Woodturning Tools
I wanted to write about turning tools and sharpening, and that is what this post is about. Keep in mind that there are two main types of woodturning: spindle turning (legs, pens, and other "long" items) and face turning (bowls, platters, etc.).
Woodturning tools come in many sizes and lengths. Some are "full size" while others are not much larger than a screwdriver, and everything in-between. Many woodturners have an assortment of different tool types. If you think about how fast lathes rotate, your cutting tools will plow through miles of wood in a short time. To keep working, woodturners must stop turning to sharpen their tools as needed.
Categories of Woodturning Tools
Woodturning tools come in two very different and distinct categories:
Traditional High Speed Steel (HSS) Woodturning Tools
Traditional HSS turning tools have been used for a very long time. Professional woodturners and demonstrators use them much more often than carbide tipped tools. Here are the main types of HSS turning tools:
My UK-made bowl and spindle gouges are called "3/8 inch". The same exact tools would be called "1/2 inch" if they had been made in the US. I suspect that most sources use the US standard, but do not know that for sure.
-> When you are looking at gouges online, be sure you know which size spec they use. You need to know which brands of gouges are made in the UK (Sorby, Crown, etc.) and spec'd accordingly.
Sharpening HiSS Tools
Even though they are made of very hard steel, HSS turning tools cut through a lot of wood and need frequent touch-ups. The professional demonstrators pause and sharpen their tool while they turn, sometimes as often as every few minutes. There are way too many choices for sharpening HSS turning tools and a lot of hype around them, so sorry.
-> CAUTION: Do not use the common high speed grinders that many people have already. They will heat up and damage your turning tools before you can blink. The damage leaves a brittle edge that does not hold sharpness. Fixing them is a painful time-consuming challenge. Do not use high speed grinders for sharpening turning tools or you will damage your tools.
-> For HSS turning tools, I recommend a slow speed grinder with a jig to make sharpening repeatable. The Wolverine jigs and knockoffs of them are popular. If you can afford CBN wheels, they are expensive, but nice to have.
Avoid wet grinders, even Tormek. I wish I had the sharpening tools I recommended in the paragraph above, but I have a wet grinder instead. I do NOT recommend wet grinders. I wish I had not bought the one I use (Grizzly) and plan to replace it, but still try to get by. Tormek is the gold standard of wet grinders. I use Tormek jigs on the Grizzly and still have repeatability issues matching edges for a quick touch-up.
-> Wet grinders are way too slow, period. Even Tormek. It can take hours to fix an edge with a wet grinder like mine, especially if you mess up a skew chisel. Someday I will switch, but I bought the one, and will live with it for now. Don't make the same mistake if you decide to use and sharpen HSS turning tools.
There are other kinds of sharpeners, like Sorby's ProEdge. It is an expensive, nice sharpening tool. I gave a demo with one once, and had issues with it. I blame the issues on my own lack of experience with it. Some people like them a lot, others not so much. The belts are expensive.
Shop around, but I still believe that a slow speed grinder with a good jig is the best solution for most woodturners.
Carbide Tipped Woodturning Tools
Carbide tipped turning tools are a newer alternative to high speed steel (HSS) tools. They are different than HSS tools in many ways - how they are used for turning, how they are sharpened, and more. They use very hard, pre-sharpened carbide tips. The carbide tips attach to the end of the tool with a screw. These are the most common shapes for Carbide turning tools:
The square and square radius tips look very similar, but they are different. Square tips can cut unwanted lines at each corner, and I believe that square radius tools are easier for beginners to control. (At the same time, square tips can be nice for fast roughing down to a cylinder.)
Diamond carbide tips come in both rounded points and sharp point styles.
Many carbide turning tools sets include a HSS parting tool. You can sharpen it with a flat diamond plate or sharpening stone. You do not need a special slow speed grinder just for that one HSS tool.
I have heard many times that carbide turning tools can only be used in scraping mode. I ignore that comment, because sometimes I treat them like HSS tools and cut ribbons with them, too.
