Ok, then. So I purchased the bowl chisel set from SS. The ad on line said they are made in Sheffield England. Isn't this one of the places where the finest chisels come from?
Then they arrived in a box marked "Made in China". Isn't this the place where the worst chisels come from?
I have always thought everything that I have purchased from SS was very good quality. Made well and built to last. I don't know anything about bowl chisels, but these appear to be well made with nice handles, etc.
So, since I don't know anything about turning, does anyone out there know if these are quality chisels? Or did I just get chiseled
You have got to be mistaken. The Shopsmith ad, which I haven't read, could not have boldly stated "made in Sheffield England". If it did the chisels would have come from England. Read the small print!:rolleyes:
"Making Sawdust Safely" Dusty
Sent from my Dell XPS using Firefox.
It does say "Made in Sheffield England". I called SS and they said they forgot to remove that from the internet catalog. They stopped selling the English ones three years ago. No fine print, it is in big Bold letters.
I got my bowl set about three years ago, so presumably they were from England. However, I recently bought the miniature turning set, which were labeled "Made in China", and I've been very happy with those. They sharpen nicely and work well (within the turner's limitations, of course:rolleyes: ). The blade in the mini-skew chisel was off-center, but it doesn't affect how it sharpens or its use.
A couple of the chisels I've bought from other places have been made in China, a couple of them good and one not so good. With Shopsmith behind them the quality should be very good so try them and see.
Benjamin's Best chisels are good, Windsor Design chisels are barely adequate.
I anyone wants to look at some amazing lathe tools, made in the USA look at Serious Toolworks, these things are amazing. They have a handle and then interchangeable blades. The handle with the blade weight is measured in pounds. The handle is made of 303 Stainless Steel and padded, you can add lead if you want even more weight.
These are not cheap to get started (the handle is $90) without any tools, the gouges start at $28 and go up to $75, the scrapers are between $65 and $80. All the tools slip into the handle though some require a collet which is another $30. The gouges are reversible so you can have two different profiles, they can be ordered with standard ground on one end and fingernail on the other.
They are a very small company with no distribution or advertising, they may be a good fit for Shopsmith to OEM from instead of China.
Paul Cohen
Beaverton, OR
A 1982 500 Shopsmith brand upgraded to a Mark 7 PowerPro, Jointer, Bandsaw (with Kreg fence), Strip Sander, Ring Master and lots of accessories all purchased new
12" Sliding Compound Mitre Saw, 1200 CFM DC
I have a 7 piece set of Sorby lathe tools and they are wonderful. I recently bought a VERY CHEAP set of "Made in China" tools that I use for roughing square stock. They dull quickly and need sharpening often, but I use them on questionable wood (maybe a hard knot, nail, brad) that might damage my good stuff.
I do all of my finishing work with the Sorby tools.
