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Setting up your workshop - tools
Choosing your first turning tools.
Henry Taylor Tools, based in Sheffield, has a huge range of over
4000 tools (including the carving tools). I counted 320 different woodturning
tools in their price list and the number is increasing every month with the introduction
of special tools designed by leading international woodturners. We are proud to
have designed, and helped to design, a few of their tools. Other tools in the
range were developed by famous names such as Richard Raffan, Rude Osolnik and
Dale Nish.
However you will be pleased to know that you do not need anything
like 320 tools in your tool set. You may have read somewhere that many woodturners
get away with using only three or four tools for 95% of woodturning and this is
indeed possible, especially when you are more proficient.
I recommend that beginners purchase a small, carefully selected,
group of first class tools and build on that nucleus. Good tools are a joy to
use and are well worth the extra money. High speed steel tools are definitely
preferable to carbon steel ones, especially while you are learning, because they
are easier to use and more difficult to abuse. They stay sharp a great deal longer
and will soon repay the investment. The cut price sets of carbon steel tools (made
in the far East?) are a false economy. As with any craft, the better a tool is,
the easier it is to use and to learn with. Some inferior sets of turning tools
are on offer which are exceedingly difficult to turn with! So you may well start
your new hobby by struggling when you should be enjoying yourself. Also, with
most cheap sets, you are likely to end up with some tools which you never use
and so waste your money. I always advise beginners to go on a course and read
as many books as possible before spending any money on equipment but, failing
that, read on . . . .
Tools can be divided into four classes. .
(a) Spindle turning tools
(b) Bowl turning tools
(c) Tools for chuck work
(d) Special tools
Spindle Turning tools
If you restrict yourself to "spindle turning" you can get
started with just three tools - a chisel and two gouges. Examples of spindle turning
are rails for chairs and staircase balusters.
The wood, originally of square section, is mounted on the lathe
"between centres" i.e. between the drive centre at the headstock end
and the tailstock centre. The roughing gouge is used for taking the corners
off and forming the rough shape. The spindle gouge and the chisel (or alternatively
a beading tool) is used for cutting the details.
Recommended tools for spindle turning are . . .
(a) Roughing gouge about 19mm or 25mm
(b) Spindle gouge about 9mm
(c) Beading tool 9mm square section
Roughing gouge. This is used for roughing down the initial
square section wood to a true cylinder and also for forming shallow curves.
Properly sharpened and used it leaves an excellent finish thus dispensing with
the need for a turning chisel.
Spindle gouges (also known as shallow fluted gouges). They
are used for narrow concave curves (sometimes called "coves") where
the roughing gouge cannot get in. They can also cut convex curves, beads and
other details although these are best done with either a skew chisel or a beading
tool (a beading tool is a type of chisel anyway). Some turners do just about
every detail between centres with the spindle gouge and hardly ever use a skew
chisel.
A spindle gouge is shallower than a bowl gouge and has the corners
ground back to give a "fingernail" shape. Advanced turners find spindle
gouges useful for hollowing out goblets and even bowl turning.
Beading tool. This versatile tool is a kind of chisel. It
is used for forming grooves with flat bottoms and also for projecting dowels
or spigots. It is used for making tight convex curves or beads. It is used for
trueing up and cleaning up the end of a cylinder. It is used for making Vee
cuts for chuck spigots, decoration or marking out. It is also useful in faceplate
work for making recesses.
Skew Chisel. Frank Pain, who knew a thing or two about woodturning,
once told me that skew chisels were "gimmicks for amateurs" but the
trend with modern woodturning is that a skew must be used for everything. Unlike
most woodturners and writers, I do not recommend that you buy a skew initially
- learners find them difficult to sharpen, difficult to learn to use (discouraging
even) and unnecessary. You should, however, one day buy one and get to know
and appreciate its many virtues. It is a most satisfying tool to use once you
get the hang of it and it will give a wonderful finish to all convex and cylindrical
shapes in between-centres work. In fact, if you grind it to a curve in the style
of Richard Raffan, you can cut concave shapes as well. The design I like is
the oval skew - try one about 1" wide. For some reason the oval skews are
cheaper than the conventional skew and they are certainly easier to use with
less risk of a "dig-in".
