# carbide tools



## kones (May 7, 2012)

ive been turning for less than 2 years,im self taught as i have no one to teach me & at 53 i dont have time to travel & attend a "school".im doing ok but wanted to ask some experts about what they thought of carbide turning tools.not traditional by any means but a huge time saver for me .i still use a skew,scrapers & parting tools that i sharpen on a worksharp 3000 & hand stones.


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

kones said:


> ive been turning for less than 2 years,im self taught as i have no one to teach me & at 53 i dont have time to travel & attend a "school".im doing ok but wanted to ask some experts about what they thought of carbide turning tools.not traditional by any means but a huge time saver for me .i still use a skew,scrapers & parting tools that i sharpen on a worksharp 3000 & hand stones.


I only turn when I have to which is rarely. All of my tools are steel, not carbide. I like to be able to easily dress them myself.









 







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## Whaler (Mar 9, 2011)

I use the Woodchuck Pen Pro and swear by it.
http://www.woodchuck-tools.com/Tools.htm


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## woodtick greg (Sep 12, 2011)

I have tried a easywood tools square carbide roughing chisel with a slight radius and was immediatly sold on the concept. I could not believe how fast it removed material and it did not beat me up or present fear of major catches. It is used flat on the rest and paralell to the floor so all of the energy is transfered to the rest. There is a learning curve to these tools as they work better at a higher rpm or speed. What a lot of people don't know is the insert can be sharpened on a fine diamond hone. After trying one of their tools I started making my own tools as I do not have a large tool budget and I have to stretch my dollars. It is a good thing that you first learned with traditional tools. Another cool thing about the easy wood tools is that you don't have to concentrate on tool angle and rubbing the bevel and you can just concentrate on the project form. They are fast, and easy to learn to use. Hunter makes some carbide tools and may have been one of the originators, But their inserts are cupped and cannot be sharpened and must be replaced when dull. ewt are flat and can be sharpened on the flat. I still use traditional tools, just not as much.


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## cuerodoc (Jan 27, 2012)

*Carbide tools??? Heck yeah*

Like you am pretty much a self taught woodturner. I first saw carbide tipped tools on the 'net and got one--then some more. They really make life easy. I do have "regular" chisels too but like the luxury of not having to sharpen very often & when I do now it's just a diamond hone. I like to turn bowls--all sizes---it's a relaxing activity.


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## kones (May 7, 2012)

cuerodoc said:


> Like you am pretty much a self taught woodturner. I first saw carbide tipped tools on the 'net and got one--then some more. They really make life easy. I do have "regular" chisels too but like the luxury of not having to sharpen very often & when I do now it's just a diamond hone. I like to turn bowls--all sizes---it's a relaxing activity.


 ive been having trouble with tearout & dont know if its a natural thing or is there something i can do to lessen or prevent this ? am i being too agressive ?thanks you guys for the feedback.


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## john lucas (Sep 18, 2007)

All of the above. There are 3 things that most new turners do that causes tearout. Pushing the tool faster than it wants to cut, I call it forcing the tool. Not using a tool that's sharp or at least sharp enough. And last is not cutting down hill with the grain. All 3 of these are true with scrapers as well as gouges although a gouge will generally cut cleaner than a scraper if used properly. 
If your not getting a clean cut freshly sharpen your tool. Then either slow down your feed rate or speed up the lathe RPM and relax your grip and try to feel how the tool is cutting. If anything other than shavings are coming out your still going to fast. Depending on the shape of what your turning you may be able to use a gouge with a sharper edge angle. My detail gouges for example are sharpened at 35 degrees while my bowl gouge is 45 or 50. A sharper angle to the edge will cut cleaner if everything else is the same.
If you not getting a clean cut because of the grain try cutting in the opposite direction. sometimes this helps.


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## clapiana (Apr 13, 2012)

I would try a higher rpm
I use a round carbine to rough which I love the square carbines can be tricky


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## kones (May 7, 2012)

clapiana said:


> I would try a higher rpm
> I use a round carbine to rough which I love the square carbines can be tricky


 thanks,i tried that & things have improved.it seems i have been forcing the tool & once i stopped trying to force things that too has helped.my round carbide tool does a great job & then i use a sharp skew before sanding & this has cut my sanding time down.the first couple bowls had cracks from heating while sanding i presume because once i kept that from happening the cracks stopped.i wish i had time to spend in the shop of an experienced craftman.thank you verry much guys,you have been a great help.


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## john lucas (Sep 18, 2007)

You say your using a skew on the bowls. I assume that your using it flat on the tool rest. Used in the normal cutting position is asking for a nasty catch. I have a video on shear scraping that might help you.


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## kones (May 7, 2012)

that was verry informative,i cant thank you enough.the hunter is what i use & now it will be even more handy.


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## duncsuss (Aug 21, 2009)

kones said:


> that was verry informative,i cant thank you enough.the hunter is what i use & now it will be even more handy.


Kones -- I strongly recommend searching YouTube for all of John's videos, he's made many and every one has taught me something.

Thanks again, John :yes:


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## Jesus Saves! (Oct 11, 2011)

Thanks for the video John. Looks like it would save some tough sanding.


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## Benny Blanco (Apr 21, 2012)

If you find some carbide better then others, the better would be a micro grain carbide, more expensive to make.
If you can make your own tools, I suggest trying carbide blanks made by Micro 100.
When grinding carbide wear a good mask, that stuff is really bad for you.


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## john lucas (Sep 18, 2007)

Some carbide cutters can't be sharpened. I've tried hard to sharpen the Hunter cutters. I tried about 5 different types of abrasives from diamond to special carbide cutting grades of stones. They all seem to chip the Hunter cutters. I can sharpen most other carbide cutters that I've tried. the Hunter cutters I think are simply too sharp of an angle so they tend to chip rather than sharpen. The blunter edge cutters like the Easy wood tools can be sharpened with diamond hones.


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## Jesus Saves! (Oct 11, 2011)

Thanks again John. Works great and saves a lot of sanding.


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