# Drank the carbide KoolAid....



## Jim Beam (Oct 6, 2015)

I just started turning last July. Taught myself to sharpen my 3/8 bowl gouge and use it pretty well. 

Then I got a windfall and bought a EWT finisher. Darn it, maybe just 2 days before @jaustin posted up with his way more affordable carbide tools. I coulda' bought all three for less than the EWT finisher. But I went ahead and bought a rougher from jaustin, quality was just as good. But the point is, DANG they make turning easy!

But I'm not gonna give up on m y gouges. Still use the roughing gouge to get round, still use the bowl gouge for rough turning. Trying to save the carbide for finish work.

What do you guys use?

Reactions: Like 1


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## Tclem (Oct 6, 2015)

I use carbides sometimes but I won't ever get away from my traditional gouges


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## JR Custom Calls (Oct 6, 2015)

I only use carbide. I have a square and round from @woodtickgreg And they do everything I need. Just run those cutters on a diamond stone before they dull. I run mine on a diamond stone weekly and they last quite a while. I think I'm on 8 months right now with almost daily turning

Reactions: Like 1


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## Schroedc (Oct 6, 2015)

I'm using gouges and skews on occasion but for my volume turning I'm using almost exclusively carbide these days.


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## Horatio (Oct 6, 2015)

Heretics and blasphemers, the lot of you.

No, I still use carbides some, I have the mid size EZW in square and round as well as a couple home made bigger ones.

They are nice to have for their consistency and ease. The biggest pain with them is getting the damn screw out to change/rotate the cutter. I've had to drill them out more than once and literally ruined my "red handle - round" yesterday drilling it out and taking out the threads by mistake. 

The argument I always the ability to custom grind a traditional tool to an exact cut as needed opposed to being stuck with the manufactured shape of a cutter.

My thoughts are that there is room for both in the shop. I've been using the heck out of my home made scraper that started life as a flat head screwdriver and it feels really good to make my own tools. On the other hand, being able to get the exact same cut every time by grabbing the tool made for it is nice as well.

/shrug, your mileage may vary.

Reactions: Agree 1 | Funny 1


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## justallan (Oct 7, 2015)

I bought a round and a square carbide from @woodtickgreg and haven't touched anything else since. I turn so little that it's nearly a learning experience every time I do and I find for what I make it's just easier to be somewhat comfortable with 2 tools rather than maintaining and using tools that would more than likely change shapes with every sharpening.


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## Mike Mills (Oct 7, 2015)

I have one shop made square carbide that I use some times, mainly for roughing. Deducting the price of the cutter ($18), a little steel bar and handle for $100 seems excessive to me. I did look at youtube in the past with no luck on how to make V cuts, coves (smaller than the diameter of the cutter), parting less than 1/2" wide, pommel cuts, beads, etc.


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## Dennis Ford (Oct 7, 2015)

I also have one shop-made carbide tool (square cutter). I don't use it very often but it is great for those times when I make a jig out of MDF, that stuff will dull a HSS tool very quickly.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## gman2431 (Oct 7, 2015)

They are primarily all I use also. Well beside parting tool. 

I also made all of mine which saves over 5 bills compared to EWT. I also made the parting tool. Its kinda fun to see something you made making something else. Kinda like how man used to do it! Lol


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## Corjack (Oct 15, 2015)

Horatio said:


> They are nice to have for their consistency and ease. The biggest pain with them is getting the damn screw out to change/rotate the cutter. I've had to drill them out more than once and literally ruined my "red handle - round" yesterday drilling it out and taking out the threads by mistake.
> 
> 
> /shrug, your mileage may vary.



I had the same issue, had to drill mine out. I went to the hardware store, bought a handful of flat head machine screws that that take a flat screw driver. Now it is much easier to dig the wood gunk out, and you can get some tork on the bat turd.


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## JR Custom Calls (Oct 15, 2015)

Greg told me to put a dab of grease on the screw. Haven't stripped any since then. I do use a dental pick to clean the screw head off before taking it out though. Every week when I sharpen I just stick the screws in the tip of my grease gun. Seems to be working for me

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Patrude (Oct 15, 2015)

I gotta say you can't beat carbide for acrylics


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## Jim Beam (Oct 19, 2015)

JR Custom Calls said:


> I only use carbide. I have a square and round from @woodtickgreg And they do everything I need. Just run those cutters on a diamond stone before they dull. I run mine on a diamond stone weekly and they last quite a while. I think I'm on 8 months right now with almost daily turning



Could you elaborate on this? What do you mean by "run them"?


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## JR Custom Calls (Oct 19, 2015)

Just take the cutter off the tool, and rub it around in circles on the diamond stone with the top facing down. Doesn't take a whole lot usually, especially if you do this regularly instead of waiting until it's too dull to cut.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Mike Mills (Oct 19, 2015)

Well, I took a sip.
Rockler had the shaft, ferrule, and two round cup style cutters for $20.... so we'll see.


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## duncsuss (Oct 20, 2015)

Mike Mills said:


> Well, I took a sip.
> Rockler had the shaft, ferrule, and two round cup style cutters for $20.... so we'll see.


That's a good price, I think I paid $50 for a handled tool + spare cutter a couple of years back. Check out the video that John Lucas made about using the Hunter carbide tool, which is a similar "cup" carbide tool ...

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## TimR (Oct 20, 2015)

Mike Mills said:


> Well, I took a sip.
> Rockler had the shaft, ferrule, and two round cup style cutters for $20.... so we'll see.


Mike, I'll be interested to hear your opinion on using that tool, and how you plan to use it. Good price to experiment with!

That's a big cutter, at 1/2" diameter, likely 12 mm specifically. May be a handful to control on anything with some reach involved if using inside a bowl shape perhaps. For roughing, I'd prefer the square or slightly radiused cutters like those used on helix cutting heads work pretty predictably for roughing, since they can be used like a scraper, and held at an angle to get some negative rake approaches. I've got one I made that uses the 1/2" square cutters, and it's a hog. I'd never want it stuck more than an inch or so over my tool rest, even with the long handle and shank I have on it.

I've made and used the 10 mm and 8 mm cupped tools, and found them more difficult to control than the 6mm (1/4"), which is why I typically only use that size anymore.
Be careful if you plan to rough with that tool, as I'm sure you realize the cupped profile forces a positive rake approach at nearly any roughing angle you're likely to use, and when it grabs, something's gonna give.  The cupped tools should not in my opinion ever be used for roughing, only shear scraping kind of cuts with the tool held at an angle. Much better tools out there for roughing...


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## Mike Mills (Oct 21, 2015)

TimR said:


> The cupped tools should not in my opinion ever be used for roughing, only shear scraping kind of cuts with the tool held at an angle.



I saw in the Lucas video that he approaches the wood at a max of 45* and more like 70*. The square cutter I have I only use for roughing into the side grain of bowls (as in Del Stubbs mid 80's video). For most cuts I seem to get a better cut with conventional tools. I have a few short ash billets (baseball bat ends) that I will give the round cutter a go with to test it out. May work well on some small sections of wild/burl type grain.


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## TimR (Oct 21, 2015)

Agreed. I just think Rocklet does a disservice by referring to that package with the term "roughing", is all.


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## duncsuss (Oct 21, 2015)

TimR said:


> Agreed. I just think Rocklet does a disservice by referring to that package with the term "roughing", is all.


Couldn't agree more, Tim -- I believe that cupped-round tool has to be tilted (or it's going to get a deep catch), and the result is a much better finish than 'roughing' implies.

Reactions: Like 1


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