Thread: Grocery Store Turning Tools

Mother provides the necessity for invention, or something like that. I like the melon ball tool idea. Just need to find one made from HSS.

Gun barrels, melon scoops... what's next?

I'd never have thought of trying a melon-baller... but if it does the job, that's what counts. And it certainly sounds like the price was right.

Those melon ballers are not too sturdy...aren't you worried about them snapping and shooting towards your eyeball?

Neat idea. but I'd be fearful of th baller breaking.

Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!!

Gun barrels, melon scoops... what's next?

Same type of scraper made from a junk store stainless steel soup spoon. I am also playing with some 1/2 in. stainless steel shafts from a developing machine. At the rate they devour grinding wheels, I expect they will cut longer than carbon steel before resharpening.

Artme & Skot, as noted in my post, it did break. The end rolled out of the vase and fell to the floor.

I am near sighted and have been wearing glasses for 62 years. They are polycarbonate safety lenses and I put them on to find the floor in the morning, and take them off after I am in bed.

If I am doing anything remotely risky I use a full face visor.

Texian, with the wood I turn, maple, cherry, oak, hemlock, pine, now dry grapefruit and orange, carbon steel with constant sharpening works fine. The grinder is at the end of the lathe & I turn it on and leave it on. I give the tool a swipe on the grinder to start & when it is not cutting well give it a swipe, repeat, etc.

I do have a set of HSS medium sized chisels and one 1/2 in. Crown bowl gouge, but I find I keep using the two big home made bedan type tools, big, heavy, with fat long handles.

One was made into a wood chisel by a blacksmith from a 5/8 in. square file, which I reground and rehandled. The other was made from a 1/2 in square hunk of steel from a junk pile. It had been used as a stake for concrete forms.

I have almost as much fun making tools as I do turning.

Originally Posted by Paul39

Same type of scraper made from a junk store stainless steel soup spoon. I am also playing with some 1/2 in. stainless steel shafts from a developing machine. At the rate they devour grinding wheels, I expect they will cut longer than carbon steel before resharpening.

I made a few of my early tools from the steel rods used for rails in dot-matrix printers.

Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!!

I made a few of my early tools from the steel rods used for rails in dot-matrix printers.

Funny about that. my favorite oland tool is made from the steel rod taken from a toshiba p351 dot matrix. drilled down the middle and and hss cutting tip inserted with grub screws and a nice big spotted gum handle on the other end. It's an awesome bowl roughing tool.

Cheers
Shorty

Today I found a stainless steel tablespoon someone had tossed into my yard.

I sharpened it free hand upside down on the grinder to get a burr on the inside and gave it a few swipes on some 220 grit I keep stuck on an old table tennis paddle for touching up tools.

I used it to scrape the inside of an oak bowl that I remounted and finished after a several month rest wrapped in newspaper.

It worked better than the melon baller as it was heavier and one piece. The smaller radius tip got down into the curve from the side to the bottom quite nicely.

I'm using this with the tool rest out of the way, with about as much or less pressure as I use when sanding. It really cuts the high places off and doesn't follow dips like sandpaper. After scraping I started with 150 sandpaper.

I am quite pleased with the way it works. I'm looking forward to hearing from some of you folks who like to play with found steel and grinders.

...raid the kitchen for turning tools what a concept