Carbide tips cannot reach the same ultra-sharpness as HSS turning tools, but they come very close and it does not really matter. In my personal opinion, carbide tips have four sharpness stages:
Easy Wood Tools (EWT) is well regarded. I mention them because they have a patent on their negative rake carbide cutters, which are only made by EWT and only fit their tool handles. Regular "flat" carbide tips also fit their handles. You cannot use their negative rake cutters in another brand of handle. I wish I had bought EWT carbide turning tools instead of the Rockler tools I use, for those negative rake cutters.
You can buy carbide tips for less money from third-party source. In my opinion, they are just as good as the name brands, for much lower cost. AZ Carbide is a source I have used and recommend.
Sharpening Carbide Woodturning Tools
If your carbide tip is not cutting as well as you expect, that edge may be dull. Sharpening is easy:
Sharpening Carbide Tips Yourself
You can restore an edge on ordinary carbide tips by flattening the back on a diamond stone. Just lay the tip flat side down and swirl it evenly on the stone. It won't be quite as sharp as a new carbide tip, but it is good enough for me. Sharpening on a diamond stone may remove the "starting point mark" left by the manufacturer or your Sharpie marker.
Omitted
I wanted to write about turning tools and sharpening, and that is what this post is about. Keep in mind that there are two main types of woodturning: spindle turning (legs, pens, and other "long" items) and face turning (bowls, platters, etc.).
Woodturning tools come in many sizes and lengths. Some are "full size" while others are not much larger than a screwdriver, and everything in-between. Many woodturners have an assortment of different tool types. If you think about how fast lathes rotate, your cutting tools will plow through miles of wood in a short time. To keep working, woodturners must stop turning to sharpen their tools as needed.
Categories of Woodturning Tools
Woodturning tools come in two very different and distinct categories:
- Traditional high speed steel (HSS) woodturning tools
- Requires sharpening tools
- Preferred by most professional woodturners, but not all.
- Carbide tipped turning tools
- Uses replaceable pre-sharpened tips, which reduces initial effort and cost
- Used differently than HSS turning tools.
- Some will argue that they are easier for beginners to get decent results, but can limit future skill growth. I do not have an opinion.
Traditional High Speed Steel (HSS) Woodturning Tools
Traditional HSS turning tools have been used for a very long time. Professional woodturners and demonstrators use them much more often than carbide tipped tools. Here are the main types of HSS turning tools:
- Roughing Gouges (Spindle Turning) - A roughing gouge lets you turn a rough unbalanced spindles into a smooth, balanced cylinder to start.
- Spindle Gouges (Spindle Turning) - Use spindle gouges to add the finer details - coves, beads, V grooves, etc.
- Skew Chisels (Spindle Turning) - The skew chisel has an angled edge (straight or gently curved). A skew chisel can be used to make coves, beads, V grooves, etc. They take a lot of practice, but can yield very smooth, "no sanding required" turnings. Some woodturners gravitate to them, others avoid them.
- Parting Tools (Mostly Spindle Turning) - They do a variety of cuts and functions, but are often used to cut off unwanted ends when your turning is complete.
- Bowl Gouges (Face Turning) - Heavy duty gouges for turning bowls and hollowing them out. (Caution: Do not use roughing gouges or spindle gouges for face turning. That is what bowl gouges are designed to do.)
- Scrapers (Face Turning) - You present this tool flat and use it as a scraper.
My UK-made bowl and spindle gouges are called "3/8 inch". The same exact tools would be called "1/2 inch" if they had been made in the US. I suspect that most sources use the US standard, but do not know that for sure.
-> When you are looking at gouges online, be sure you know which size spec they use. You need to know which brands of gouges are made in the UK (Sorby, Crown, etc.) and spec'd accordingly.
Sharpening HiSS Tools
Even though they are made of very hard steel, HSS turning tools cut through a lot of wood and need frequent touch-ups. The professional demonstrators pause and sharpen their tool while they turn, sometimes as often as every few minutes. There are way too many choices for sharpening HSS turning tools and a lot of hype around them, so sorry.
-> CAUTION: Do not use the common high speed grinders that many people have already. They will heat up and damage your turning tools before you can blink. The damage leaves a brittle edge that does not hold sharpness. Fixing them is a painful time-consuming challenge. Do not use high speed grinders for sharpening turning tools or you will damage your tools.
