Anyone know about old lathe tools ?

Roger Tulk

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St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
I'm on Vancouver Island visiting my son since he was evacuated from Fort McMurray. He is OK, but I've been met by his father-in-law who just bought a 45 year old Beaver Lathe and acquired a box of 45 year old lathe tools.

These tools are not familiar to me at all. Several look like scrapers that have been tapered to a rounded end with an edge. So,I think they may be some kind of spindle tool with no flute, but I don't look forward to trying to use them. I'm wondering if I could grind a couple of them into proper scrapers . One of the tools, about 5/8 wide has a shallow flute and looks a bit like a 3/4 spindle gouge I bought at Penn State last month. One is definitely a detail gouge about 1/4" needing sharpening.

I'll try to attach pictures tomorrow when we get back to his place. I suggested to him that he should pick up the economy tool set from Lee Valley. This is an island of small communities so he is unlikely to find a class. I think we have a couple of members on the island, so maybe someone could reach out.

He would like me to show him something before I leave on Wednesday, He has a grinder, but I am a bit worried about turning anything with two scrapers and a couple of dodgy gouges. I don't want to disappoint, but I need to have something to tell him without dampening his enthusiasm.

Pics tomorrow.

Oh, we are in Duncan BC.
 
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Sounds like what Penn State calls a Versa Chisel. From the top they look like a scraper, but they have a gouge-like bevel on the underneath side. They are designed for spindle work. They could be potentially dangerous if used for gouge-style cuts on faceplate work because of the relatively weak tang. I have one or two but never really liked them, since I could get the same results easier with other tools, and also because I don't do a lot of spindle work. Regrinding them into scrapers is a fair option.
 
Roger, Slight thread drift. I'm interested in your take on the small Vancouver Island communities. The TV show 'Alone' is filmed there and it looks ruggedly beautiful. Can one find a place to live there within range of civilization, yet still be away from things?
 
Roger, Slight thread drift. I'm interested in your take on the small Vancouver Island communities. The TV show 'Alone' is filmed there and it looks ruggedly beautiful. Can one find a place to live there within range of civilization, yet still be away from things?

Yes but it'll cost you :D The island is premium real estate for the most part. I'm particularly fond of the Cowichan Valley area myself. For a camping experience of a lifetime though its hard to beat Tofino just on the edge of the season before the crowds really show up, we did that quite a few years ago and it was pretty magical (loml even allowed it might have been worth sleeping in a tent for :rofl:).
 
The converted file in the fourth and fifth photos looks like an attempt to make a Versa Chisel. Personally, I'd turn it into a scraper. Same with the tool on the far right in both of those shots.

I have no personal experience using files that have been converted to turning tools. I know some guys have had a lot of success doing that, and others warn about the steel in files being more brittle than regular HSS turning tools. The thing that gives me cause about using the converted file is the small size (cross section) of the tang in relation to the width of the cutting edge. I sure wouldn't try any serious material removal with it.
 
Some look like a continental gouge as shown here. Small tang and formed by bending the metal instead of milling the flute in round stock.
http://www.packardwoodworks.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=tools-srby-congou

Some look like a "fluteless gouge" very similar to the Sorby Spindle Master....
[video]http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=+robert+sorby+spindle+master&view=detail&mid=5F680BFCA4BCEA22FDFD5F680BFCA4BCEA22FDFD&FORM=VIRE[/video]

The gouges should probably have about a 30-45* bevel where a scraper would have 65-80*.
 
Fourth and fifth pic, again homemade from a file, end is flat on one side,tapered on the other. The third is a shallow flute sharpened as a spindle gouge, apparently Fourth same as the first, but smaller.

Roger,
the third tool that looks like a shallow fluted spindle gouge looks just like a couple of tools I got with my first lathe... I did some research on them and found them called Continental roughing gouges ?? I once saw a video of a turner in Scandinavia that turned a bowl using one of them.... I tried that myself and it was hard to do and I felt dangerous... If I use them now, they're mostly used like a scraper to flatten a bottom or set up a flat for my bowl coring device. Closest thing to a spindle I do would be a pepper mill and I prefer my 5/8" bowl gouge for them.
 
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