Thread: Henry Taylor's fine finishing tools

Well, with mumbly peg I could get the knife into the side welt of my shoe without touching my foot

And you ???

Just noticed? Is that really you Eugene?? I know yer here somewhere

Originally Posted by

Another gimmick tool to extract more money from the wallet.
Like I said,

The Packard Woodworks catalog has 21 pages of turning tools.

Here is the online part: Packard Woodworks: The Woodturner's Source: Woodturning Tools

Bob Stocksdale was reputed to use only a 1/2 inch bowl gouge for most of his work.

Salad Bowl with Servers by Bob Stocksdale / American Art

His bowls: https://www.google.com/search?num=10....1.4jRBTeJSZf8

The two significant features of the Owen 'finishing' scraper are the round bottomed bar for rolling the tool on the tool rest to achieve a shear angle and the weight of the tool to reduce vibration. Both good features, but it evades me why solid HSS is needed to achieve either of these features. An excessively expensive solution.

The cutting (scraping) edge steel only needs to be a few mm deep to do the job. Any cutter like the Robert Sorby Cutter Tip will do the job.

Screw any one of the various shaped tips that are available to a solid round bar and you get the weight and rotation provided by the Owen scraper.

I'm not convinced that the tool is achieving anything new.

Neil, provide something heavy and you can then justify the price.

Originally Posted by NeilS

I'm not convinced that the tool is achieving anything new.

It puts new money in the pockets of Henry Taylor and Tracy Owen.

Originally Posted by jimbur

Neil, provide something heavy and you can then justify the price.

... : ~}

Originally Posted by Paul39

It puts new money in the pockets of Henry Taylor and Tracy Owen.

Which is not a bad thing in itself, IMO.

I take my hat off to anyone who makes their living from woodturning, which of necessity requires some supplementation from demos, publications and the sale of stuff like signature tools. And, some turners end up being better known for their signature tools than their own work, e.g. David Ellsworth, which then promotes the sale of their woodturning.

As I see it, Owen's tool is not shonky, just unnecessarily expensive for the purpose. If there is a market for it, good luck to him, as it will be a few more meals on his table.

As for Henry Taylor, they have earned their reputation as tool makers and any extra sales they make that keep them in the game is also a good thing for all of us.

But, I'm just not going to be helping them out myself on this one...

Neil,

I agree with your post #22.

I am a bit cynical about Famous: Turner, Photographer, Golfer, etc. in advertisements holding the tool of the trade implying that if one had the Famous: Tool, Camera, Club, etc., one can be as good as the Famous.

Originally Posted by paul39

i am a bit cynical about famous: Turner, photographer, golfer, etc. In advertisements holding the tool of the trade implying that if one had the famous: Tool, camera, club, etc., one can be as good as the famous.

+1

I tried one of the tear dropped scraper tips on a bar a long time ago, probably a Sorby, and didn't like it then. There isn't anything that can be done with it that could not be done with standard scrapers, at least not when turning bowls. The fluteless gouges are made for bevel rubbing cuts, and you can't do that with the tear dropped scrapers.

robo hippy

Originally Posted by robo hippy

tear dropped scraper tips.... There isn't anything that can be done with it that could not be done with standard scrapers, at least not when turning bowls.

Agreed, just suggested as a cheaper option than the Owen scraper.

Originally Posted by robo hippy

The fluteless gouges are made for bevel rubbing cuts, and you can't do that with the tear dropped scrapers.

Agreed, one is a gouge and the other a scraper. If you are rubbing on the bevel (ie neg. bevel) you are not scraping.

Actually, the Owens tool can be used either as a scraper, or as a bevel rubbing tool. I do bevel rubbing cuts with my scrapers all the time. I am a bit on the weird side as well.

robo hippy

Don't ask questions like that Robo. Someone may well answer