-> For HSS turning tools, I recommend a slow speed grinder with a jig to make sharpening repeatable. The Wolverine jigs and knockoffs of them are popular. If you can afford CBN wheels, they are expensive, but nice to have.
Avoid wet grinders, even Tormek. I wish I had the sharpening tools I recommended in the paragraph above, but I have a wet grinder instead. I do NOT recommend wet grinders. I wish I had not bought the one I use (Grizzly) and plan to replace it, but still try to get by. Tormek is the gold standard of wet grinders. I use Tormek jigs on the Grizzly and still have repeatability issues matching edges for a quick touch-up.
-> Wet grinders are way too slow, period. Even Tormek. It can take hours to fix an edge with a wet grinder like mine, especially if you mess up a skew chisel. Someday I will switch, but I bought the one, and will live with it for now. Don't make the same mistake if you decide to use and sharpen HSS turning tools.
There are other kinds of sharpeners, like Sorby's ProEdge. It is an expensive, nice sharpening tool. I gave a demo with one once, and had issues with it. I blame the issues on my own lack of experience with it. Some people like them a lot, others not so much. The belts are expensive.
Shop around, but I still believe that a slow speed grinder with a good jig is the best solution for most woodturners.
Carbide Tipped Woodturning Tools
Carbide tipped turning tools are a newer alternative to high speed steel (HSS) tools. They are different than HSS tools in many ways - how they are used for turning, how they are sharpened, and more. They use very hard, pre-sharpened carbide tips. The carbide tips attach to the end of the tool with a screw. These are the most common shapes for Carbide turning tools:
- Round
- Square
- Square Radius
- Diamond
The square and square radius tips look very similar, but they are different. Square tips can cut unwanted lines at each corner, and I believe that square radius tools are easier for beginners to control. (At the same time, square tips can be nice for fast roughing down to a cylinder.)
Diamond carbide tips come in both rounded points and sharp point styles.
Many carbide turning tools sets include a HSS parting tool. You can sharpen it with a flat diamond plate or sharpening stone. You do not need a special slow speed grinder just for that one HSS tool.
I have heard many times that carbide turning tools can only be used in scraping mode. I ignore that comment, because sometimes I treat them like HSS tools and cut ribbons with them, too.
Carbide tips cannot reach the same ultra-sharpness as HSS turning tools, but they come very close and it does not really matter. In my personal opinion, carbide tips have four sharpness stages:
- Very Sharp - This is when they are new. I wish this phase lasted longer. :-(
- Sharp Enough for Good Woodturning - Because carbide is so hard, this stage lasts a long time.
- Not Cutting as Well as Expected; Is it ME or the Carbide Tip? - The woodturning is not going as well as you would expect, but you don't feel like stopping and dealing with the carbide tip. You should sharpen (rotate) or replace the tip at this point, but you keep working anyway.
- Definitely needs Sharpening or Replacement - Too late. You should have done this in stage 3.
Easy Wood Tools (EWT) is well regarded. I mention them because they have a patent on their negative rake carbide cutters, which are only made by EWT and only fit their tool handles. Regular "flat" carbide tips also fit their handles. You cannot use their negative rake cutters in another brand of handle. I wish I had bought EWT carbide turning tools instead of the Rockler tools I use, for those negative rake cutters.
You can buy carbide tips for less money from third-party source. In my opinion, they are just as good as the name brands, for much lower cost. AZ Carbide is a source I have used and recommend.
Sharpening Carbide Woodturning Tools
If your carbide tip is not cutting as well as you expect, that edge may be dull. Sharpening is easy:
- Rotate the carbide tip in the tool handle to expose a fresh sharp edge.
- Round: Turn it enough that the dull edge is out of the way.
- Square and Square Radius: You have four sides to use.
- Diamond: You have two sides to use.
- When all edges are used up and dull, replace the carbide tip with another one.
Sharpening Carbide Tips Yourself
You can restore an edge on ordinary carbide tips by flattening the back on a diamond stone. Just lay the tip flat side down and swirl it evenly on the stone. It won't be quite as sharp as a new carbide tip, but it is good enough for me. Sharpening on a diamond stone may remove the "starting point mark" left by the manufacturer or your Sharpie marker.
Omitted
- Discussion of lathe safety.
- Discussion of how turning tools are used.
