In the course of helping newer turners learn what the various lathe tools are for, I make reference to carbide alternatives, but until a couple weeks ago, had only one myself to show them, a Hunter hollowing tool with a # 4 cutter, that I use mostly for hollowing out travel mugs. I had seen Harrison Specialties (https://www.harrisonspecialties.com/) carbide tools advertised, so decided to give them a try. They have been around for a while, were fairly large and not geared toward smaller work pieces. Now, in down-sized form, they are available singly or in different sized kits. I chose the smaller kit, which included a handle and four bits. photo #154 shows what arrived a few days later, safely packaged in high density foam, each bit with an additional plastic tip.
Made in Minnesota, and of good quality, I had selected a diamond point, a square point attached at 45 degrees to the handle, a square point with slightly radiused edges, and a 6 mm round, see photo # 178. I already had the larger round Hunter.
Fast forward a week. I volunteered to do a demo for my Florida club while down there over the 4th of July holiday, and picked a “wing bowl from a cube” to show them. I had made a Hollow-form this way recently, so thought it would be a good exercise to share. In doing this piece, you make a cube of your selected wood as precisely as possible, and mount it on the lathe on opposing tips. Because in mounting it this way the grain is presented
in such a way that you are cutting neither end nor side grain, but rather on the oblique with no “uphill” or
“downhill”! This creates a big potential for tear out, and, after several tries with various tools was “tamed” only with my new carbide tools, the radiused square for the outside, and the 6mm round for the inside. See photo #175. It didn’t hurt that the tools were brand new and VERY sharp!
The other test was a tool handle I made for a friend out of a block of cast epoxy. This material turns very easily, but sands with great difficulty! I thought maybe the carbide would give me a cleaner cut, which it did, and reduce the amount of sanding, which it did not! Photo # 176 shows the 45 degree square on the piece, photo # 177 shows the nice “angel hair” shavings it made. I still had to sand and polish through all the grits to get the epoxy to shine, which was what I wanted, as I had embedded a piece of burl in the casting. I will have a couple epoxy pieces for “show & tell” at future meetings.
Summary: would I recommend carbide tools? Yes. They are a good addition to your tool arsenal, but will not replace the primary gouges and scrapers needed for the work most us do. They are really detailing tools, and great at that.
Russ Fellows
Last modified: October 18, 2018
