Carbide Tipped Lathe Tools

tomsalwasser · Post by **tomsalwasser** » Thu Oct 18, 2012 12:31 pm

Greetings fellow sawdust makers,

Any of you using these carbide tipped lathe tools? I just saw them in a magazine. Replace the tips instead of sharpening.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjF8JM714EU

Best,
Tom

terrydowning · Post by **terrydowning** » Thu Oct 18, 2012 8:10 pm

Personally,

It find it far less expensive for me to sharpen the tools I have with the sharpening resources I have on hand (strip sander, grinding wheel on the SS, oil stones) than it is to buy carbide cutters.

I have learned that sharpening is a trade off between convenience, cost and desired results.

More convenience = Higher Cost.
Lower Cost = Lower convenience (more time sharpening, unless you become practiced at it ).

I actually spend very little time sharpening lathe tools now that I have figured a lot of things out.

Hone by hand regularly during turning sessions (I have a very nice oil stone for this)

Learn the best angles for each chisel you have and figure out how to repeatably get the angle set. (Chisel angle is a very personal matter and often depends on the type of turning you are doing. I have several skews with different angles all for different kinds of cuts.

Learn that lathe chisels DO NOT to be razor sharp like a plane iron or bench chisel. That razor edge won't last anyways (a 1" diameter blank turning at 1000 RPM will put 3140 cutting inches per minute on a lathe chisel. That's more than 260 ft per minute!)

Sharp enough for ribbons and streamers is sharp enough. Once the ribbons start chipping or you start turning dust, It's time to sharpen.

tomsalwasser · Post by **tomsalwasser** » Fri Oct 19, 2012 11:45 am

Thanks Terry for your reply, what you say makes a lot of sense.

I would also enjoy hearing from someone who uses these carbide tipped lathe tools but I think they're fairly new on the market.

Best,
Tom

wa2crk · Post by **wa2crk** » Fri Oct 19, 2012 1:31 pm

Tom;
I have one of the EWT carbide tipped toos and it is very sharp but I find that the only cut I can get is a scraping cut when I use it. I don't think it can be used for a shearing type of cut. My tool has the round cutter. It does produce a fine cut when used on acrylics and other man made materials. I attribute this to the fact that there is no grain in the plastics to tear out.
Like Terry, I am also trying to learn to sharpen the tools by hand. As a guy on TV once said "if you don't use a jig to make a cut why use one for sharpening?" I have taken that advise to heart and try to sharpen free hand. I don' get it right all the time but I am getting better.
I keep a small credit card sized diamond honing plate in my pocket when I turn, to hone the tools as I go along. It works OK. Mine is a 600 grit.
I felt that I was losing a lot of time just to keep the tools sharp. Honing is the part that is most important.

Bill V

derekdarling · Post by **derekdarling** » Sat Oct 20, 2012 1:20 am

Good, Fast, Cheap: Pick 2.

pennview · Post by **pennview** » Sat Oct 20, 2012 10:19 am

Here are a couple of articles on EWT tools that you might find interesting -- http://kurthertzog.com/articles/wtd36be ... s11red.pdf -- http://kurthertzog.com/articles/wtd39ea ... ewsred.pdf

paulmcohen · Post by **paulmcohen** » Sun Oct 21, 2012 2:03 am

tomsalwasser wrote:Greetings fellow sawdust makers,

Any of you using these carbide tipped lathe tools? I just saw them in a magazine. Replace the tips instead of sharpening.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjF8JM714EU

Best,
Tom

Carbide lathe tools are not as sharp as HHS, carbide grain structure is much larger than HHS so you can't get it as sharp. You would need a very, very powerful microscope to see the different and for me carbide tools work great. I am told as you get better turning and are able to produce a smooth surface without sanding you can't do that with carbide. I can't do that with HHS so for me it is not an issue.

I don't actually think they cost more then equivalent quality HHS tools and the blades are very cheap and last a really, really long time when used on most wood. If you sharpen HHS you wear down the tool and eventually you have to purchase a new tool vs. replacing tips.

tomsalwasser · Post by **tomsalwasser** » Sun Oct 21, 2012 7:01 am

pennview wrote:Here are a couple of articles on EWT tools that you might find interesting -- http://kurthertzog.com/articles/wtd36be ... s11red.pdf -- http://kurthertzog.com/articles/wtd39ea ... ewsred.pdf

Many thanks to all you woodturners who took the time to write. I want to start turning but I know if you're not prepared to keep your tools sharp you have no business working the lathe. I'm glad to know a few of you find these carbide tipped tools from EWT to be a good solution. Art, thanks so much for the link to these excellent articles! Somehow I missed them in all my googling.

Best,
Tom