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Chuck.......... A question first....then maybe some answers. Are you a beginning turner?

If you are an experienced turner, and you are asking the question, I love my Sorbies.

If you are a beginner..........Learning to freehand sharpen turning tools and learning to turn simultaneously is the pits! You should get a sharpening jig and I'd recommend a cheap set of tools FIRST. Learn to use the sharpening jig on the cheap tools and learn to turn simultaneously. Then after your sharpening skills advance worry about buying Sorbys. Learning sharpen can waste a lot of expensive steel. While you are in the learning stages of sharpening, you might as well grind away at cheap steel.

I was lucky...my man Vaughn here gave me a cheap set of HF tools and tod evans gave a better set of Robert Larson tools. I started with the HF tools...once I learned to sharpen, I worked into using and sharpening the Robert Larsons.

If you don't have a sharpening jig....the Oneway Wolverine System is the cat's meow! There are other "knock offs" out there that are cheaper and will do the same job. A jig IMHO is the best way to learn to grind turning tools.

Good luck!
 
Chuck,

Neither one. Go to harbor freight, and get yourself the $40 set. You're gonna ruin them as you get used to how to sharpen. Then get Randy's monster lathe tool. It's cheap at twice the price... ;)

By that time, you'll have a good approximation of your needs, and a good assessment of actual skills. Then you can start blowing a hundred bucks per tool. ;)

If you can't stand HF, ebay benjamin's best... ;)

Thanks,

Bill
 
The Sorbys are fine tools, but like Ken, I'd suggest getting a low-end set to start with. Then, as your sharpening skills improve and your turning experience grows, you can buy individual tools as needed (instead of buying a whole set of higher-end tools).

By the time I was comfortable sharpening the tools in my Harbor Freight set (the set I bought after I sent a set to Ken), I was ready for better tools, and I've bought several different brands along the way. Right now, my favorite tools are from Thompson Lathe Tools. Doug makes great tools and sells them at reasonable prices (for what you get).
 
I have about 1/4 of Doug's tools they are absolutely fantastic. I plan on having all of his tools also he is a fantastic guy to deal with & also a great turner himself.

Chuck
 
Sharpening is not a problem. I have a set of Sorbys now that will have to go back with the lathe. (It,s been in storage in my shop for going on 5 years now. Just started using it last year though.) I getting a new to me lathe and my buddy's has to go. He swears by his Sorbys and I was just wondering if the steel in the Deltas is comparable. I am guessing they are not but I have no experience with them. I don't want to blow the money on them if they are going to be permanently connected to the sharping stone if you know what I mean.
 
Chuck, I've not heard of anyone raving about how good the Delta chisels are. Sorby chisels, on the other hand, I have. Doesn't mean much, but it's something to keep in mind. ;)
 
I saw this posted in another forum. I never thought it this way. I have been recommending the HF set for learning to sharpen tools on also. My justification is that the HF tools can be converted to specialty scrapers also.

I don't know whether it is OK to post links to other forum, therefore here is the copy and paste:
"
 I totally agree... Here's the cost of tools.
Doug Thompson near Cleveland <doug@thompsonlathetools.com> -- Friday, 7 March 2008, at 2:48 p.m. When you decide to invest in the sport the grinder is the first place to put your money. The Wolverine and Woodcraft slow speed grinder is IMO the best. One good tool is worth more than a bunch of cheaper tools. Most professionals only use a couple of tools all the time, tools that they have learned to use well. When starting out ONE 1/2 inch bowl gouge is enough to turn a 12 inch bowl then you add another when you see a need. The cost to learn on a good tool is low when you break it down. -The cost of a 1/2 bowl gouge is $50 -Useable flute length say 4 inches. Cost $12.50 per inch -It can be ground say 50 times per inch. Cost $.25 per grind. -Make a huge mistake and lose a 1/4 inch. Cost $3.12 This is a small price to pay... NOW to compare it with something else we use all the time... sandpaper ONE disk is $.20"

The quote was from Doug Thompson, the maker of Thompson Tools.
I only see the tree and miss the forest. We normally use more than one grit sanding disk also. I never consider the total of the low cost items.

Our Club had Bill Grumbine demo last week end. The picture shows him getting two extreme forms of shavings from the same gouge. It was the 5/8" Thompson V bowl gouge. For two days, he did a bunch of big size turnings on the Oneway 2436 lathe. He gave the lathe a hard workout. It tripped the reset button several times. He only sharpen the tool once in two days. Other than that single bowl gouge, all he used was a parting tool and skew for spindle demo.
15b60797.jpg

BTW, he didn't even bring his famous 80-grit gouge. He didn't have any grit gouge at all.

