Turning Tool advice

Is it possible for you to photo them and post a link to Tinypic or a similar service? I think the Marples set is almost certainly carbon steel. In fact, I have a set of Marples that came with my first lathe. They made lots like that but I don't think that they got into the high speed steel market that is dominated by Sorby and Henry Taylor. I expect the Sears and Disston tools are the same. Graham

You can tell somewhat by the sparks thrown off during sharpening. I am not a machinist and do not remember the particulars but you can probably look it up somewhere. Probably post the question in the metalworking newsgroup would give you quick advice.

Bill Leonhardt wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@googlegroups.com:

I've got some Menards cheapies that work fine. They don't hold an edge for very long, but sharpening is just part of woodturning. One way to figure out how good the steel is for woodturning is to sharpen a tool and use it. I use a grinder to form the majority of the edge and a sander to do the rest. Once I get the edge I want, it takes more time to walk to the sander than it does to renew the edge.

Grab the one that's got the profile you want, give it a pass on the sander, and have fun!

Puckdropper

From their age, Bill, they are almost certain to be high-carbon steel. The way to tell is to put the heel of one of them to a grinder. If it throws off a shower of sparks it's high-carbon steel; if it just throws off occasional single sparks it's high-speed steel.

High-carbon steel tools dull more quickly than HSS steel, and require more care in sharpening since you can easily overheat them on the grinder and cause them to lose their temper. But on the other hand if you're careful with them you can actually get a sharper edge on them than you can with HSS. Turning tools, however, are usually not sharpened to the type of edge you'd insist on for a bench chisel, so that may not be so important. Lots of people just grind but don't bother to hone.

The ones labeled Craftsman are likely the oldest; sets of these tools were sold with the old Craftsman lathes that were being sold way back in the early 20th century. I have a set myself that came with an ancient tube-style Craftsman lathe that probably dates to the 40's if not before.

In my opinion Marples tools today don't have the reputation they used to have - those blue-handled bench chisels you see in all the tool catalogs don't hold up very well - but back in the day they were top-quality tools. That could be a pretty good set; the Disstons I don't know anything about. If these sets are bright steel, then at least you know they've been well cared for.

My old Craftsman tools sharpen up real nice, but I mostly keep them for backup and for grinding to special profiles that I may use only occasionally. That's a cheap and easy way to experiment with different grinds. Sharpen a few of them up and put them to some hard wood and see how their edges hold up. It won't take long to figure out which of them are keepers.

Much depends on how you're going to be using them. If you're going to be doing just occasional turning they'd probably do you just fine. But if you're going to be standing at the lathe all day long, invest in some HSS tools.

Tom

They are all likely just fine and quality.

You have to try them out on the wood that you choose.

I use a 1946 set that says Sears - but they are made by tool companies and the quality of a set depends on the maker, not the seller. Contracts likely last 5 or 10 years at the most. Quality changes with contract and company doing the contract.

Marples has had a good name - don't know that set. or the other. Does it say Sheffield Steel or made in town. Might be anything or something special.

Know Disston as a company. A good company name but see sears on the contacts. Likely this one as well.

They all are makers of tools and under contract with xyz they make a set to make margin and xyz makes margin.

Try them. Simple as that.

Martin

a whim, I look today and I'm glad to see it's still alive. Perhaps you can help me with a turning tool question. I will also post to rec.woodworking .

n't know their history as I got each set from descendants of the original o wners. I am trying to identify whether they have good steel and are worth keeping for my future turning aspirations. In the future, I expect to turn some furniture parts, a few bowls, but turning will not be the main part o f my woodworking efforts.

y are described as follows:

ala Sears) and that label could be a decal. It is well attached. The hand les are wood and stained red. The steel is dull and looks, to the uneducat ed eye, as the same as I see on old, quality chisels. No markings on the s teel.

t says "Marples Made in Sheffield England". The steel is bright and some a re marked (surface printed) with both imperial and metric sizes.

dle, which is natural wood. The lettering says "Disston USA" with a keysto ne logo. The letters and logo in the handle are colored red. The steel is bright.

er the rust on the Craftsman tools gives me more a feeling of quality steel (gut feeling, not sure why).

ood steel and are worth keeping and using? Any insight you can provide is much appreciated.

As Martin said, "Try them." My main set of turning tools (spindle) came fr om Harbor Freight. Which is to say, "The quality is more important than th e label, and the only way to know what you have is to try them."

If, on the other hand, you are wanting the history, for history's sake, the n one of the old tool sites is the place to go.

Thanks for all the advice on my tools. Sometimes (most times?) I over thin k things. The best advice was to just use them and get on with your life. :-)

I am rebuilding a Rockwell 46-111 now and hope to get it on-line soon so I can really give these tools a tryout.

Thanks again to all respondents.