Bowl turning tools
Bowl turning tools are more expensive than spindle tools so if you
can manage without them for a while you will save a significant amount.
You need at least three tools for turning bowls. These are . . .
(a) A strong deep fluted "bowl gouge" about 9mm (cut from 12mm bar)
(b) A straight edge scraper 20mm min. (for finishing the outside)
(c) A rounded scraper 20mm min. (for finishing the inside)
Bowl turning gouges. You will need a strong gouge for roughing
out the shape. If it is a good gouge it can also be used for finishing, so virtually
100% of the work can be done with just one tool. However you will not be able,
at first, to prevent the gouge leaving turning marks or rings which have to be
removed by scrapers.
Scrapers. These are used for removing the marks left by the
gouge. For the inside of the bowl you will need a round nose scraper. It
needs to be a strong one because it is likely to have to work a long way forward
over the tool rest which results in high leverage forces. For this reason I recommend
the 20mm extra thick round nose. For the outside of the bowl you will need a straight
end scraper and a 25mm size will be strong enough because you can get the
tool rest close to the wood surface. Both these scrapers are also useful for chuck
work i.e. hollowing out eggcups and goblets, (round nose) and working inside flat
bottom holes (straight end).
Tools for chuck work
"Chuck work" involves hollowing an object held in a chuck.
Most hollowing can be done with the two bowl finishing scarpers described above
although advanced turners have a battery of special tools adapted to deep hollowing
work and hollowing which involves undercuts etc. If the chuck is used to grip
a bowl then the normal bowl turning tools will be used.
Parting tool. In the case of turned goblets, containers and
similar work, you will need a parting tool. There are many types of specialised
parting tool. Beginners are advised to buy the basic standard type of tool with
a parallel, non fluted rectangular section - the small 3mm size will do most jobs.
The function of the parting tool is making deep grooves and cutting
finished work (eg an eggcup) from the waste (which is normally held to the lathe
by the chuck). Some turners find one handy for doing small beads and, held on
it's side, it can be used as a scraper for cutting recesses or dovetails for fitting
the wood to the chuck.
Special Tools
You can start with the tools mentioned above and build on them as
you go along. If you have a special application in mind then some of the many
specialised turning tools available will be of interest to you.
Bead cutting tools. These are specially profiled tools which
scrape out the shape of a bead. They come in several sizes shaped to produce the
bead required. They have to be sharpened on the top only to avoid losing the accuracy
of the profile. They do not give such a good finish as a chisel or beading tool
but are likely to give a more accurately shaped and consistently sized bead if
you are not very skilful.
Captive ring scrapers. Similar to the above but they undercut
the bead to produce loose rings of circular section.
Ring tools. These hollow out the bowls of goblets, eggcups
etc. They give a much better finish than a scraper.
Special parting tools. The "fluted" parting tool
leaves a much better finish on the cut surface than the normal parting tool because
the business end is a forked shape (like a snakes tongue) and the two sharp corners
scribe the wood fibres before the centre of the blade cuts. It is used mainly
in chuck work. Say you have turned and polished an eggcup or goblet or whatever
in your chuck and you want to part it away from the waste. You will not want to
remount it to clean up the base, so you will be wanting a very clean finish in
the cut. The fluted parting tool is designed for just this job.
The diamond parting tool has a special section which gives improved
clearance in the cut.
Side cutting scrapers. These come in three types. The Taylor
HS35 is for hollowing inside chuck work such as goblets which need a rounded bottom
to the bowl with vertical sides. The Taylor HS36 is for cleaning up the inside
of turned containers where the inside has a flat bottom with vertical sides. The
scraper scrapes down the sides and also across the bottom. The Taylor HS48 and
similar tools is for bowls with an undercut rim.
By Roy Child - copyright 1996
Care of your tools -
sharpening
When you buy your tools they do not come sharp ready to use (this might
change soon, as the new MD of Henry Taylor told me). You have to grind and sharpen
your tools before you can use them, so please see the next page for essential
grinding equipment!
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