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Prometheus

On Wed, 14 Feb 2007 13:01:32 -0500, (Arch) wrote:

One turner's reason for buying a pricy XYZ turning tool is often
another turner's reason not to buy it. This isn't necessarily a
contradiction. Some folks are sorry that there's not a gouge more
expensive than a XYZ so they can buy it. Others think the XYZ is way
over priced. Some folks are willing to pay a premium for eponymous
factory grinds on otherwise run of the mill gouges. Other folks figure
to grind their own version on a noname gouge.

I'm the extreme minority vote- I went as far as finding a blacksmith
to teach me how to make them out of bar stock properly. So take my
input with a grain of salt, of course...

There are many good reasons for buying a quality turning tool. Utility,
design, heat resistance, comfort in use, pretty handles and pride of
ownership come to mind, but I wonder a little about one of the most
hallowed reasons. I mean edge retention.

As far as edge retention goes, I have this to say... *pffft*. Give me
a tool that gets sharper than a stright razor and needs a touchup
every five minutes, and I'll pick that one over the alloy tool that
will hold a mediocre edge forever every time (well, *almost* every
time- there is something to be said for decent edge retention in a
roughing gouge.)

That being said, I have come around a little in my thinking- the
gouge-like tool I ground out of used M2 punch tooling seems to
represent the best of both worlds. It gets very sharp, and holds that
edge for quite a while. For the price I paid (nothing but an hour's
work,) it is a worthwhile tool. If I had to pay $100 for it, I'd do
without it.

I know it must be an important reason because so many good writers say
so. I can understand that aggressive and/or too frequent sharpening
_could shorten a tool's life. True, but the many good turners I know are
competent sharpeners and they sharpen any gouge frequently while it's in
use regardless of how long it's said to hold its edge. That's every
gouge, whether it's hi carbon, hss, frozen, powdered or manicured steel
or cost ten bucks or two hundred.

That's right. Once again, we have the good being eclipsed by "the
best." Longer edge retention becomes hugely important when it is
measured on an industrial scale. One less trip to the grinder per 8
hour shift might add up to huge cost savings over the years if you are
doing production runs. But if you're one guy making a bowl or two a
day for fun (and that's far more prolific than I am,) justifying the
added expense of a high-end tool based on edge retention is a tough
sell.

And another thing. How many years does it take Ms. Average Turner to
wear down her frequently sharpened gouge to a useless length? Let's say
the gouge actually touches spinning wood for 3 hours a day for a 5 day
week for 40 weeks a year. Seems to me it would take many years to wear
down an 8 in. flute. No?

Yep. I will be absolutely stunned if I ever need to replace *any* of
my tools within the next 20 years because they have been ground too
far. So far, I've removed about 3/16" of an inch, tops, off my
gouges- and that's been over the course of a couple of years, and
included learning to sharpen them in the first place, which probably
accounted for about half of that.

Of course there are other reasons to aquire new tools- and it's often
as simple as "because I can."

Just having fun musing with tongue in cheek and I know I'm wrong. Some
kind turner better set me straight so I don't keep anyone from buying an
XYZ.

I don't know that you're wrong. In fact, I think you're spot-on. We
get sold a lot of things in our society, and many of the ideas behind
them are complete nonsense from an objective standpoint. A lot of
consumerism is based more on emotion than any fact.

A small and unrelated case in point- today before work, I stopped in
at the grocery store to get a six-pack of Coke. Last week, I paid
$2.75 for one at the regular price- but today, the same thing went for
$3.75. *But,* the display was covered with signs that said "sale
price." If that isn't Orwellian, I don't know what is- and it happens
with everything from socks to psychology. We live under an extremely
sophisticated multi-headed propiganda machine that is hard to even see
unless you're looking at it very hard.

Another case in point- in my neck of the woods, there is a problem
with homebrewed methamphetamine labs. To combat the problem, the
state passed a law stating that allergy medicine containing
psuedoephedrine could only be dispensed by a pharmacist. As a counter
move, Sudifed released an alternate version of the chemical
(phenylephrine) that presumably can't be turned into a recreational
drug and can be displayed on the shelf where the old stuff was. The
new stuff barely works at all- but they've recently been airing
commercials on the radio with an amazingly subtle slight-of-hand that
makes it sound like the best thing ever. Evidently, they have put the
stuff that does not work in a "quick-dissolve" strip that makes it not
work even faster. So how do they describe it?

"Nothing has been proven to deliver the relief of Sudifed PE faster
than..."

That is a classic, to be sure. If you don't see it, mull it over for
a bit and check for the nullifying constructions in that statement.
It's an amazing way to say absolutely nothing while appearing to
present a solid fact.

Now just to clear this up, I am not particularly paranoid about this
phenominon, and I'm not convinced that it isn't even sort of necessary
to keep things rolling along. At the end of the day, it's just people
trying to sell you what they make so that they can pay their own way,
and there's nothing inherantly wrong with that.

But that doesn't make all the things we are told true. And, just like
anything else, fancy turning tools come with an opportunity cost- it
all just depends on where your particular priorities are.