Bill

a whim, I look today and I'm glad to see it's still alive. Perhaps you can help me with a turning tool question. I will also post to rec.woodworking .

n't know their history as I got each set from descendants of the original o wners. I am trying to identify whether they have good steel and are worth keeping for my future turning aspirations. In the future, I expect to turn some furniture parts, a few bowls, but turning will not be the main part o f my woodworking efforts.

y are described as follows:

ala Sears) and that label could be a decal. It is well attached. The hand les are wood and stained red. The steel is dull and looks, to the uneducat ed eye, as the same as I see on old, quality chisels. No markings on the s teel.

t says "Marples Made in Sheffield England". The steel is bright and some a re marked (surface printed) with both imperial and metric sizes.

dle, which is natural wood. The lettering says "Disston USA" with a keysto ne logo. The letters and logo in the handle are colored red. The steel is bright.

er the rust on the Craftsman tools gives me more a feeling of quality steel (gut feeling, not sure why).

ood steel and are worth keeping and using? Any insight you can provide is much appreciated.

i am curious to know what it means to rebuild a lathe

do you have to put new bearings new motor new paint new wiring

all the above

sounds like an interesting project

i see these models on craigslist

I bought the lathe maybe 15 years ago and it sat for a long time. When I w ent to use it, the bearings seemed to not be good even though I ran it a lo t to loosen up whatever grease it had. I also managed to bend the pulley s ome, although I don't think that was too serious. Anyway, I was able to pu rchase a pulley and new bearings on Ebay so I just need the time to do the work. I like the fact that this is an old tool and I am hopeful I can lear n to "turn" out some quality work.

For years I thought about how to build a stand and mount a motor on a hinge d plate so speed changes would be easy. I then came upon some one selling an old lathe. I wasn't interested in that lathe since the ways were just b ent sheet metal, but it came with a set of cast iron legs. So stylish and heavy. I bought the package (which also included one of my tool sets) and will use these legs. They are pretty rusty, so they get new paint.

So now I'm back to figuring out the motor mount and one other thing. I kno w how desirable it is to have a heavy stand but, at the same time, I would like to make this lathe mobile (well, at least semi-mobile). Been studying retractable wheels.

Anyway, that's where I am.

I have one additional question: Does anyone use a link-belt with their lat he? Is it noisy?

Thanks,

Bill

Just curious, do you use a sanding belt or disc? What grit?

Bill

Yes! I've just installed it and it's expensive but not noisy. It helps reduce vibration. Graham

...

The old ShopSmith (an early Greenie) lacks adequate weight (and adequate low speed range for lathe work) as it comes, but does have a nice retractable wheel setup, where the wheels are extended by a cam connected to the foot pedal. On the other hand, the wheels are tiny and pretty much assume a smooth concrete floor to be useful. There are other, easier to build at home options for that as well. There's also the option of "fixed casters and extendable feet" rather than retractable casters.

If you don't move it often, a jack and a couple "machinery carts" or

4-wheel caster frames is versatile for moving everything in the shop.

I like the link-belts, and don't find them noisy.

Depending where you are at fiscally and the like, I cannot overstate the advantages of an actual variable speed motor. The hinged motor mount is still handy for an easy change of speed-range/torque available, but it's mind-blowing how handy it is to be able to twist a knob and change speeds.

Can be "free" if you collect a free treadmill and scavenge the motor and controller (motors on treadmills are, IME, over-rated by about 2X - ie, a "2 hp" treadmill motor seems to be somewhat like a 3/4-1 hp normal motor.) All of those I have met are DC, as were the industrial-motor electronic VS setups commonly used on wood lathes back in the 1990's, for the most part.

The "better modern approach" (no pesky DC brushes to wear out) is a

3-phase motor and a 1-phase to 3-phase VFD (unless you have 3-phase in your shop) to control it. If those even existed in the 1990s, they were either out of reasonable price range or nobody in the woodturning community was aware of them. Be careful not to overspeed a motor not rated for overspeed (ie, the VFD may let you drive a 3600 RPM motor to 7200, but the motor may not survive at that speed.)

I've been looking into getting such a system. The trouble is that the VFDs are vented and not suitable for dusty situations. Furthermore, the speed controls are tiny buttons. Such a set up would cost ~Can$750 plus the cost of running a 220v line to the lathe. Graham

one bit advice do not let the rebuild get in the way of turning

there are some videos of different retractable wheel ideas

as always some are better than others and it always depends on the application

there are plenty of good wheels available i looked at them all i think but not for a lathe

look and learn from other mobile lathe options on the market

do some lathes use sealed motors

all the motor on all the equipment i have in the shop have vents but maybe there is something about vfds and vents that i am missing

you can save a lot by putting in your own 220 but it depends how far etc

The motors are sealed but this is a typical VFD:

Note the venting and the very small control buttons. Graham

if i ever get another lathe it is sure going to have a vfd

they really are an amazing technology

One thing I should mention is my Sears set has Fingernail grinds. Most of the common ones today are more blunt. Mine are long ovals. So they are complex to use when learning but are useful. I have custom bowl made in M42 steel and they are very blunt. They are expected to go through knots and incursions. Not metal, but mineral.

Mart> They are all likely just fine and quality.