Recommendation re First Set of Chisels

[warmtone]

Well the Woodfast mc908 I purchased on the weekend has been collected from sydney and has cleaned up and will be ready to turn wood shortly. it came with a few useful accessories including a nice vicmarc chuck various spurs and driveplates, live centres etc but no chisels.

I must say I am more than happy with the build quality of the Woodfast - very substantial build and everything works smoothly.

My plan was to just buy the entry level set of Sorby Chisels but a few people have suggested buying individual chisels is better.

While I am just getting in to woodturning I think I need the following?

Gouge for roughing 1 1/4 inch
Parting Tool 1/8 inch
Skew Chisel 1/2 inch standard
Bowl Gouge 1/2 inch?
Scraper Chhisel RS2000KT?
Spindle Gouge 1/2inch round

Actual projects will include spindle turning and initially small bowls.

Advice welcome:!

[burl]

I would suggest you start with a middle of the range set of 6 which give you a couple of Detail gouges a 1" skew, parting tool and round nose scraper. You can buy a full set for around $130. Add a half inch Bowl Gouge

Regards

Burl

[dr4g0nfly]

I'd change some of your sizes, try these;

Gouge for roughing 3/4 inch
Parting Tool 1/8 inch
Skew Chisel 3/4 inch
Bowl Gouge 5/8 inch
Scraper Chisel RS2000KT - (good start as you can make your own scraper heads from Flat HSS)
Spindle Gouge 3/8 inch

[Ozkaban]

My recommendations would be a decent roughing gouge as above, 1" skew chisel, and something like a 3/8 detail/spindle gouge. After that, buy them individually unhandled and make your own handles. A straight forward and rewarding experience :2tsup: And it saves you a bunch of money.

A brand such as P&N is a good place to start - they're Australian, good quality, cost a bit more than the chinese HSS but are far better - you will really notice it when turning. And if you don't like it, you can sell them with little drama around here. There are better brands out there, and the prices go up from there as well.

cheers,
Dave

[L R P]

Try the 6 pcs set from carbatec, good hss and a good xsection $ 129, I do personally recomend them

[jefferson]

I'd go the extra distance and buy the Sorby starter kit from Jim Carroll. Price from memory is $220 for 6 chisels.

[TTIT]

I'd agree with that! Our club just bought the Sorby set for well under $200 but I don't remember who we got it through :? Great set to start and finish with IMHO - the bowl gouge is every bit as good as a Superflute once you reshape it - just got to get used to the oval skew - took long enough to get confident with a flat one :;

[munruben]

You can buy a cheap set off ebay which are quite okay for a learning curve.You may have to sharpen them more often than the better quality ones but believe it or not, they do the job and quite well too. I still have a set of cheapies I bought when I first got my lathe about 3 years ago and they are still doing a turn now. (excuse the pun)
Learn on the cheap ones and then you can move up to a nice set later or buy separately as you hone your skills and become familiar with each tool.
I bought a set of Hamlets and find them good for my purpose. Sometimes you see better quality tools on ebay but not very often.

[bennylaird]

I bought a set of Sorbys from Jim and they are still in the box. As soon as my shed is finished and the lathe set up I'm sure I'm going to enjoy them. Great value....

[orraloon]

You can,t beat good quality chisels but I would start with the $130 set of 6. When you master sharpening then get good ones. No point in making really expensive steel fileings when you start out. In actual fact the starters pac from carbatec is reasonable and I still use them. As you get better ones some of the starter ones can be reshaped to try out different things.
Regards
John

[jefferson]

I agree with the two Johns - no point buying decent chisels if your don't know how to sharpen. It's a catch 22 really - but if you buy a decent jig set up you will be able to sharpen reasonably well without a Tormek and all that expense.

And once you are there, you will need decent steel.

On that point, I cut some paperbark the other day. Soft as, but very high in silica. One pass on any brand of tool and all done.

[bennylaird]

I picked up a Schepch? and jigs at the same time, now I have lovely sharp mirror edges........

