First Tool Advice

UKworkshop.co.uk

Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

BenB

Established Member
Joined
9 Nov 2020
Messages
21
Reaction score
9
Location
Kingston
Hi, does anyone have any advice on where to get effectively priced gouges? I'm starting out, I do have a constrained budget,. but I don't want to buy anything that's going to 1) kill me or 2) that I will throw away in frustration!
Thanks!
 
Put a wanted advert on the for sale forum. They might not be the fanciest if steel, or even hss but I am sure that somebody may have a few spares to sell.

Have you got means of sharpening, if not beg a gouge or tow and spend the budget in that because you will be stuck without it.
 
As a relative beginner I'd second the need for a grinder or similar. Even if you avoid the "Systems" and stick with a simple grinder, the cost of jigs (which make life easier for a beginner) mount up very quickly. I made some but eventually succumbed and bought Mr Sorby's versions.
 
You could do a lot worse than the Sorby starter set. Apart from the round end scraper (which I personally haven't had much use for) there's nothing superfluous. Once you learn what sort of projects you enjoy making you can upgrade or extend your kit with different sizes or shapes. Very much depends what you want to make though- you'd only need a sharp skew and a 3/8" gouge to emulate the pro spindle turners on Insta!
 
Put a wanted advert on the for sale forum. They might not be the fanciest if steel, or even hss but I am sure that somebody may have a few spares to sell.

Have you got means of sharpening, if not beg a gouge or tow and spend the budget in that because you will be stuck without it.
Hi, I went out to Toolstation and bought a £40 bench grinder, but now I'm worried it might not do the job, is there a specific spec I need please, before I tear open the box?
 
Hi, I went out to Toolstation and bought a £40 bench grinder, but now I'm worried it might not do the job, is there a specific spec I need please, before I tear open the box?

There are many ways of sharpening and I use a completely different one. I am not familiar with grinders and that method so before you tear it open I would wait for somebody in the know.
 
Presumably you bought a Bauker 8" .

A bench grinder is a motor on a stand with a grinding wheel on each end (there are other variations). As long as it can turn the wheels safely & with as little vibration as possible it should do the job. Best if it is securely screwed down.

You only sharpen using the front face of the wheels not the sides (until you know what you can & can't do on the sides).
As the tools are ground they take the shape of the wheel hence the term hollow ground. An 8" wheel give a shallower hollow than a 6" or smaller wheel. A belt or disc sander gives a flat grind.

These are downright dangerous to use on the lathe.
 
Presumably you bought a Bauker 8" .

A bench grinder is a motor on a stand with a grinding wheel on each end (there are other variations). As long as it can turn the wheels safely & with as little vibration as possible it should do the job. Best if it is securely screwed down.

You only sharpen using the front face of the wheels not the sides (until you know what you can & can't do on the sides).
As the tools are ground they take the shape of the wheel hence the term hollow ground. An 8" wheel give a shallower hollow than a 6" or smaller wheel. A belt or disc sander gives a flat grind.


These are downright dangerous to use on the lathe.
I was refering to the brand 'Faithful' not these particular chisels.
 
I too am a beginner this is what I’ve found useful.
When the budget allows:
Change the wheel on the grinder to a white aluminium one.
A jig of some form will help with consistent grinds. See eBay lathetools-uk seller.
I bought the Sorby starter set and was not disappointed. If the budget won’t stretch to that, then a decent secondhand spindle roughing gouge, a spindle gouge, a parting tool and a bowl gouge, will get you going.

obviously it’s difficult/impossible at the moment regarding meetings and face to face stuff but getting in touch with your local wood turning club will pay dividends.
 
The OP unfortunately doesn't make it clear if this is turning or carving. The assumption is turning and I will follow that.

Experience in lfe is that as I take up a new hobby, or look back on ones that are now well established or have been abandoned, to get anywhere in it I will have to reckon on £1000 investment at least. The problem always is that if you don't accept you have to invest that amount, you will not have the right equipment, and you will not in adequate time get the results you would like, frustration will set in and the hobby will fail. I suspect that there will be challengers to that opinion but I would ask them to think on how much they have spent.

I will recommend 3 books to look out for (Ebay, etc) - either or both of Keith Rowley's 'Woodturning A Foundation Course' or Mike Darlow's 'Fundamentals of Woodturning' (the latter is probably the better), and then as a coffee table book to drool over Mike Baker's 'Woodturning Projects'. There are plenty of others covering both aspects but those are two / three that are my 'go-to' books.

An inexpensive bench grinder is not the tool for sharpening wood turning tools as specific jigs are required to hold and move the tool over the grinding face to get the right profile - again see one of the basic books mentioned above. I'm not sure whether to suggest you take it back or retain for general metal grinding activities, but you really do need to commit to a specific system.

I started out 15 years ago without any knowledge of turning other than metalwork. I bought an old Wadkins lathe and in retrospect an unnecessary number of tools off Ebay. In the context of the tools and proper sharpening systems Ebay in my opinion is your friend as many collections of tools come up there from people for whom the hobby has failed or being sold by estate executors. I recommend such collections as the cost per tool is low and you then select what you want and re-sell those unwanted. There are plenty of turners who love to say - look at me I only use 4 tools for everything - very good but you then have to be on top of your sharpening and if one of those tools get seriously damaged you have no fall back; I have a choice of spindle gouges, bowl gouges, skews, etc none of which cost more than a few pounds each and I have a sharpening session every so often to bring them all up to scratch.
Rob
 
Back
Top