Second Hand Chisel What to look for?

[DSEL74]

I was at the local trash & treasure market today and there was a bloke selling a bunch of turning chisels and carving chisels.

I haven't started turning yet but I was tempted to buy some chisels. There were some Sorbys and some Record chisels the others I don't know what they were. I asked a general price on the chisels and was told around $30-35 a pop.


So my question is what brands are the ones to keep an eye out for or avoid?

What should I expect to pay, are some profiles more expensive than others?

I would assume the longer the blade the better as it has more life to give.


Anything else??





I have a wood lathe which was given to me as it is a cheap chinese one and broken, not sure it is fixable or worth the effort. So I might hunt down another second hand one, now i have some shed space allocated to setting one up.

[artful bodger]

Long and strong, is a good rule of thumb.
Sorby's are usually pretty good as are P&N, marples etc.
To buy a new P&N with handle you don't get much change from a hundred bucks these days. So if you can find good quality chisels for around 30-$35 mark then that would be hard to beat. Less rust the better.

[DSEL74]

I have to say these were all clean and in good nick, the Records possibly never used even. I don't notice any marked P&N, but all had handles.

[Mobyturns]

I was at the local trash & treasure market today and there was a bloke selling a bunch of turning chisels and carving chisels.

I haven't started turning yet but I was tempted to buy some chisels. There were some Sorbys and some Record chisels the others I don't know what they were. I asked a general price on the chisels and was told around $30-35 a pop.


So my question is what brands are the ones to keep an eye out for or avoid?

What should I expect to pay, are some profiles more expensive than others?

I would assume the longer the blade the better as it has more life to give.


Anything else??





I have a wood lathe which was given to me as it is a cheap chinese one and broken, not sure it is fixable or worth the effort. So I might hunt down another second hand one, now i have some shed space allocated to setting one up.

Do your homework - many of the tool sellers at the markets know what they are worth & so should you. We can't give generalized prices of what to expect to pay but $30 to 35 SH is way overpriced for some profiles and is near new prices. Older Record tools may be HSS more likely carbon. Record have reintroduced a range of HSS turning tools but it is most unlikely they are on the SH market. The Sorby's should be HSS but I suspect there may be some that are early ones and may only be carbon steel. I don't have enough history on these to know. Visit the websites like CWS etc and know what new prices are, how long the long steel was at new etc, before purchasing.

[chuck1]

Tools without marking, brand stamps are a lucky dip. From memory Henry Taylor tools have a transfer which rubs off as does bohiler tool steel.
The only stamped into tool I can think of is P&N. I was lucky enough to salvage 4 P&N's headed for Tip. Even offered money but they just wanted rid of the whole lot. some were old files that I chucked.
Like Antiques you need to know what your looking at and looking for makers marks.

[DSEL74]

Is this correct- Marked just "Sorby" are carbon steel, marked "Robert Sorby" are HSS?

[Christos]

Before I had a lathe, I picked up some turning tools. All were carbon steel, between 20 and 30 dollars each. I was only going to use them to see if I wanted to get into turning.
I am still into turning and have replaced all of the carbon steel turning tools with HSS.

[tea lady]

Older turning tools tend to be carbon steel. OK for turning pine of softer hardwoods. But I wouldn't pay more than $20 for them. Dunno how you tell by just looking. Can tell from sparks off the grinder. :hmm: The rust marks are kinda differant, but if they've cleaned them up that won't help.

[Paul39]

Here is a big selection of tools with US prices:

http://www.packardwoodworks.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=tools

If you can figure a ratio of US - AU pricing this should give you a comparison.

See also:

http://www.woodturningvideosplus.com/selecting-turning-tools.html

[DSEL74]

Hi Tea Lady, Hows the shop going? I want to stay away from Carbon Steel tools.

Paul, Thanks for those links. I want to start out with spindle turning, maybe practise with making some chisel handles.