[Randir]

I'm just starting out as well and have been thinking about chisels. I have a hodge podge set of Marples that came with my second hand lathe, and I did a heap of worrying about the cost of buying more to fill out the set, but my current intention after doing a heap of reading is to make my own in the style of Oland tools. If you don't have any chisels then I imagine you want a set to start with, but look into making them before throwing away huge amounts of money.

My original inspiration:
Wood turning lathe tips:techniques: woodturning instruction (http://aroundthewoods.com/)
and then just google to see more options and guides. There's a few discussions on this forum if you search the archives.

It's easy enough to make a sharpening jig as well if you already have a bench grinder, although I didn't even look at buying a jig so perhaps I don't know what I'm missing out on.

Brendan

[jefferson]

Brendan,

I'm sorry to disagree with you on your comments re: making your own Oland tools and saving / resolving all your tooling needs.

I have a few Olands and most are used rarely, if at all. Traditional tools do the bulk of the work, with some carbide tipped tools filling in a few gaps.

Oland tools will never replace traditional tools IMHO.

New starters need to get a decent set of tool steel chisels. As I said, Sorby's for $220. Six tools in all, so not a bad start:

- a spindle roughing gouge
- a parting tool
- a scraper
- a bowl gouge
- a spindle gouge
- add a skew for the purists.

Why would you direct newbies on any route other than the traditional one - which is to learn tool control using tried and true methods. As they say, nothing is new in wood turning.

Just my opinion (coming from the owner of over 100 chisels who was once in search on the tool to make it all easy. It aint.)

[Allan at Wallan]

Buy the best quality you can afford at the time even if it only
means a couple to start with.

Get the family to chip in each birthday, Christmas etc and
gradually increase your chisels.

You will soon recognise how much easier you can work with
good quality steel ... it is faster, easier and most of all ... safer.

Allan

[Randir]

Jefferson, I'm interested in your opinion. Virtually all of the stuff I've read on Oland-style tools is very positive, with people saying that they're fantastic, esp. from a value-for-money point of view. This is presumably because the Oland fanboys are the only ones who bother writing on them :roll:

I certainly don't think they can replace every tool, and a basic set is still neccessary which is really what this thread is about. I guess I was getting sidetracked a bit and saying don't go over the top with a big set without at least looking at the option of making your own to replace some tools.

Brendan

[jefferson]

Brendan,

A hard one, as Oland tool addicts will tell the story differently. As will skew users in the expert class.

All I know is this:

- after 3 odd years of searching for the ultimate tool, none come close to that in vogue / invented decades ago
- some minor exceptions there, but the test of time remains a good one
- you can cut beads and coves with an Oland tip but why bother when you can do it better with the right (read traditional) tools?

The other thing I don't like about the Oland grinds is that few if any of the jig makers cater for sharpening the tips. I can get repeatable results on my Tormek and Truegrind systems without really knowing how to sharpen free-hand.

What else? Probably lots, but let's not hijack the thread completely. I would have thought Oland tools would have been a long way down the list of essential tools for beginners. IMHO.

[Sturdee]

I have most of the traditional tools but also a set of Oland style tools. I find that each have their own application and learning curve.

For deep hollowing of boxes, urns and vases the Oland style is the best but for other types the traditional ones are better. It is not a case of them replacing others but rather complementing them.

The beauty of them is that you can make them yourself using some old pipe and only have to buy the tool steel cutting tips, available cheaply from H & F.

They are basically a type of scraper so if you can sharpen scraper tips you can sharpen these.

Peter.

[jefferson]

For deep hollowing of boxes, urns and vases the Oland style is the best but for other types the traditional ones are better. It is not a case of them replacing others but rather complementing them.

Peter.

Peter, you've really opened a can of worms in saying that Oland tools hollow well. Rolly Munro and many others make a fortune out of making articulated tools that perform much, much better than Oland tips.