We also had the bowl gouge clinic. Members brought their problem bowl gouges for him for tweaking. He hardly change any tool angles; he just slightly fix the bump and dip in the side grind. He hardly did any heavy grinding. Afterwards, he let everybody used their freshly ground tools to try on the bowl blank he set up. I didn't bring my gouge; I took his class after his demo at my other Club last November. That session was very informative and educational. He also busted the myth of the magical grind angle. We only need the gouge in the ball park range, we only have to present our gouge at slightly different angle to accommodate for the grind.

His demo was very good. I He is a very experienced teacher. I highly recommend his class even you have couple bowls under your belt. His class was informal. Each of us learn at our own pace. To take full advantage of the limited time, watch his DVDs first.

I think I need to :huh:.

Edit: Quote from WoodCentral link:
http://www.woodcentral.com/cgi-bin/...&v2=pipe+clamp&v4=workbench&v5=g4fh7ic#179392

 
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All great info for sure.

I do not think you can go wrong with any of the major tool makers.

Gordon, quoting another forum is just fine, but please provide a link to said forum, so we know where it is coming from and the original author gets the credit.

Great pic of Bill :thumb:
 
Stu, I bet you know Ryuichi Ueda a woodturner from Japan, we email each other quite a bit, he will be at our national symposium this June.

It doesn't matter what country you live in woodturning is the same.
 
Doug Thompson said:
Stu, I bet you know Ryuichi Ueda a woodturner from Japan, we email each other quite a bit, he will be at our national symposium this June.

It doesn't matter what country you live in woodturning is the same.
Click to expand...

Yes I do Doug, Alex knows him as well.

I'd love to attend one of them symposiums one year for sure! :thumb:
 
Frank Fusco said:
Grizzly (wat else ya expect from me? ;) ) has a new set of high speed steel tools for only $79.95. http://www.grizzly.com/products/h5978

This is about the price you pay for ONE tool of a name brand. And, they are HSS. Would seem it would be hard to go wrong with this. They have other HSS sets also. Worth taking a look at.
Click to expand...
I dunno...after using a few gouges in the $80 range and comparing them to some $30 and $40 gouges I have, the more expensive ones do hold an edge much longer.

For bowl turning, the Grizz set wouldn't have any pieces I'd use, aside from the parting tool. The Harbor Freight HSS set is a similar arrangement, although it's half the price and it has more tools...fewer spindle gouges and more skews.
 
Not all HSS are the same.
When I took a class from Mark Sfirri on off-set turning, he uses an expensive brand name bowl gouge with 30° angle grind. That very acute angle allows him access to very tight space. He let us used his. I liked it. I don't want to convert my best bowl gouge, so I re-grind my brand name mid price range bowl gouge to the same grind. It didn't hold an edge at that steep angle and the edge broke off as well. I am not going to name the brands, that is not a normal angle for a bowl gouge. But there is difference in quality in steel. Both are highly rated bowl gouges.

There are different types of tool steel, and there are some lacks quality control. It is difficult to do an objective comparison.
http://www.crucibleservice.com/datasheets/index.cfm
Some steel has quality that is more suitable for turning tool.
http://www.crucibleservice.com/datash/ds10Vv7b.pdf
 
In the past I have recommended people use the cheap sets to learn on also, as I did. But the fact of the matter is the steel isn't very good and sure you get lots of practice sharpening because they dull so quickly. Although if it takes you a whole set of gouges to learn how to grind then you might want to look for a new hobby. It's expensive enough already. I still have my HF set sitting around and still use a few of them, mostly to grind to specialty stuff.

My new advice, buy the best tool you can afford. What tools? Depends on what you think you want to turn. I could probably get rid of half of my tools and still turn just the same, don't tell my wife that though...
But between the two you named Sorby any day. But you may also want to look into the Crown sets (there is a 5 piece Pro PM set from woodcraft), I have a couple henry Taylor tools that are a little more midrange price but I'd say they are comparable to my sorby tools. In my future are a few Thompson tools when I need replacements.
 
"Although if it takes you a whole set of gouges to learn how to grind then you might want to look for a new hobby."

Hmmm... I'm on my second set. I'm still messing things up. Maybe I should take up skeet shooting... ;)

Direct quote from a Nobel Prize winner: "Watch out! Here comes a poet! Everybody duck!" ;)

Thanks,

Bill
 
With the quality control exhibited by Delta lately I wouldn't buy anything associated with the name. I really like the Sorby tools but there are a lot of others that are also good, for instance Packard.
 
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