favorite turning tools

Trying to decide what if anything I'd like to add to my collection of turning tools. I have an older Rockwell/Delta reeves drive lathe and a Jet mini that will be my Winter lathe set up in the basement. From the good advice I got here at the time I added a Talon chuck and some decent Harbor freight turning tools. I've made a Oland tool (Thanks Arch) and have recently added a bowl gouge, a flat and round nose scraper. I mostly turn pens (gouge to round and Skew to finish) but am starting to do a few lidded boxes as well. What is your opinions on your favorite tools?

Reply to
lenhow
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I'm liking my bedan more and more.

Reply to
Dave Balderstone

if you want to make square sided boxes, the Soren Berger tool is great - though it is pretty specialized to just that one purpose

Reply to
Bill Noble

Reply to
Kevin Cleary

My tool of choice for pens and other small work is a small (1/4 or 3/8") oval skew, preferably one that is short enough to use comfortably with one hand..

Nothing rolls like an oval skew, and you can get a nice shearing angle with it..

The Eliminator with carbide cutter....One expensive tool that you probably aren't ready for but that I wish I'd bought years ago... AWESOME tool for boxes, vases, etc..

mac

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Reply to
mac davis

I really like the termite tool...and no, plugging up with shavings is not a problem.

LB ?

Reply to
Lem Bledsoe

I really like this in 1/2 or 5/8 for boxes, bowls, and vases.

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Reply to
ebd

For gouges and scrapers, go to Doug Thompson tools, The best out there, sold unhandled so you do have to make your own, but my go to tools for bowls. For boxes, I do like the Kelton hollowers for roughing, and a big second on the Eliminator for finish cuts. I have the Super cut tool as well, but prefer the carbide disc on the Eliminator. I know you can buy the replacement discs else where for about a third of what he sells them for, but don't have the source yet. I do use a square scraper for cutting the parallel sides of the mortice and tenon on a box, and a 6 inch steel ruler to put on the sides of both the lid and bottom to eyeball along the bed of the lathe to see how square it really is. I have the Soren Berger tool, and even after seeing him a couple of times demonstrate the tool, can't seem to get it to work. A spindle gouge for any curves, and a small skew for straight edges. I thin parting tool, and a heavier one as well. I also got the Bonnie Klein threading jig for doing threaded boxes after doing a 3 day workshop with her a year plus ago. More toys. I have over 100 lock nuts with the nylon rings in them, which are turned out, and then glued to a piece of pine to use as waste blocks. I prefer this to chucking.

robo hippy

Reply to
robo hippy

snip . I have the Soren Berger tool, and even

The soren berger tool works well used as follows

  1. you must be making a square sided box - it doesn't do curves, and you must be cutting end grain.
  2. drill a hole to desired depth large enough for the tool to fit in
  3. insert tool so the cutter part is mostly inside the hole
  4. rotate so blade starts to cut and pull HARD against the wood coming down on the blade If you do this right, it peels a layer of shavings that look like they came from a pencil sharpener - it is very fast.
  5. repeat four moving down one "blade length" at a time until you get to the bottom. The design of the tool will allow you to cut a smooth bottom in one pass, then pull the tool up the side of the box to smooth it out.

  1. you are done.

what you may be having trouble with is either getting it to cut (just rotate it while pulling hard away from the center), or you are trying to do something other than what it does.

When you get the hang of it, you will agree, for what it does, it is amazing.

Reply to
Bill Noble

I have a supercut and thought it was pretty good until I tried the mega Eliminator.. It's what I was hoping for when I got the supercut, just doesn't have the swivel head (which never stays in on position for me)

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mac

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Reply to
mac davis

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I've never had a problem with the swivel head moving. I do some deep undercut rims so the swivel head really comes in handy.

Reply to
ebd

On Sat, 12 Dec 2009 10:53:03 -0600, snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote (in message ):

What is your opinions on

I use a bowl gouge somewhat like an Ellsworth grind. I have also recently made a hook tool for hollowing out some bucket-type vessels - learning that the angle of grind on the hook is key to what I can do inside the vessel, regarding the shape of the interior - will do more experimenting with this, as it is fairly easy for me to make these hooks. I also like a couple of home-made scraping type chisels, one for smoothing out curved interior surfaces, and the other for cleaning up straight-sided and square-cornered interior surfaces (like a cylindrical box and its lid). Thanks to tips here, I can also call a fistful of shavings a tool, for final smoothing of a sanded surface. Thanks, folks, very pleasing.

For other Shopsmith owners who are not too happy with their tool rest clamping setup - the jamming action against the elevation screw starts to damage the thread, especially when you are trying to make it stay put against the force of a bowl gouge - I made a nice bar clamp which clamps around this screw and wedges against the carriage to keep the tool rest from moving into the work. I love it. I know the SS is not the best tool for turning, but it is what works in my shop, so I am learning how to wring it out, and make it deliver for me. tom koehler

Reply to
tom koehler

Thanks for all your suggestions. It shows how many diverse tools (and their users) there are out there! =0)

Reply to
lenhow

What it comes down to is everyone has there own style and methods, A tool that works well for one doesn't work for another. Unfortunately, it often costs a fair amount of money finding what tools are good for your style. I have traded many tools with a friend of mine down the road. We also loan each other tools to try out.

Reply to
CW

if I had only one tool, it would be a reasonably heavy fingernail grind bowl gouge made of decent steel. Second tool, a skew, any skew. Third tool - small bowl gouge (1/4 inch or less). Fourth tool - parting tool. Fifth - longer, stronger parting tool. I have a sorby texturing tool, never use it. I had an armbrace set, got rid of it.

Reply to
Bill Noble

Tools hell. I wish I had more skill.

Ed

Reply to
Ed Edelenbos

On Sat, 19 Dec 2009 18:42:30 -0600, Ed Edelenbos wrote (in message ):

well, shoot... me too and likely all others here. No matter what the skill level, there's always something wrong. I try to make a thing, and do my best. When I decide to stop working on it and maybe sand it and even put on some kind of finish, my dear wife will go into raptures over it, and friends and associates will make all kind of approving noises - yet all I see are my mistakes and where I could have or should have done something different. Now, if I go and make another thing, and then actually DO something different like I think I should have... well, that could be progress. And if I go a little ways outside my comfort zone and produce something I am not repelled by... well that could be progress. Maybe seeking progress is a little bit like stretching, and the stretching is a little uncomfortable. If it was comfortable, it wouldn't be stretching, it would just be yawning. tom koehler

Reply to
tom koehler

Thanks!

Reply to
Gerard

The one that works properly

Reply to
Marty G

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