew not sure what size to get, ,Do I need any roughing gouges for pens?. I know I'll need a small beading tool and a thin parting tool, any thing other than bandages, and respect needed??
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad

JimB

Member
Joined
Mar 18, 2008
Messages
4,683
Location
West Henrietta, NY, USA.
I use that set for all my pen turning and any other spindle turning I do. I've only been doing this for 5 months and don't have anything to compare them to for this but I am quite happy with them. I primarily use the larger gouge (if you buy only 1 tool this is the one you need) and the skew (either one) for the pens. You can get away with using just the gouge but you will need to do a bit more sanding. The skew will also have a longer learning curve and requires very delicate cuts.I sharpen the gouge before starting each pen since it is doing most of the work and I don't want to start with a dull tool. I have a home made jig to make the sharpening quick and easy, literally takes about 15 seconds.

I do have 2 Sorby tools but I only use them for bowls. They do hold a sharp edge much, much longer. This is why I bought them for bowls since they will do much more work.
 

OKLAHOMAN

Member
Joined
May 17, 2006
Messages
10,228
Location
Costa Rica
No matter what turning tools you get you need a way to sharpen them. I started out with the benjimins best 3 pcs pen turning set #LCPM3CAR in the Penn State Catalog a few years ago and it did me well in the begining but I have spent the $ to get my Sorby's and now have approx. 15 cheisels but use my shorby round nose and skew almost 100% of the time. If you use coupon code 08415 with Penn State thru 8/31/08 and spend $100.00 you get $15.00 off. Now one question how did you "WIN" the lathe and still had to pay $205.00 to your door?
 

bitshird

Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2007
Messages
10,236
Location
Adamsville, TN, USA.
I got the lathe on eBay most the sellers are getting 200.00 plus 99.00 freight, I got this one for 200 plus 25.00 freight and had a 10% off coupon, so got it for 205.00 delivered, specs look good, 5 year guarantee. I had considered the HF 12x33, but I'm not going to turn any thing that long, and swinging 10 inches seems dangerous enough. to start with, after a couple hundred pens, now I have to learn all over again, sharpening will be the problem at first although I do have a belt sander that I can rig some type of jig to hold the tools,
Some day, I'll get some Sorby tools, I looked at PSI's Benjamins best, are they any better than the HF sets? guess I'll cruise some tool sites.[:I][:I][:I]
 

Rmartin

Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2007
Messages
1,263
Location
Columbus, Ga, USA.
I use a round nosed and straight edged skew almost exclusively. Buy a couple of cheap ones and use the money you save to buy a grinder/sharpener.
 

livertrans

Member
Joined
Jan 26, 2008
Messages
134
Location
Rockford, Illinois
If you go with PSI's 3 piece set which is what I use and have found it to a excellant set, purchase it on Amazon.com its sold there cheaper than Psi site and most of the time if you spend more than 25.00 shipping is free. great bargan for decent tools.
Tony
 

great12b4ever

Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2007
Messages
1,196
Location
Houston, Texas, USA.
I agree with Roy about the sharpening! ;) No matter what toiols you get, if you can't keep them scary sharp, you will experience a lot of blow-outs and splits. Use your funds wisely and get a good sharpening jig or system. The HF Windsor will work for a good bit. I have that set, and use it most of the time for hogging off wood and the roughing out. I then go to my Sorby, Pinnacles or Lancers for the rest of my work. If you have access to acquiring some of the LARGE hack-saw blades used in electric cut-off saws, you can make your own parting tools. One hacksaw tools can make you 2-3 parting tools. They are around 1/16" thick and work just fine :D:D after making your own handles! Congrats on the lathe, and good luck!
 

bkc

Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2007
Messages
187
Location
Oregon
I know some don't like the mini sets, but PSI has a 5 piece mini set you can pick up for around $25. I like them so much I bought a couple extra sets of them.
 

thewishman

Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2006
Messages
8,181
Location
Reynoldsburg, Ohio, USA.
The HF set is used by many people here. I have it and added just a Benjamin's Best 3/4 oval skew and a 1/16 parting tool to make my set complete. Figure out which tools you use the most and replace those with better tools as you can afford it.

