Carbide vs. HSS Tools

Just so you know I have done a 180 in my thinking when it comes to carbide tools. It turns out that carbide tools are playing a significant part in bringing folks into the craft of turning wood. Creating something on a wood lathe requires far less skill with a carbide tipped scraping tool than with HSS (High Speed Steel) tools. I was around when carbide tools were introduced by Craig Jackson of Easy Wood Tools and I had very strong reservations in the beginning.

There are 4 pillars of turning wood: 1) the lathe itself, 2) work holding devices, i.e. chucks, etc., 3) lathe tools, 4) sharpening systems for lathe tools.

Here is what I have discovered over the last 5+ years. Using just carbide tipped tools eliminates the need to own a grinder and a sharpening jig which can easily be 1/4th of the cost of getting into wood turning. Using carbide tools further eliminates the need to learn the skills to create a truly sharp cutting edge consistently in order to enjoy the craft of turning wood. The use of carbide tipped tools has allowed brand new turners to create acceptable turned items right out of the gate with very little learning required. In other words, it made turning easy. That has been a tremendous benefit to the craft of turning wood in general. That is why I encourage new turners to begin with carbide tipped tools. We can take a brand new turner, young or old, give them a carbide pen turning set and watch them create beautiful pens immediately. That goes a long way toward developing an enduring interest in turning wood later on.

Carbide tipped tools scrape wood away rather than cut wood away. Although that puts the wood under tremendous stress and requires extra sanding to achieve a smooth finish, it works well enough for many types of projects. I would rather see someone become excited about turning because it isn’t that hard to do rather than turn them off to our craft because they perceive it to be difficult and they become frustrated and quit.

In most cases, high speed steel tools are ultimately the better choice, because it is better to cut wood than scrape wood. The vast majority of turners who stick with wood turning as a craft will eventually figure that out and add HSS tools and the appropriate sharpening systems to their repertoire as their skills increase. But meanwhile, the carbide tipped route is much easier for most people just starting out.

I use carbide tipped tools myself but only where I would have used a scraper anyway. That is for hollowing boxes, hollow forms such as small vases and Christmas Ornament globes, goblets, etc. Contrary to popular belief, a skilled turner can use a carbide tipped tool to shear scrape effectively to achieve a smooth finish.

I write to you this week from Chantilly, Virginia preparing for another woodworking show. We have not visited Chantilly for 5 years because we lost the venue to Walmart and there was no other facility large enough to host the Woodworking Shows. If you are nearby, I hope you will come see us as we have added several hundred new items. More show info at www.thewoodworkingshows.com because wherever you go, there you are.

Here is my inspiration for this week’s newsletter:

Hebrews 5:13 Milk is for beginners, inexperienced in God's ways; 14 solid food is for the mature, who have some practice in telling right from wrong.