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View Full Version : Advice on new chisel purchase



Bodgy
18th July 2006, 10:18 PM
Guys

Before I contribute to the retail economy, some opinions on these turning chisels please.

They are HSS but I've yet to find the Rockwell rating. I like Mcjings, good prices, fair quality and very easy to deal with.

The usual suspects have similar but seem to cost more.

I'm still only learning this turning stuff, so only want something a bit better than my current Bunnies special (10 yrs ago) $25 hardened steel stuff - couldn't give a billiard ball a Brazillian!

The 6 piece HSS $149 set - black handles.

Any thoughts? Please don't worry about recommending I take a 2nd mortgage for Veritas, Hamlet, Fesfool type brands. They may come later when I know what I'm doing.

Currently I's just a hacker

http://www.mcjing.com.au/woodworking/index.htm

Sir Stinkalot
18th July 2006, 10:32 PM
How about just 2 or 3 good quality chisels and then upgrade when you need to.

Which tools do you currently use the most out of your cheap bunnies set? Perhaps they will be the first to be upgraded.
As for tools that you find you don't use often stick with the cheapies until you can justify the cost of the better brands.

Out of the pack of 6 how many will you use regularly? If its only 3 then you have just paid $50 for each of these chisels with 3 others you don't use. If you only use 2 then they jump up to $75 each.

Cliff Rogers
18th July 2006, 10:49 PM
Yeap, what stinky says.

Do a search on tools in the woodturning section of this forum...
It has been discussed several times before.

Here is a sample....
http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=33747

Toolin Around
18th July 2006, 11:54 PM
I don't think I'd recommend a beginner go with a cheap set unless budget was a very big consideration. Unless you're a production turner you'll have them for a long time even if they're a cheap set. So why not get a good set that are shaped well and made of a higher grade HSS and most likely hardened and tempered back well. Cause the cheap set is going to be relegated to the drawer as you get better and begin to upgrade. They'll probably not have that much wear either so why waste the money on them.

Skew ChiDAMN!!
19th July 2006, 12:01 AM
Because one of the most important skills a learner will need to pick up is sharpening. It's better to learn on a cheap throwaway tool than to have to replace all their nice, shiny, expensive HSS tools within the first few months because they've been ground to nubbins...

Once sharpening is under control, it's easy to tell which tools they use the most and should have priority for HSS replacements: they're the short ones. :D


Just as an aside, I still use my cheap'n'nasty set of very-low-C CS tools... any time I get an idea for a new tool profile I'll try it on one of the cheapies to see if the idea has merit, instead of going the expensive route and starting from scratch with a HSS blank. Believe me, they've paid for 'emselves over and again. ;)