In any case, I would still prefer to hollow end grain with my spindle gouge, cutting at 45 degrees from inside to out rather than bully the wood with a scraper. Deep hollowing is another matter of course.

A few years back I had up here and we /he finally found a use for Oland tips. But that's another story.

As I said earlier, spend the $210 on a set of 6 Sorby chisels and you can get started with almost any project for beginners.

[Sturdee]

As I said earlier, spend the $210 on a set of 6 Sorby chisels and you can get started with almost any project for beginners.

I don't disagree with that, just pointing out that all tools have a place in a turner's armory, so that the right tool can be used. Although many things can be done with more than one type of tool there is no one tool that can be used for everything.

Beginner sets can be good but only if the set is a good one like Sorby's, too many sets of beginner tools are rubbish.

As to a can of worms :D I rather have homemade Oland tools costing about five dollars each (like the ones I made recently for Michelle) than spending big dollars for name brands. Just didn't want to discourage someone making their own as tool making is an enjoyable pastime.

Peter.

[powderpost]

I will stick my neck out here. For starting out spindle turning minimum tools are:
25mm roughing gouge
25mm skew (square) with rounded edges
12mm spindle gouge
and maybe a 6mm parting tool. For smallish bowls the spindle gouge will perform ok, with a 25mm round nose scraper. A dedicated bowl gouge is a better option than the spindle gouge.

Remember, I said a starting set. High speed steel is by far the better option but carbon steel will work but not as well. The deciding factor will probably be finances.
Jim

[RETIRED]

I will stick my neck out here. For starting out spindle turning minimum tools are:
25mm roughing gouge
25mm skew (square) with rounded edges
12mm spindle gouge
and maybe a 6mm parting tool. For smallish bowls the spindle gouge will perform ok, with a 25mm round nose scraper. A dedicated bowl gouge is a better option than the spindle gouge.

Remember, I said a starting set. High speed steel is by far the better option but carbon steel will work but not as well. The deciding factor will probably be finances.
JimI agree.

The 25mm skew is better than a 20mm for a beginner as the long point is further from the wood. Oval skews are too flimsy in cross section IMHO.

If buying a bowl gouge get the 3/8 (1/2"shaft). It will do 95% of the work that the bigger ones will, but a bigger one can't do the work that the smaller on does.

Lastly, learn real turning (spindle) first to learn tool control.

Join a club or get lessons.

[thompy]

In any case, I would still prefer to hollow end grain with my spindle gouge, cutting at 45 degrees from inside to out rather than bully the wood with a scraper. Deep hollowing is another matter of course.

Is it just me or did i read this wrong? been following the thread after examining my newbie set of chisels after seeing another thread. Not trying to light a fire, just asking to clarify.

Neal.

[bookend]

A few years ago I bought a 1 1/2" flat bar , rounded edge skew and it is a joy to use on anything that doesn't require much of a curve. It is a perfect learners skew. It doesn't want to catch.

[HSS]

The Sorby 12mm bowl gouge is my favourite tool. Although I'd make a heavier handle if you were going to use it on larger bowls at some stage. P&N are a good mid range option, buy them cheaper unhandled.

[Sturdee]

Not trying to light a fire, just asking to clarify.

Neal.

No problems.

Just to clarify, the main part of both Jeff's and my posts were on the choice of beginners tools and this was an aside on other tools. Not meant to hijack or confuse anyone.


Peter.

[RETIRED]

Is it just me or did i read this wrong? been following the thread after examining my newbie set of chisels after seeing another thread. Not trying to light a fire, just asking to clarify.

Neal.This will help explain it Neal. This bloke uses a bowl gouge but a spindle gouge with a "ladyfinger" grind does the same job. About the 2.5 minute mark.
YouTube - Woodturning Projects Apple Box

[thompy]

Thanks for that , now i understand the comment in context.

"hollow end grain with my spindle gouge"(with a bowl gouge specific grind type applied)

Cheers mate.

Neal.