Recommended place to buy HSS blanks

[mmcmdl]

If I had to take a WAG , I have over a ton of lathe tools , and I find more with every drawer I open . They multiply like wabbits in my house .

 

[Tozguy]

I should be fine with 3/8" blanks? I guess my next question is, what are your go to wheels for grinding tools? My grinder has 8" wheels.

yes 3/8th is a good start. The crux of grinding quickly is to grind cool. The best wheel for cutting quickly is a white aluminum oxide wheel with an soft open structure. The one that impressed me is a HK2A80H12. There is a range of 8'' wheels that would work well for you in this category.

 

[tmenyc]

I may have missed this, but also get on the email lists for all of the major suppliers and use their free shipping. With metal, it's the shipping that's the killer.
Tim

 

[mikey]

Wow, thanks for all of the responses everyone. I have a ton of different spots to look into now. I went ahead and ordered a few 3/8" Chinesium blanks to play with for now. My lathe is a 13x36, based on what I've seen posted here, I should be fine with 3/8" blanks? I guess my next question is, what are your go to wheels for grinding tools? My grinder has 8" wheels.

You're right at the cross over point where you can step up on tool size if you choose. There are no real rules for how big a tool you should use on a lathe. Lots of guys are using 1/2" tools on really small lathes and others who use 1/4 or 3/8 tools on much bigger ones. Heck, the Monarch 10 EE can use 1/4" tools. Bottom line is that the bigger the tool, the longer and more work it takes to grind it and 3/8" tools take about half the time it takes to do a 1/2" for not much gain in tool stiffness. Larger tools are also more expensive. I think you made a good choice - 3/8" will work fine.

I'll leave the grinder wheel suggestions to the other guys. My grinder wheel is a belt but if I was going to use a bench grinder, I would look at CBN wheels instead.

 

[finsruskw]

MY current MSC monthly flyer has them
3/8 for $4.99
1/2" for $9.79
free shipping w/a $50 order
Ordered some yesterday, they showed up on my door this afternoon!

 

[ThinWoodsman]

Places-to-buy and the merits of McMaster-Carr have been thoroughly discussed above, so I'll pass over those. I would point out that every day there is posted on ebay another collection of dozens of HSS lathe tools, and these generally sell at about $2 a bit. Save you some time in grinding, as you can modify the existing tools to suit your preference - or use a cutoff tool to trim off the ground bit and you have a blank.

What I haven't seen (but may have missed) mentioned so far is the difference in HSS composition, which directly impacts the price of an HSS tool blank. The cheap or unlabelled ones are generally M2, which has no cobalt. Those are in the ballpark of five bucks new, plus or minus a few dollars. The pricey ones, and I bet this includes the McMaster-Carr ones, are M35 or M42 HSS which has cobalt.

Whether or not you need cobalt HSS tools is up to you, but when doing price comparison be sure to factor in the grade of steel - a $10 M32 tool is justifiably more expensive than a $4 M2 tool.

 

[WobblyHand]

Take it from a beginner, make all your mistakes on the cheap stuff! If you need something better, or find the tool isn't holding up, go higher quality, as required. I bought toolbits off the eBay link and have lots of tooling to practice on. Sure, I bought a few cobalt bits too. I haven't had to grind them, because the cheap HSS bits have held up. Save your money so you can buy more toys!