Cryo or Kryo - worth it?

[Shay Vings]

Looking to buy a 3/8 bowl gouge. Crown have a cryo version via Axy £31.15 and Henry Taylor have a Kryo at £45.60 (non Kryo £35.40) via Toolpost. Sorby have some premium gouges as well.

Is it worth the extra? In the case of the Crown, its a reasonable price anyway?

 

[paulm]

I'll be interested in the replies too, I got a cryo version a few months ago and have been using it for the batch of small bowls I'm doing at the moment for a couple of xmas craft fairs that are coming up. Hard to say objectively if it is longer lasting edgewise but I have the feeling it probably is, although I couldn't quantify by how much. Probably not much help to you really, sorry !

Cheers, Paul

 

[cornucopia]

I have both and honestly cant tell the diffrence

 

[henton49er]

I have a Crown Cryo bowl gouge, and a Crown non-Cryo gouge as well. The only reason I bought the Cryo was that it was on sale at a 20% discount, so the price was similar to the non-Cryo version. I do not notice much difference in the frequency of sharpening, so would suggest that there is little difference in performance but a significant difference in price. Both are excellent tools and are my preferred gouges for bowl turning (as I have got the "right" grinds on them for me).

 

[CHJ]

I currently don't have any Cryro tools but suspect that the difference in edge life in the real world of making a living at turning is less than that seen between differing wood types and sharpening methods.

I know there is a difference in the edge holding of some of my tool brands supposedly made of similar HSS stock and that on finishing cuts on good clean wood those edges done on a wet grinder showed an improvement of finish for a final cut but no significantly longer life when hogging out bulk waste.
None however last more than a few passes if used to cut something glued up with the likes of Cascamite.

Be interesting to see if any members have them and use them for natural edge or silica rich woods and are seeing any longevity in edge life and if so how do they compare with tooling using TCT .

 

[tekno.mage]

I have one Crown Cryo bowl gouge (which I bought second hand). I can't say I've noticed any significant difference in how often I have to sharpen it compared to say a Sorby or Record Power bowl gouge. I have noticed, however, that my Ashley Iles tools (rouging & spindle gouges and a beading/parting tool) do seem to keep their edge longer than similar tools of other makes - they are also slightly slower to sharpen on a wet system and quite easy to avoid to burning on a dry grindwheel - these factors led me to believe they must be made of a harder grade of steel.

 

[jumps]

I'll be interested in the replies too, I got a cryo version a few months ago and have been using it for the batch of small bowls I'm doing at the moment for a couple of xmas craft fairs that are coming up. Hard to say objectively if it is longer lasting edgewise but I have the feeling it probably is, although I couldn't quantify by how much. Probably not much help to you really, sorry !

Cheers, Paul

I feel the same way - so that's another 'not much help' too! Cryo Crown 3/8" which I have fingernail grind on, an standard Crown 1/2" classic grind.

 

[KimG]

I have a Crown Cryo with a celtic grind and a HT superflute which I bought around 1986/7 it's pretty difficult to make a comparison because I don't really know the amount of wood each has actually cut between sharpenings, suffice to say they both perform extremely well and I don't regret buying either of them, I don't seem to sharpen one more than the other so I don't think that the cryo has a great difference in edge longevity.