# Making wood lathe chisels ????



## Finster (Apr 26, 2017)

Thinking about making some wood lathe chisels. I think I could make nicer ones than I can buy for the same amount of money and it seems like it could be a nice little project. I was thinking of making them out of M2 steel? Any thoughts?


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## Dave Paine (Apr 26, 2017)

Easy to make scrapers, skews and hollowing tools.  M2 is used in many UK brand turning tools.

What types of turnings do you make?


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## Finster (Apr 26, 2017)

Dave Paine said:


> Easy to make scrapers, skews and hollowing tools.  M2 is used in many UK brand turning tools.
> 
> What types of turnings do you make?


The usual, legs, spindles, a bowl here and there. I do a little of everything. I would like to make a few gouges, I figure I can do that with a carbide ball mill.  Scrapers, parting tools and whatever else fits my fancy. I figure M2 should keep a good edge. I've never tried to machine it though. I'm thinking carbide should cut it?


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## Dave Smith (Apr 26, 2017)

I made my wood lathe tools by slowly grinding hard files---they kept their sharp edge nice and worked good--I also used some super hard cement chisels  for a couple shapes---it's fun using your own home made tools that work perfect---I also made some of my hand carving tools out of old files -----Dave


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## Dave Paine (Apr 26, 2017)

I do not know the nuances of how the flute profile affects turning.  From what I have read, it seems a parabolic profile is preferred over the "U" shape you will get with a ball mill.  It should still cut though.

Another option is replaceable tips screwed or glued onto a shaft of other steel.  Wood-cut in NZ sell these.  I made a tool from such a tip for a local turning friend.  His style glued on.  I have a screw on tip which I have not yet made into a tool.

http://www.woodcut-tools.com/store/c31/Tips.html

M2 should keep a decent edge.  I have some Henry Taylor, Robert Sorby, Crown and Ashley Iles tools which are likely M2.  The spec was not defined.  They cut well enough. 

Is the stock you have annealed or hardened?  This will affect the ease of machining.


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## Finster (Apr 26, 2017)

I haven't bought any stock yet. I'm just kicking the idea around at the moment. I was thinking of annealing it, shaping it and hardening it with an oil dip. Figure I can polish them after with a wire wheel. I also saw a few that had carbide tips, just everyday triangle inserts. I may make a few different ones with softer steel using inserts just for kicks.


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## Finster (Apr 26, 2017)

Dave Smith said:


> I made my wood lathe tools by slowly grinding hard files---they kept their sharp edge nice and worked good--I also used some super hard cement chisels  for a couple shapes---it's fun using your own home made tools that work perfect---I also made some of my hand carving tools out of old files -----Dave


Yea, old files are great for making things like this. I may keep my eyes out at the flea markets. An old sharpening steel would probably make a nice smaller gouge also.


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## Dave Paine (Apr 26, 2017)

If you want to experiment, how about making a tool from O1 drill rod.  Inexpensive, available in many diameters, already annealed and easy to machine then easy to harden.


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## Finster (Apr 26, 2017)

Dave Paine said:


> If you want to experiment, how about making a tool from O1 drill rod.  Inexpensive, available in many diameters, already annealed and easy to machine then easy to harden.


Good idea, I may just try that.


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## Ulma Doctor (Apr 26, 2017)

Hi Finster,
for woodworking tools you could get away with any medium to high carbon tool steel, or even braze or silver solder a hunk of carbide to a mild steel backing and sharpen as necessary
good luck!


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## Dave Paine (Apr 26, 2017)

Ulma Doctor said:


> Hi Finster,
> for woodworking tools you could get away with any medium to high carbon tool steel, or even braze or silver solder a hunk of carbide to a mild steel backing and sharpen as necessary
> good luck!



A wood turner Reed Gray who posts under the name Robo Hippy has a video of another turner making what he calls the "Big Ugly" scraping tool which has a piece of TantungG brased onto a steel bar.  He shows how well this works to remove wood in his videos.  I think this material was popular before carbide inserts.  It does not seem popular these days.


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## wawoodman (Apr 26, 2017)

I would certainly want to stay with HSS, rather than carbon steel. Remember, you don't want to be constantly sharpening. The old Craftsman tools (carbon steel) were very quickly relegated to the junk box. The good Sorby HSS are a pleasure to work with, especially with plastics and impregnated woods for pens and pencils.


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## DaveInMi (Apr 27, 2017)

I made a couple that hold a regular 1/4" square HSS tool bit in a socket in the shaft, held in place with a hex set screw.  I use them for hollowing bowls.


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## benmychree (Apr 30, 2017)

Finster said:


> I haven't bought any stock yet. I'm just kicking the idea around at the moment. I was thinking of annealing it, shaping it and hardening it with an oil dip. Figure I can polish them after with a wire wheel. I also saw a few that had carbide tips, just everyday triangle inserts. I may make a few different ones with softer steel using inserts just for kicks.


I think that M2 tool steel would not be much better than o-1 unless it was heat treated with the Taylor White process for HSS tool steels.  It is impossible to anneal HSS tool steels with ordinary means, heating to red will not soften it more than a couple of points Rockwell C; it takes many hours of heat, the heat being reduced a few degrees per hour to satisfactorally anneal any HSS alloy.
I made a set of scrapers for wood turning, just rounded up all the 10" mill files from my shop and surface ground them on all sides, then carefully ground the form that I wanted so as to not draw the temper.  I use them on my Oliver 12" patternmakers lathe when I need to form irregular profiles, normally pattern work is pretty much straight and tapered turning and boring.


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