Chris
 

cbonner

Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2006
Messages
61
Location
Lompoc, CA, USA.
I own and used quite a few different tools, but finally settled on three standby's. I use a roughing gouge to get the blank rounded. I then switch to a spindlemaker (I have a couple made by Hamlet). I like this tool as it can readily be used in both scraping and cutting modes. I start by presenting the tip of the tool in a scraping mode to get close to my final profile. I then change the angle and presentation of the tool and use it like a skew to get a clean tear-out free final dimension. The last standby is the thin parting tool. All three tools have an added bonus of being simple to sharpen with a grinder and jig. I still use the skews and regular gouges from time to time, but 99% of my pen turning is done with those three tools.
 

ahoiberg

Member
Joined
Apr 10, 2007
Messages
1,763
Location
Ames, IA, USA.
i'd definitely recommend the HF 'windsor' set. it's a good way to get into turning and will let you see which tools you like and use the most. and then, if you're unhappy with how they perform after a while, you can upgrade on the specific tools you want/need. that said, the only non-HF tools I own are a robert sorby roughing gouge, which was incidentally the first tool i bought (for more than the whole HF set) and a benjamin's best bowl gouge. i went a long time without using either but now that i'm starting to work on things other than pens, they're nice for that. sharpening is an issue of course, i bought a used ryobi bench grinder off craigslist and bought a new finer grit white wheel for one side (80 or 100, can't remember off the top of my head). i'm still no expert sharpener, but my freehand skills improve all the time... i may not have a skew i can shave with, but it doesn't take long to put a new edge on the tool and if i screw up a tool, it only cost like 5 bucks... gotta learn sometime!
 

bitshird

Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2007
Messages
10,236
Location
Adamsville, TN, USA.
I want to thank every one for all of the sage advice, I will be sure to keep the tools scary sharp and keep large rolls of gauze, bandages and superglue handy.
I think I lucked out, we went to the local dirt lot flea market late yesterday,I had been looking at an older 8 pc. set of Craftsman HSS lathe tools, 2 months ago the guy wanted 90.00 for them a couple of weeks ago he wanted 70.00 SOOOOO me being the wonderful and benevolent soul I am offered him 35.00 as a starting point, wound up paying 50.00.
The set doesn't look like much other than than to roughing gouges, he had some power hacksaw blades and threw one in, bummer is I can't get to the EDM at school until the 8th and I don't know any shops that have a wire burner, so when school starts back, I'll make 2 or 3 thin parting tools, and all because my Daughter wanted some Ice Cream [8D][8D][8D][8D][8D][8D][8D][8D][8D]
 

Skye

Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2006
Messages
3,487
Location
Rock Hill, SC
In the mean time a butter knife could go missing from the kitchen without anyone knowing about it. A little grinding and you could make a parting tool from one that may do in the mean time.

A diamond hone sharpener will limp you by till you need a real sharpening.

You'll also want a 60 degree live center if nobody has mentioned it yet.
 

sbell111

Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2008
Messages
3,465
Location
Franklin, TN
We have invested a whole lot of money into various turning tools. Strangely, the tool that lands in my hand most of the time is a cheapo HF skew. Sure, it gets dull much quicker than our expensive tools, but why should I care? One step to the left and ten seconds later it is as sharp as any tool out there.

I think HF's windsor design set is a good first set. It will give you what you need to get started. You can always add some 'premium' turning tools later on. If you end up keeping just one of these tools in service for any length of time, the set was a good buy.
 

bitshird

Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2007
Messages
10,236
Location
Adamsville, TN, USA.
Johnnie, I made them on either a Clausing 16x60 metal lathe at work, or on my Jet BN 920 metal lathe at home, I figured out an angle for lathe bits that presents it's self to the blank almost as a skew on a tool rest.
In fact, I was about ready to make a wood lathe style tool rest that would fit on my metal lathe, but since I ground and hand scraped the bed ways, and there is a guide ridge on the bed way I thought better of it.
I also thought about making a tool rest that would fit in the tool post of it but that didn't seem like it would provide much stability and to get it I would have to work in a very awkward position.
So for the past month or so I've been looking around and figured I had some money from a job that I really didn't want to do, I would suffer through it and buy some more MAN toys.
Now I can clean my metal lathe up, and dedicate it back to metal and one for wood, turning and sanding wood on a metal lathe with power feeds is a pain in the keester.
 
Top Bottom