Oh! That new tool smell

Roger Tulk

Member
Messages
3,018
Location
St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
The parcel post arived early today, but I waited until LOML was out of the way to open it without hearing the usual "How many tools/books/whatevers do we need in this house?"

Threee Benjamin's Best bowl gouges, bought mainly for experimenting with different grinds. I am assuming that I'm looking at a traditional grind here, and that all I have to do to duplicate it is to match the bevel on my grindstone and rotate the tool. Right? I intend to keep two of them that way for now, and have one each of 3/8 and ½" to mess with.

DSCF6499.JPG

Oh, the bevels on the tools seem to be about 40º to 45º. Would that be about average for a standard ground bowl gouge?
 
Congrats on the new gouges. :thumb:

Regarding your grinding question...do you have a sharpening jig or are you grinding freehand?
 
You're going to find the tempering on those a little less than quality. One session you may remove 1/16", the next time, 1/2". The Chinese have less than stellar quality control.
 
Vaughn, I'm using a jig. I have a platform made for skews and gouges, and a dealy for doing Irish grinds, thanks to Eddie Castellin, but my question is about standard grinds.

Jim, I don't quite understand what you are telling me. I do know these aren't Sorbys though. These are ones I can afford to wreck while I'm learning.
 
Roger,
The only gouges I use are Benjamin's best...(most of my tools are BB or some other off brand) once sharpened properly, they work just was well as the more pricier gouges. I've tried a couple of Sorby's gouges and they didn't cut any better. The key is a consistent repeat of the sharpening angles. I use the wolverine rig to sharpen and just touch the tool to the grinder very lightly... as soon as I see the little sparks coming over the edge, I know I have a new edge and go back to work.
Remember, it's not the tool that makes the man work, ... it's the man who makes the tool work.

I'm not sure what the grind on my 5/8" gouge should be called... I have a 60 degree angle on the wings and cut all my bowls with it... I have a 1/2" at 45 degrees and I think the little one is a 3/8" at the same 45... they're almost too aggressive for my tastes, but I use them for some clean up and close work. I do almost every thing else with the 60 deg grind.

I do have a set of 20 TPI thread chasers from Sorby... they work okay and would work better if I could slow my lathe down enough to do a better job of chasing threads. The set includes a recess too for relief at the bottom of inside threads... I use it to cut the groove inside my pepper mills for the wings on the crush grind grinders to fit into.
 
Vaughn, I'm using a jig. I have a platform made for skews and gouges, and a dealy for doing Irish grinds, thanks to Eddie Castellin, but my question is about standard grinds...

Hard to tell for sure from the photos, but I think you'll be able to match the grind on your new gouges with the Capt. Eddie jig. The length of the wings on an Irish grind (or fingernail, or Ellsworth, or whatever the kids are calling it these days) is largely dictated by how long you hold that part of the gouge on the grinder. If you spend less time grinding the sides than the tip, the wings won't be as long...more like how your new gouges look. Not positive it'd match, but it's pretty easy to check to see if the jig will be able to match the existing grind. With the grinder turned off, adjust the jig so the bevel at the tip of the gouge is sitting flat on the grindstone. Now rotate the gouge on the stone as if you were sharpening it, and see if the bevel is still sitting flat when you've got the gouge rolled all the way over to each side. If it doesn't match, try adjusting how much of the gouge is sticking out of the jig. You might start with 2" sticking out, but find that 1 3/4" works better to match the grind. Or 2 1/8...just experiment around and document what ends up working so you can remember it the next time. ;)

If you can't get the jig set up to match the current grind (or come very close), then you're into the realm of freehand sharpening using the tool rest. I haven't done much freehand sharpening at all, so I'll let someone else with more experience offer suggestions.

BTW, I was very happy with the Benjamin's Best bowl gouges I used to own. They were great bang for the buck. They don't hold an edge as long as the Thompsons I use now, but they cut and handle well, and they are at a great spot on the price/performance curve. I never ran into any inconsistency in the steel like Jim mentioned, so hopefully his experience was a fluke.
 
Easy guys...geez! Just passing on what hundreds of others have reported! I don't have Rogers budget for destructive testing on stuff I buy, so I have to research everything and get the best bang for my buck. Some people have never had a car accident...doesn't mean that someone else hasn't. :(
 
they work just was well as the more pricier gouges.

Might be going a bit off topic here. But, I have to agree. Some of my best tools are old garage sale finds. e.g. "cast steel" My most expensive tool, a large Taylor skew, gets dull between the grinder and the wood, I swear. Have an El Cheapo I picked up somewhere that vastly outperforms it.
 
