# Major parting tool issues.



## chriskoww (Jun 6, 2011)

I Recently bought a 1/16 inch parting tool Mainly for a bowl from board project I'm working on. Here is the board ready to part away the pieces. 









When I started parting, the tool would stick into the wood and not cut. Just burn really. It would stick so bad the lathe would stop. 









What made me most mad was that it destroyed my board. No clean cut whatsoever. Looks like a hand saw got a hold of it. 









Any ideas? 

I'm holding the tool at a 35 degree angle to the board. I'm cutting from center of board as well, and I tried slow and fast speeds. 

Nothing worked.


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## bond3737 (Nov 13, 2009)

I think whats happening here is that you arent making enough room for the tool to go in. when you go in with a parting tool there has to be slightly more room for the tool to enter, this is especially true when parting from front to back. The issue is that the diameter of your tool will no longer fit into the hole youve made by the point of your parting tool... Widen the kerf and you should get a much better cut... going out the back you are going to get tear out no matter what you do because you are essentially piercing a super thin layer and its going to fray. You can get rid of the binding though... pretty dangerous stuff... lucky it didnt take the tool with it! also might check to make sure the tool is cutting on center and that you are using the cuttin side of the tool


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## Maylar (Sep 3, 2013)

That type of tool is going to bind in the kerf because there's no clearance to the sides. You need to make the cut wide enough to clear the tool. I would be using a diamond shaped parting tool for that, and even then the radius of the groove you're cutting has to clear the tool.


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## Bill Boehme (Feb 9, 2014)

The tool is meant to cut from the side and not from the face of a board. The tool is straight but you are cutting a curved path. This is analogous to trying to cut too tight a radius with a bandsaw -- only in this case the parting tool is much larger than a bandsaw blade. You will either need to make a much larger kerf or else find something much smaller to make the cut.


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## Bill Boehme (Feb 9, 2014)

I think that your best option would be to make a router fixture so that you could use a small carbide cutter to make the angled cut. The lathe would be turned by hand and the router would be advanced slightly after each complete turn.


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## john lucas (Sep 18, 2007)

Most wood turning parting tools aren't designed to do bowl from board projects. You can but there are two issues. One is it's important to make two passes to keep the tool from over heating. Second is the width of the blade is too great to turn the smaller circles. 
I have been working on a special parting tool just for BFB projects. It will include a special tool rest to set the proper angle so you can increase the shapes available from BFB. I probably won't get it designed anytime soon and it may never reach the market. 
The easiest way to do BFB is to do it on the bandsaw. Cut the board in half and cut half rings tilting the table to the angle you want for that bowl shape. Then glue each half ring together and flatten before gluing up the stack.
Baring that look for the least wide parting tool you can find as well as quite narrow. What works pretty well is to regrind an old butcher knife and put a longer handle on. I buy the ones that are wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. Grind the edge off the bottom and maybe even go further to make it less tall. Shorten the tip so it's about 1/4 to 3/8" tall. The put a fairly fat handle on so you can control the twist. Since your cutting with the top surface it will try to twist on you so you have to control it. Then make two passes. The second insertion on has to be a tiny bit wider than the first. Make a cut, move over make another cut a little deeper and to widen the kerf. The do it again. Keep doing that until you cut through.


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## Manuka Jock (Jun 27, 2011)

Chris , 
parting tools are made for use on spindle work , not faceplate work , and those cuts in that manner , no matter the tools used , are not advisable .
As the others have said , there are better ways to achieve your goal.


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## duncsuss (Aug 21, 2009)

Chris, you probably don't want to spend this much money, but the McNaughton Center Saver System includes a straight knife (in addition to curved knives used to core out the center of bowl blanks so you can get multiple bowls from one blank).

In addition to the knives, you get the "gate" which holds the knife during use and prevents it twisting and getting jammed and launching itself at the ceiling ...

LINK to one source of the system.


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## john lucas (Sep 18, 2007)

The McNaughton cutter leaves a kerf about 1/4". Not very suitable for Bowl from Boards.


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## cuerodoc (Jan 27, 2012)

If bowl from a board is what you want, then why not get a ringcutter (ringmaster)?
I have one that I've used on a shopsmith and know they make them to fit on various lathe models. But that may be more expense than you want.


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## Manuka Jock (Jun 27, 2011)

Or , 
you could butt the two boards together , scribe the lines , 
cut the half circles with a jig , fret, scroll or band saw , butt glue the halves , and then assemble and glue the blank .


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## Bill Boehme (Feb 9, 2014)

There are various size *Ring Masters* to fit a number of lathes. There is also a self contained Ring Master for someone who does not have a lathe.


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