On Sun, 20 May 2007 11:30:30 -0700, charlieb
wrote:

3. single bevel skews will get you into tighter places than a double
bevel skew - but you need a "left" and "right" single bevel skew
to do beads and the like.

Item 3 is my paradox. I want to get into tight places. And I want
to turn - dynamically - spontaneously - and that requires one tool
that will "do it all". I don't want to have to stop to change tools
and I don't want to have a bunch of tools under the lathe, buried
in shavings. Of course there is no single turning tool that "does
it all" - but for me - a curved edge skew comes darn close. I
use it "long point" down or "long point" into a horizontal cut - most
of the time. With it I can rough a square blank round, cut lines, V
grooves, beads, a bead up against a vertical face, coves and even
hollow with it.

One of my homemade goofing off tools is actually pretty good at this,
but it is more of a scraper than a skew. If you've got any drill rod
or spring steel laying around, try just grinding a steep "V" shape on
the end, with the sides angled back from the top a little, and flatten
the top. You can do all sorts of things with the sucker- I like it
for hollowing, but I just finished using it to repair a cymbal for a
guy at work who plays the drums in his off hours- the point worked
great for cutting through bronze like it was nothing on my lathe.
(The edge of the thing had cracked, and was flapping around, so I just
removed the damaged area for him on the lathe. I also hand hammered
it to retune it, but that's another story.)

But what about the other "standard angles" for other turning
tools? How many of those are "tried and true" - for carbon
steel tools - but aren't necessarily required for modern steels
and steel treatments.

No idea, it was just idle speculation based on what I've seen from a
lot of years in manufacturing. To tell you the truth, it's been so
long since I bought a turning tool, I couldn't even begin to tell you
what the standard angles are!!!

Why is The Ellsworth Grind siginificant enough a change to
the "tried and true" grind to warrant bearing his name? I
understand why turning tool manufacturers stick with the
default "tried and true" - consumers shy away from things
that are too far away from that with which they are familair.
And then there are The Lawyers.

There is also the matter of adjusting the machines for different
grinds- if you know that the customer is going to be changing it
(intentionally or otherwise) at home, there's not much incentive to
change the setup.

But woodturners are very creative lot - I can't think of another
type of woodworking that has gone off in so many different
directions - and has gone so far in a relatively short time.
So why are we (I flatter myself by inclusion) saddle with tools
that are based on a century old techology's constraints?

OK - so there's "lasers" and carbide "insert tools" - but how
about innovative improvements to existing tools?

There's the beauty of this *problem*. You already have everything you
need to make whatever you want to try out- a grinder to make the
profile, a lathe to make the handle, and some experience to guide you
in the right direction. If you can forget about shiny, and worrying
about whether or not your edge lasts as long as the guy next door's,
you can have every tool you'll ever need right next to the lathe.

If only everything were that easy! A guy can't really just jump in
and make himself a decent table saw with a couple of hand tools and an
hour or two of spare time (Though that is technically *possible*,
depending on what you've got to start with, it's not likely.) But he
sure can make a gouge or a skew that will do the job at hand admirably
without really breaking a sweat. You may not want to submit a
picture of the thing for publication when it's done, but if it cuts
the wood, that's what is important.

A couple of things I've discovered from screwing around with making
turning tools-

Even if you can't, or just don't want to heat treat steel of whatever
grade, it's still steel, and the wood is still wood. You're not
getting all you could out of it, but even 1018 mild steel from the
hardware store is capable of cutting wood, provided you touch up the
edge frequently. No- it's certainly *not* the same as a really nice
$200 gouge, but if you need a tool, and don't have $200, it's not a
bad option at the end of the day! Heat treating is important for the
long haul, but you can get the job done in the short term with all
sorts of crazy stuff.

While it's not exactly the same profile as a *insert your brand here*,
a piece of black iron pipe cut at a 45 degree angle on one end, and
sharpened like a gouge, *is* a gouge. It's not very hard, and it
won't hold an edge long, but it'll get you where you need to go.

Aside from the material that is unsuitable for cutting tools, like
those above, there is all sorts of scrap material that *is*
worthwhile. If you have a grinder, you can put an edge on it. If you
have a torch and a bucket of water, you can harden it. If you have an
anvil and a brazing torch or a small forge (some are just one hollowed
out fire brick and a propane torch), you can forge it to shape.

Here's the short list of things to watch for that I've come up with,
though I admit that I generally just buy new tool steel when I want
something that I expect to last.

Old Files- grind them carefully to preserve the temper, and they're
good to go. If you want to hammer them, they have to be worked really
hot, or they will crack.

Truck axles- Lots of grinding here, if you got that route, but if you
can hammer them out, that's a lot of tools.

Spring steel- either from a leaf spring on an old car, or just a big
spring. In the latter case, you'll need to heat it with a torch or
forge to straighten it. You don't need an anvil to do this if you
have a vise and slip a pipe on one end of the spring to untwist it
once it's hot.

Busted drill bits- The straight shank on the end is not too tough to
fit into a wooden handle, and it's already hardened and tempered.

Used machine shop tooling- I've got a bucket of old punches, but
anything that contacts the material being worked is likely to be hard
enough to make a great cutting tool. I don't know how easy it is for
most folks to get this, but if you are, or know, a machinist, it's
worth looking in the trash and scrap bins every so often. I keep
hoping they'll decide to toss the old brake dies at work one of these
days, but I'm not holding my breath...

When in doubt, a good way to test for general suitability as a cutting
tool is to take something that you know is hardened, like a punch or
chisel, and *ring* the material in question. If it sounds like a
bell, it'll make a good tool- if it sounds like you just whacked a
hunk of lead with a 2 x 4, it's probably not worth your time.

Unfortunately, with the hordes of lawyers everywhere, I don't think a
guy can rummage around in a junkyard anymore these days- but there are
still an awful lot of opportunities for salvaging tool or high-carbon
steel if you keep your eyes open. It doesn't have to be big, either-
all you need is something large enough to make the edge you want.
Once you have that, you can mount it to something else, and you're
good to go.