Thread: Chisels?

Hi Luxyboy,

There's a heap of posts on this subject on the Woodturning sub-forum. Do a search.

Many of the posts will be buried in thread topics that are not explicit about your inquiry, so search on P&N, Henry Taylor, superflute, Sorby, bowl gouge, hollowing etc.

My two bob's worth is that the single most useful and best tool is the Henry Taylor 3/8" Superflute. Not cheap but very sweet. Apart from that, you'll need a parting tool, a curved scraper or two and a heavy bowl roughing/hollowing gouge like a 17mm P&N Supagouge.

For smaller work, use an Oland tool which you will prob. have to make yourself but that's not hard. Again, do a search.

As well, or alternatively, contact someone like Garry Pye (www.gpw.au.com), Jim Carroll (www.cws.au.com), Len Smith (www.thewoodsmith.com.au), Mike Jefferys (www.woodworks.com.au) or Dave Drescher up your way and take their advice. (Website urls added from memory; if dead end, google). In addition, join a local turners group; you'll get a hundred opinions free!

Good luck.

Gday Luxy, have done a couple of searches for you here, here & here, using the forum search button near the top of the page.

This function is a good way to see what has been asked and answered before, without reading the "War & Peace" that is the entire history of the forum

In this case I used simple search text like "beginner"; "advice"; and "tools", specified the woodturning forum, and searched titles only.

Back to your question, you are looking at two types of turning, bowl turning & hollow vessel turning. Bowl gouges are the main tool for the former, and can be used for some of the latter.

A search on hollowing will bring up a lot of info on how you would hollow out a vase & what tools you could consider.


Cheers..................Sean

Here is some more stuff I saved...

Read this post & the ones that it links to.

There is a set that a couple of the blokes mention that they started with.

(Scooter is one if I remember)

Here is a set that is not to bad to start with.
http://vermec.tripod.com/PDFs/economychisels.pdf
Carbtec also sell the same set.

Have fun.

Yeah, the set Cliff mentions isn't the best quality set in the world but it's more than good enough for a beginner. Especially considering that the whole lot comes for less than the price of one "brand-name" tool.

A beginner will lose a lot of steel learning to sharpen, and it's pretty obvious which tools they use the most as these quickly become the shortest. When a tool becomes too short, then replace just that one with a good name brand.

Doing this also means that you won't waste money buying a "good" tool on someone's say-so and then having it become a dust-gatherer.

As for the cheap tools that you don't use, later on (when you have a bit of experience) you can regrind them to experiment with different profiles, or into other types of "specialist" tools such as captive ring tools, without worrying about ruining good steel.

I've bought two sets, just for experimenting with.

Well worth the money, IMHO!

Originally Posted by Cliff Rogers

(Scooter is one if I remember)

Here is a set that is not to bad to start with.
http://vermec.tripod.com/PDFs/economychisels.pdf
Carbtec also sell the same set.

Have fun.

Yup, mine are the same as the ones in the Vermec link, just came in a wooden box.

Got 'em from a garage sale for $50, good value for the $


A local turning club as Ern mentioned can be good for advice, also possibly for secondhand tools or lathes that members have outgrown or have upgraded.



Cheers..................Sean

Skew - wish you'd been around to give me such sensible advice 30 years ago!

I found it hard to get any sort of advice on what to start with back then, partly because there were way fewer people seriously making sawdust (& no internet and no BBs!!). So I took what advice I could get and bought a bunch of chisels & gouges that I was told I must have, & just as Skew sez, a couple quickly got shorter, while most of the others should last forever. A couple of the more useless tools have had serious make-overs for special purposes like thread-chasers, but one or two still languish in the bottom-most drawer of my lathe cabinet.

Interesting thing about teaching yourself; you often end up doing things a bit differently from the conventional ways. Because I only had a 1/2" skew for the first few years, I learnt to drive that and still find larger skews really clumsy - even on big jobs. I do mostly spindle turning (chairs, table-legs etc.) & over the years have gravitated to doing just about everything with a small set of tools. A heavy old 3/4 spindle gouge reground the way I like as a roughing tool, then the rest of the job with a 1/2" spindle gouge and a 3/4" skew, (P&N ). A 1/4" parting tool I bought in my original 'set' does any sizing required (often use it as a small skew, too but don't try it til you're pretty comfortable with skews!) and I have a few smaller gouges & skews for very fine detail work. There's another couple of drawers full of other tools, most acquired at garage sales, etc., that rarely see the light of day, but may be used once in a blue moon, like bowl gouges. I lost interest in bowls after managing to make one or two that looked semi-decent - obviously not a 'real' turner.

So, from my experience I'd suggest getting a small number of good tools or a set of cheap tools, but you only need a couple of tools to learn on. With a small to medium skew, gouge and a parting tool you can turn practically any spindle, or just get a smallish bowl gouge and a scraper if you plan on faceplate work. Learn to drive them by messing up lots of pieces of firewood (half-green, preferably). By the time you have learnt to make something with only one or two stuff-ups, you will have a good idea of what you want to do and which tools suit you best. A few lessons form a practiced turner would be a huge help.......

Originally Posted by Luxyboy

Hi Guys,

I am looking at buying a lathe and chisels, mainly for bowl and vase creation. I am quickly getting lost in brands, prices and chisel types

What chisels do i need and what extras would be nice when i can afford them?

What brands are decent without costing the earth?

All info appreciated

WOODFAST have just released great quality High Speed Steel woodturning tools to suit all aspects of woodturning. A range of chucks and accessory jaws are also available. Hope this helps you.
Check out www.woodfast.com.au

Cheers Woodfast Aust

Don't know if you can get them in Aussie but I am Partial to Buck Bros I have used them for a good number of years, HSSteel and good shape with nice handles and hold the edge well and the price doesn't tear your drawers off. Holds an edge really well and easy to sharpen... I like them. But I also have around 40 of them.

Mate
Welcome to our little microcosm. You'll be surprised how much you learn reading these posts.I kow I've spent hundreds of hours learning here. Enjoy.
About your question.
There's a guy who lives in Melbourne who is retired and earns his play money buying and selling chisels, including turning chisels.
He sometimes gets really good quality stuff and his prices are realistic. I feel that second hand quality stuff is often better than spending a fortune on new quality stuff because while you learn to sharpen yu're better off grinding away cheaper steel than expensive. And those cheap new sets are nasty and often just carbon steel which is a bastard to try to sharpen without burning, therefore they are more suited to experienced turners rather than beginners.
With cheap and nasty gear you'll end up giving it away as a bad joke.
If you want I'll send you a privte message with that guy's contact details so it doesn't look like I'm trying to give free plugs. I have no ties to him I have just found him decent to deal with.
Good Luck