# Home made chisels



## Horatio (Aug 30, 2015)

A while back, just before my shop was up and running and I was anxious to turn stuff, I stopped by Woodcraft and picked up a book called "The Frugal Woodturner" It was an enjoyable read and informative on a number of topics, among them, proper sharpening and a sermon on the round nosed scraper and similar tools. 

I've since taken a shine to that particular tool and find myself reaching for it frequently. Its simple to sharpen and does a good job for what I need and fairly idiot proof, which, God knows, I need. 

Long story short, my scraper was a Harbor Freight special, came in the $20 set I bought a few years ago along with my first lathe. Use/sharpen/use/sharpen/use/sharpen....well, its getting a little stubby.

I decided to make my own in a variety of sizes. My first attempt was from a piece of tool steel and I have a good profile on it but its just too big. It would be great on my dream Powermatic making that 3' stand up vase my wife wants but my little Rikon doesn't have the power to allow me to peel the wood off with it. 

Now, my wife allows her mother to drag her to estate sales all the time and occasionally she picks up a tool or three....always little odd things....I have a TON of little clamps, for example. I told her to snag me some old screwdrivers if she saw them and she got me a handful last week. 

I ground down the first one this morning because I wanted a smaller profile to more easily work on smaller stuff (Like WoodLove's ring tutorial) 

You know how you sometimes picture an idea coming to fruition and have an ideal outcome and it often falls short? Well this was not the case. I ground it down then finished it on my sharpening wheel and man, it just ate through mesquite nice and smooth. I was making the jam spindle to mount the small items on and it took a 2" square about a foot long down perfectly!

I think one key is that is was an old tool made of good, heavy steel but still cheapy. Now I need to bust off the plastic handle and turn something for it. I will probably try some other profiles with the remaining ones, maybe bend the shaft on one for a hollowing scraper. 

Bottom line, an old screwdriver makes a really effective wood turning tool. Maybe I'll post some pics at some point, perhaps when I get a few more done and get handles on them.

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 1 | Way Cool 2 | Informative 1 | Useful 2


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## ironman123 (Aug 30, 2015)

Thanks for the information Andrew. Will be watching for your pictures.


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## duncsuss (Aug 30, 2015)

Ernie Conover is a good teacher -- I've got a couple of his books (including The Frugal Woodturner), and the turning club I go to had him do a workshop weekend a couple of years ago. It was great fun and I learned a lot from him.

Reactions: Sincere 1


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## TimR (Aug 30, 2015)

Cool! I've used an old screwdriver to make a point tool and I've seen others turn them into captive ring tools among other stuff.


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## justallan (Aug 30, 2015)

When I first got my little lathe I dug through the toolbox and the best I could come up with was a wood chisel and surprisingly enough it worked pretty darned good, after I sharpened it.


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## ripjack13 (Aug 30, 2015)

Pictures man...we need pictures....

Reactions: Agree 1


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## duncsuss (Aug 30, 2015)

Here's pix of a couple of files that I repurposed, following the advice Ernie Conover gives in The Frugral Woodturner -- namely, temper the files in your oven so they aren't hard and brittle (they could shatter).

The bigger one has a "handle" (the metal is shaped for a hand.) The smaller one has a tang, which I've ground into a very small "parting tool" sort of thing. I use it a lot when doing custom pens, making a relief groove for the last thread on a barrel, cleaning up a tenon, parting off when there's not much clearance. It's about a half inch shorter than when I started using it -- that means it's useful, right?

Reactions: Like 1


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## Horatio (Sep 6, 2015)

http://img.Rule #2/albums/v453/AEHood74/Laborday%20029_zpsl58l9xnq.jpg

http://img.Rule #2/albums/v453/AEHood74/Laborday%20028_zpsa0bocgec.jpg

Reactions: Like 1 | Thank You! 1


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## ripjack13 (Sep 6, 2015)

Interesting....I have a bunch of old screwdivers and files. Might have to make some specialty tools from em...

Thanks for the pix too!

Reactions: Agree 1


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## barry richardson (Sep 6, 2015)

Ooh, I have a bunch of files, I'm gonna make a scraper from one and check it out. My favorite parting tool is made from an 8" jointer knife. (I have lots of em since I went to a spiral cuter head) The steel is excellent, It is HSS, like most turning tools say they are these days, but it keeps a sharper edge much longer IMO. I have heard of people making mini hook tools from allen wrenches too, but never tried that yet...


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## duncsuss (Sep 7, 2015)

As I wrote earlier in the thread, files are made very hard -- but they are brittle and could shatter. Ernie's instructions were to stick them in the oven at around 475 degrees for 15 minutes or more, then turn off the oven and let it cool before taking the files out.

This should temper the steel to a hardness that is a good compromise of hardness/softness and toughness/brittleness.

Reactions: Like 1 | Thank You! 1


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## barry richardson (Sep 7, 2015)

duncsuss said:


> As I wrote earlier in the thread, files are made very hard -- but they are brittle and could shatter. Ernie's instructions were to stick them in the oven at around 475 degrees for 15 minutes or more, then turn off the oven and let it cool before taking the files out.
> 
> This should temper the steel to a hardness that is a good compromise of hardness/softness and toughness/brittleness.


Do you find they hold a pretty good edge after this tempering?


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## duncsuss (Sep 7, 2015)

barry richardson said:


> Do you find they hold a pretty good edge after this tempering?


Not bad. Scrapers use the burr at the edge anyway, and I don't use them for hogging out large amounts of material. Typically I don't have to go back to the grinder after each use, because I only use these "specialty" scrapers for a minute or two just to perform a specific task.

If you try one and find it doesn't hold an burr as long as you'd like, you can try a second file using a lower oven temperature (which leaves more of the original hardness & brittleness in the steel). I've been thinking of buying the Veritas/Lee Valley burnisher (a metal plate with a carbide peg), which could make it even easier to re-edge a scraper ... but then I'd have to find a clear space on my bench to mount the thing, which would be a challenge.

Reactions: Funny 1


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## Wilson's Woodworking (Sep 9, 2015)

duncsuss said:


> As I wrote earlier in the thread, files are made very hard -- but they are brittle and could shatter. Ernie's instructions were to stick them in the oven at around 475 degrees for 15 minutes or more, then turn off the oven and let it cool before taking the files out.
> 
> This should temper the steel to a hardness that is a good compromise of hardness/softness and toughness/brittleness.


Did a little research and it looks like most files are made out of W1, W2 or similar tool steels. (Good quality steel in a good quality file) According to the books tempering them at 475° F will put them at about 60 Rc. That is as hard as a honey moon (well you know) So that is excellent for holding an edge and still making the grain structure bond to be very tough in that steel.
Sorry I just had to look it up as a machinist that works a lot with tool steels. 


Oh by the way if you find this is still to brittle you could temper it at 600° for a few hours and it would wind up around 55 Rc which is still dang hard but quit a bit tougher yet.

Reactions: Like 1


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## duncsuss (Sep 9, 2015)

Wilson's Woodworking said:


> Oh by the way if you find this is still to brittle you could temper it at 600° for a few hours and it would wind up around 55 Rc which is still dang hard but quit a bit tougher yet.


I think this would be a very good idea for a scraper that's intended to hang way over the toolrest (such as scraping the bottom of a hollowform) -- but my recycled files are small tools, so I'm not expecting to beat them up that way.

When I went back to Conover's book, I saw that he has a table showing approximate Rc value for different temperatures, but he doesn't actually recommend a specific one to use. I got the 475 degrees from the notes I took at one of his workshops.

Reactions: Like 1


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