Thread: Lathe chisels - what brand ???

This really should be a poll

P&N, (Australian Made)

I've posted a poll... Didnt know you could do that!

I'm leaning towards P&N as its Aussie made but I hear good stuff about Sorby & Hamlet (Both from Sheffield England I understand...)

P&N are the pick of the bunch because of their quality of steel and keep their edge longer than the others with an M3 rating . The next closest is hamlet with M2.

As an Aussie, P & N should be your first choice. They were fully designed here buy a woodturner with a tool making background, they're manufactured in Maryborough Victoria to very exacting standards and as Jim says, are M3 rating. However if you are on a strict budget and cannot afford the P & N's, then you should at least make sure what you buy is stamped with HSS (or High Speed Steel) on the blade of the tool, not on the box.

You can often get the odd bargain with Record tools from Carba-Tec, who (I think) purchased Records excess stock when they pulled out of Australia with their turning products.

Hope this is of some help.

Cheers - Neil

Zed, P&N for sure, I notice the sizes of the tools you have selected are fairly small, any reason?
Cheers
Barry

Originally posted by Neil
..... Carba-Tec, who (I think) purchased Records excess stock when they pulled out of Australia with their turning products.

They sure did (got that straight from the horses mouth) and they still have that Record stuff appearing on the specials tables in the Brisbane store from time to time.

Hi,

I am fairly new to turning and over the past year have bought a lot of turning tools and of various brands.
The main thing I have noticed between the shefield tools (all brands) and the P&N of which I bought one, was the difference in size and the way it is measured.
I ordered a P&N gouge and specified a 3/8 (in mm of course) which according to UK tools is 3/8 across the flute but received a 1/4 across the flute because P&N size their's across the bar.

So the advice I can offer is check the flute size that you need and make sure the supplier knows that the size you need is that size and not across the bar, so that they can supply the appropiate tool for your needs.

Hope this helps

When I started turning, I did a lot of research
since I wanted to buy quality tools. I ended up buying Hamlet ASP2030.

Here are some comments from the Craft Supplies (USA) catalog on steel used:

"M2 HSS gouge removed approx. 700 cu in before
edge seemed to lose cutting ability."

"ASP2030 - removed 2,083 cu in before tool lost
cutting ability."

"ASP2060 - removed 3,160 cu in, cutting edge
lasting 4-1/2 times that of M2, and exceeded
the edge life of ASP2030 by nearly 50%."

Not to get TOO technical, of
course....



Cheers, Phyllis (Very happy with my choice...)

When I purchased my first set of chisels, my biggest concern was ruining them on the grinder and so I was reluctant to spend a lot of money.

I have purchased the Carba-tech generic chisels, as I was attracted to the price and they had to be better than the free set that came with my lathe.

Whilst I would love a set of one of the other brands with a better rating, now that I can sharpen confidently, I can say that these chisels aren't rubbish. Especially for a novice.

Looking at the sizes you are after, you could get the Carba-tech set for about $130.00

Cheers

Simon M.