Thread: insert

Nice work.

So how do the tools stand up to turning brass? Do they need to be sharpened a lot?

Russell.

The brass doesn’t seem to make much of a problem with standard steel hand tools, as long as they are pretty sharp to begin with.
No more wear on them than would happen if you turned a dense hard wood like ebony, ironwood or snake wood.
I rarely use my wood lathe for much more than rounding out blanks and doing other work like bowls and bottle stoppers, most of my pen work is done on an engine lathe, also known as a tool room lathe.
The cutting tools have carbide inserts, which are good for 30 or so hours per tip, and they have three tips per insert.
I turn wood, Corian, mild steel, brass and aluminum with it, works great on all of these materials, plus it allows for cuts as shallow as 1/100th of an inch.
I can make a fine enough cut with it that I can start sanding at 1500 grit.
With my tap and die jig, I can do inside and outside threads, ream and bore, plus lots of other stuff.
With my angle jig and other homemade add- ons, I can pretty much drill a blank, trim the barrel ends flush, (I have no idea where my barrel trimmer has gone off too) turn and finish the pen on one machine.
Nothing against wood lathes, I own a older Delta and use it for lots of other stuff, but the engine lathe is simply my machine of preference.

Originally Posted by edblysard

Nothing against wood lathes, I own a older Delta and use it for lots of other stuff, but the engine lathe is simply my machine of preference.

Ahh I see. Well that would make things easier. Unfortunately that type of setup is too rich for my blood, at the moment anyway.

Russell.

Super nice pen.