Easy guys...geez! Just passing on what hundreds of others have reported! I don't have Rogers budget for destructive testing on stuff I buy, so I have to research everything and get the best bang for my buck. Some people have never had a car accident...doesn't mean that someone else hasn't. :(

Heh, well I'll add a +1 to "they aren't all that bad" list :D If you do want to do some destructive testing then doing it on $20 tools is for sure the way to go and is primarily the reason I started out with the BBs since I had no idea .

Now that I know more about what I like with at least my bowl gouge, I'm pleased to have upgraded it to a Thompson, but don't mind having some cheaper tools to play with and not be all that upset about loosing a little metal.
 
Easy guys...geez! Just passing on what hundreds of others have reported! I don't have Rogers budget for destructive testing on stuff I buy, so I have to research everything and get the best bang for my buck. Some people have never had a car accident...doesn't mean that someone else hasn't. :(

I'm not doubting at all what you reported, bud. ;) Just saying I hadn't seen it in the BB gouges I once owned.

Might be going a bit off topic here. But, I have to agree. Some of my best tools are old garage sale finds. e.g. "cast steel" My most expensive tool, a large Taylor skew, gets dull between the grinder and the wood, I swear. Have an El Cheapo I picked up somewhere that vastly outperforms it.

Price isn't the arbiter of quality, for sure. Thompson tools, which are the best I've ever used, and not the most expensive. And they cut no differently than a Harbor Frieght cheapie...they just stay sharp a lot longer. (And although I'm happy with the ones I own, I wouldn't consider Taylor a benchmark for expensive tools.)
 
There is a difference between best bang for THE buck and best bang for MY buck. Since I have semi-control over MY buck and zippo control over THE buck, its easy to determine what to get. I have both Taylor's and Thompson's. The latter is way better IMHO and was less money. Stays sharper longer. Bottom line. I got the Taylor's as recommended by my mentor. Then he got his hands on some Thompson's. He changed his recommendation.
 
Roger, here's the deal to me. I agree with what Chuck said about the tool not making the man work, but the man making the tool work. The tool is simply that, a tool. I don't care what you buy, if you don't know how to use it, then there it is! I started out several years ago with some tools from Highland Woodturning called Bodger's. They I am sure are similar in quality to the Benjamin's Best. After I decided that turning was fun and I was going to keep at it, I started experimenting with different brands. But, I also bought the necessary slow grinder and sharpening jigs, as well. I have used Sorby's, Crown PM's, Henry Taylor, and some Chinese junk that Woodcraft sells. I certainly don't like Sorby's. The Crown's are good if you want to spend a fair piece of change for each one. HT's are fair. I found a brand, made in England of Sheffield HS Steel called Hamlet. They are priced fairly well, and work very well. Hold an edge real good. Easy to sharpen. Great handles. Just a good all round tool, in my opinion. Again, in my opinion. But, everybody has their opinions and you will have yours in time. Don't be afraid to experiment, but do it as economically as you can. Nuf said from me on that.
 
The parcel post arived early today, but I waited until LOML was out of the way to open it without hearing the usual "How many tools/books/whatevers do we need in this house?"

Threee Benjamin's Best bowl gouges, bought mainly for experimenting with different grinds.

I have some of the Benjamin best tools and there isn't anything wrong with them ... they work just fine. For experimenting I use my wonderful HF tools ...

Jim ... I don't find that sharpening and removal of material of the BB tools any different than my Sorby's or D-way's ... can't say about my Thompson because I keep forgetting to take it out of the plastic tube and and making a handle.

I've found sometimes folks give a bad review of a product without ever having tried it out because it comes from the far east.

I have a 7x12 wood lathe I picked up from menard's for under $50 that I use only for turning my bark

I have a 7x12 metal lathe and a 10x18 wood lathe that I do 95% of my attempts at wood turning on.

And a new Grizzly GO733 still under wraps in the garage. All these lathes have the same thing in common ... they are Chinese made.

Some of the best things I've bought have been from garage sales ... picked up an old Craftsman plane (NIB) from the 40's and that blade holds and edge. Also picked up a NIB Stanley 9 1/2 Block Plane (says Made in England) the same place.
 
Someone once told me that is not that it is made in China, but where in China was it made. I run a Grizzly lathe and it's Chinese made. But, also it comes from the same factory that makes Jet and Powermatic, and no telling what else. It's called the Burt Group, or something like that. Anyway, I have nothing against some things that are Chinese made, I just prefer the turning tools made from HS Sheffield Steel. My preference, and everybody is entitled to theirs.
 
Someone once told me that is not that it is made in China, but where in China was it made. I run a Grizzly lathe and it's Chinese made. But, also it comes from the same factory that makes Jet and Powermatic, and no telling what else. It's called the Burt Group, or something like that. Anyway, I have nothing against some things that are Chinese made, I just prefer the turning tools made from HS Sheffield Steel. My preference, and everybody is entitled to theirs.
I visit this site often ...http://www.burt-group.com.cn/
 
Top