Thread: New turning tool

Looks like a kind of flattened detail gouge. Do you use the sides like a sideways skew?

Similar to the one I have here 2nd from the right.

I call it a bedan.

Originally Posted by Cliff Rogers

Similar to the one I have here 2nd from the right.

I call it a bedan.

Yeah! But this "new tool" has a bevel down the side too.

Originally Posted by tea lady

Yeah! But this "new tool" has a bevel down the side too.

Yep. And I do use it sideways, exactly like the insert tool in the other thread. Bedan/skew yes, gouge... no

Originally Posted by Frank&Earnest

Experimenting with square tungsten carbide cutters has given me some insights on how these can work and the way a square chisel and a bedan can be used for various tasks. Hence the idea of a tool that provides the versatility of all three together, with the drawback that, unlike TC inserts but like all other steel tools, it needs to be sharpened. And it is quite a pain to sharpen, so probably the next step would be to have TC tips manufactured in this shape to be attached to steel bars.

Now that it is in the common domain, nobody can patent it, so go your hardest all you closet toolmakers...

Here is a very crude prototype. It works, though, the test is in the last photo.

Think this is the most handy way.
Ad

Looks like it would work like a 3-point or pyramid tool.

Originally Posted by rsser

Looks like it would work like a 3-point or pyramid tool.

If you refer to this: Wood Turning Tools: Making the Pyramid Tool, no. The angle of the bevel is too different. Maybe I am a bit parochial here, but the only advantage of the pyramid tool seems to be that it would be easier to handle than the skew. My tool has that and much more versatility. Do you even remotely think one could cut a thin finial with that?

Originally Posted by Ad de Crom

Think this is the most handy way.
Ad

Actually, Ad, I am not so sure. Jutting out like that without support, TC would snap quite easily. On the other hand, sharpening is not only difficult (maybe not so much if you start from a machined trapezoidal or triangular bar) but also very wasteful, because after three or four sharpenings the width of the cutting edge would be reduced too much and you would have to cut off 10 mm or so of the tip and start again. (of course you could keep a couple of bars with the reduced cutting width for smaller work, but there will always be a point where you would have to start again).

Maybe the most effective way to obtain the three sided cutting shape is still to mount a square insert on a suitably tapered bar.

Originally Posted by Frank&Earnest

Maybe the most effective way to obtain the three sided cutting shape is still to mount a square insert on a suitably tapered bar.

Agreed. Looks a lot like one of my tool bits, mounted in a piece of steel pipe that was drilled and tapped for a set (grub) screw. Crude but effective school of design.

Frank, if nothing else, it would make a damn fine weapon for personal protection!!!

Frank, I forgot to say thanks for the hook tools.

I don't like your new creation for one reason - you can't sharpen it consistently. Sure, you can hone the back of the blade, but eventually all that steel will be gone. I've had router bits sharpened and they always come back with a "new" profile.....

But for one-off jobs, fine.

My pleasure. Yes, the sharpening is wasteful and difficult, already said that. For consistent.... it depends on the sharpening skills and the equipment available, doesn't it?

Originally Posted by Frank&Earnest

My pleasure. Yes, the sharpening is wasteful and difficult, already said that. For consistent.... it depends on the sharpening skills and the equipment available, doesn't it?

Frank, I've already said it but will say again - you are talking with a novice with no hand skills. Plenty of equipment, but no hand skills at all. Give me a jig etc and I will eventually work it out...... Or am I short on some equipment (steady, people.... )?

OK guys, further to your advice (in this and other threads) and more experimentation, this seems to me a better developed set of new tools. I hope you will agree that although the Ci1 was the starting point of the thought process, these are different animals:
- they can cut and scrape on all sides.
- they can be rolled like a skew chisel
- they can be tilted 45 degrees for shear scraping
- all bevels can be rubbed like with a gouge.

And most importantly, lazy people like me do not need to learn to sharpen and use many tools. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, nobody cares how you cooked it.

Of course, the tool cuts only as well as the insert you mount, so if you make one and it does not cut well, change insert!

Have fun.