Thread: carbon steel and hss

Yes! (A certain recent thread pops to mind! )

CS loses it's temper when overheated... if the tip goes blue when sharpening, it's stuffed. You have to reshape past the bluing and resharpen.

HSS is a lot more forgiving, you can lightly blue it without removing it's strength. This is not to say that you can't ruin HSS by overheating, just that when you see it go blue you can simply back off, let it cool a bit and then continue sharpening.

Having said all that, good quality CS (not the cheap chaiwanese stuff... I mean tools like Sorbys and Taylors before HSS was available) will keep its' edge longer than HSS and is becoming cheaper to buy 'cos HSS is the "flavour of the month." Learning to sharpen it properly is definitely worth your while.

Also, keep your diamond lap convenient to hand at the lathe. When you notice your tool starting to lose it's edge, give it a quick stroke or two with the lap and keep right on turning. When it starts taking four or five (or more) strokes to freshen the edge, then it's time to take it back to the wheel. This'll save a lot of walking time and make your tools last longer 'cos they're losing less steel.

i'lll have someone basically standing over me to tell me if i'm going at it a bit fast or held it for to long so i should be right ( hopefully) with overheating

ps. thanx for the quick reply skew and the good advice. i think i can send u a greenie but not sure ( yep i can )

pps 500 posts!!!

Its good to see "young folk" getting into turning. Don't let the gray & wrinklies have all the fun.

Reminds me of last wood show, saw this "sweet young lass" wandering round with a huge nice brand turning chisel sticking out of her goodie bag & had to chuckle to my self

cheers

Originally Posted by soundman

Its good to see "young folk" getting into turning. Don't let the gray & wrinklies have all the fun.

cheers

well at skool, we have a woodturning option in sport for terms 2&3. we are allowed 20 people but usually get up to 40 trying to get a spot. then we are taught by cessnock woodturners club ( most of which are over 45 and some over 70) so woodturning is pretty popular in cessnock

Woodturning..... and entirely more civilised and usefull activity for even mildly geeky types than thugby or pricket

cheers

Originally Posted by ss_11000

well at skool, we have a woodturning option in sport for terms 2&3. we are allowed 20 people but usually get up to 40 trying to get a spot. then we are taught by cessnock woodturners club ( most of which are over 45 and some over 70) so woodturning is pretty popular in cessnock

Lucky beggar! At our school, "boys' sports" involved wandering around the oval for an hour or two and calling it cricket, or being mugged and dragged through mud by the school bullies, which they called playing footy. There was no balls, bats, stumps or whatever equipment involved; that'd all been nicked by the afore-mentioned bullies. :eek:

Oh, yeah... the third option: sitting outside the principal's office. I think that even after 30 plus years I could still draw a map of all the cracks in the corridor walls. I hated our so-called sports periods.

Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!!

Lucky beggar! At our school, "boys' sports" involved wandering around the oval for an hour or two and calling it cricket, or being mugged and dragged through mud by the school bullies, which they called playing footy. There was no balls, bats, stumps or whatever equipment involved; that'd all been nicked by the afore-mentioned bullies. :eek:

Oh, yeah... the third option: sitting outside the principal's office. I think that even after 30 plus years I could still draw a map of all the cracks in the corridor walls. I hated our so-called sports periods.

my school seems pretty good now.

I'm not really into turning as I'd rather make furniture but I'm quite competent as a spindle turner. I've got a an elcheapo chinese set and they're great.

I keep a file handy while turning and sharpen as needed while I'm turnin.

I tested the steel in one a few years ago and they would harden and temper very well but I've never got around to doing that as the file method is very easy.

Im sure I read somewhere once, that HSS can get to glowing red before it loses its edge.

Al

Originally Posted by ozwinner

Im sure I read somewhere once, that HSS can get to glowing red before it loses its edge.

Al

doesn't red come before blue then it goes to white?

No.
Red is after blue but before white.
As in I before E except when I eat the pie. :confused: :confused:

Al

Skew - Think you'll find that HSS keeps its edge much longer than CS but the CS can be sharpened to a keener edge. Least ways that's what I found over many years of using both.

Cheers - Neil

Neil, I can only talking from personal experience but I'll swear my trusty old CS Sorby detail gouge lasts twice as long as the new HSS Sorby one I got for Chrissy. (Not my choice, but who looks a gift horse...?) I guess it could be that the new 'un mightn't be as good an "overall" quality as the CS, but I wouldn't have thought that of Sorby. I certainly don't spend any extra time when sharpening either... a couple of licks across the wheel and back to work. I've noticed similar with other tools, but I guess that could be 'cos I'm also using cheap CS tools as well. More an appearance than fact. I'll try to devise an empirical test and see how things go. What's the bet I'll get conflicting data?

Al, I really wouldn't know what the temp is to ruin HSS. If I blue it I kick myself anyway... it's a bad habit to get into. If I sharpen all my tools as though they're CS, then I won't accidentally "cook" one after sharpening several HSS's. Been there, done that, learnt my lesson.

Stirlo, bluing is just when the steel starts turning a dark, gun-metal blue for a few mm around the worked face, a closer look'll show a small "rainbow effect" kinda like an oil slick. It stays this colour when it cools. It'll blue well before it actually starts glowing any colour at all... but I still wouldn't touch it with bare skin.

Originally Posted by soundman

Its good to see "young folk" getting into turning. Don't let the gray & wrinklies have all the fun.

Reminds me of last wood show, saw this "sweet young lass" wandering round with a huge nice brand turning chisel sticking out of her goodie bag & had to chuckle to my self

cheers

She was probably on her way to the local mall to stick it in some pimply faced ex-boyfriend...