Lathe Tooling

[The Smoking Yeti]

Alright, my lathe'll hopefully be here in a few days, so I need some help with tooling. What're some good things to have for pipemaking?

[caskwith]

Wood lathe or metal lathe?

[KurtHuhn]

At a minimum:
briar chuck (either special-purpose, or a 4-jaw chuck with two jaws removed, and deep jaws)
jacobs chuck for tailstock
tobacco chamber bits (easiest to roll your own)
airway bits (regular and taper point)
HSS toolbits ground to shape (if metal lathe)
woodturning chisels: skew, cutoff tool, bowl gouge (for both metal and wood lathes for lathe shaping)

That's just to make the lathe useful though. You'll find that you need lots more infrequent-use stuff as you start using it a lot.

[The Smoking Yeti]

Alright Kurt, how much do you think a two jaw chuck'd cost me? How do you grind your own chamber bits?(I have a 3/4" one from Tim West, but I kinda want a smoother profile on mine). And what is a good set of HSS tool bits to start with? I have tons of questions

[Alden]

Top right hand corner of your screen is a search button.
Thats assuming no one wants to answer all the same questions again, but maybe someone is feeling generous.

[The Smoking Yeti]

Yeah sure. Product searches only help so much. I've found over time it helps to ask people who've been through this process already. Thanks though.

[KurtHuhn]

Alright Kurt, how much do you think a two jaw chuck'd cost me? How do you grind your own chamber bits?(I have a 3/4" one from Tim West, but I kinda want a smoother profile on mine). And what is a good set of HSS tool bits to start with? I have tons of questions

I don't know what a two jaw chuck costs. I saw a Bison a while back that I wanted, but it was outside of what I wanted to pay. There are custom ones out there, but again, I have no clue what cost is.

I'll tell you what I use, maybe that will help you: A OneWay chuck with two (half a set of four) Tower jaws installed. The Tower jaws were $35, and the chuck was about $175 with some other jaws (#2 and pin). I prefer this because, using same chuck body, I can adapt it to a ton of different uses, both four and two jaw.

Shaping spade bits is dead simple. I do mine on a belt grinder when I do them, but I actually prefer reshaped silver and deming bits because they cut smoother. I reshape them by spinning them in the wood lathe, and profiling the sholder into an ogive with an angle grinder. It is exactly as dangerous and stupid as it sounds - but as we've covered before, that is practically required if I am in the workshop.

If you're looking for cutting bits for a metal lathe, I get mine at Enco. They have the lowest price, typically. They come unground, so you still need to profile them for your specific needs. I can't recall the price, but it wasn't that high at all.

Lathe chisels can range from $15 at the low end of the spectrum, up to $100 each (or more). I like Woodcraft's Wood River brand of lathe chisels. They work great and are reasonably priced.

[Kenny]

Seeing as I make my living turning wood, I'll throw in my 1/2 a cent's worth of BS.

Myself, I think if you don't know how to properly use a skew yet, a good 1/4" or 3/8" spindle gouge with a relieved fingernail grind is one of the most useful tools you can have. If you use it properly, it can plane cut like a skew, and turn beads, coves and near any other shape with ease. And, if you can master rubbing the bevel, it leaves a really nice finish ready for 400grit sanding.

The next tool you should learn is the skew. It can do ANYTHING! But, it can ruin your whole world in half a heart-beat if you don't know what your doing. It's one tool that can hurt both you and your work badly if you get a catch. I've splintered a 1"+ thick ash handle with a skew catch, so that will give you an idea of the forces at work.

Once you learn the skew, it will be your best friend. It will make near any cut you'll ever need and can leave a 600grit finish on your work. And obviously, practice on scrap, and often!

There are a ton of great videos on youtube that will show you the basics of using woodturning tools. Some of my favorites are from CapnEddie. He also sells an excellent sharpening jig system that (in my eyes) is better than the Wolverine system for sharpening gouges, and a lot cheaper.
Do not sharpen your skew on the grinder. It needs a convex bevel which is best produced on a belt sander followed by honing. This makes for a more easily controlled tool (compared to a concave bevel). Capneddie covers this in detail in a couple videos.

That brings up sharpening. For woodturning tools, I feel jigs are best. They give exact and repeatable results time after time, with very little learning curve. They also eliminate or reduce "disappearing gouge syndrome", which is common to new turners. If you're not familiar, it's when you take your new $80 1/4" gouge that starts 8" long, and by the time you get the shape right you've only got an inch of flute left.

I also recommend a 1725rpm 8" grinder with 40 and 80 grit wheels in the J-K hardness range. You can use 120 grit, but I don't think it's necessary and it produces a lot more heat.
6" grinders are a waste of money. For proper geometry, you need a 5-3/4" wheel at minimum. This means your $80 6" wheels are junk in mere months, compared to years with an 8" grinder.

I would also add a high-quality live center (I like the Sorby multi-tip system) and a couple dead centers.

Other than that, Kurt covered it.

Last time I ordered HSS blanks, they were under $2 each. (from Enco)

[Kenny]

And as a last note, do not use a Tormek to sharpen gouges made for turning, and don't strop them either. It's not necessary and will only make your life harder than it needs to be. You want the rough ground edge. It cuts better and lasts longer than a polished edge. Trust me, I have an 8" Tormek knock-off collecting dust....

If you want to watch the best videos I've ever seen on the fundamentals of sharpening, that actually explain the why, not just the how, do a search on youtube for Gary Gardner. He has a 6 part series that covers most things you'd ever want to know.

[smokindawg]

Yeti............ For a chuck, I use a cheap scrolling wood chuck from Grizzley Tools and have a pair of jaws I made myself. Works very well and as Kurt said, I can change up and use the chuck for lots of other things just by changing the jaws. I even use it for round work on stems and tampers with no jaws at all.

[The Smoking Yeti]

Wow guys- this is all extremely helpful. My lathe should come on Juy 1st, I'll get 'er leveled and bolted down, then I'll start practicing grinding tool bits!

[Kenny]

On a final note on tooling, while I like the geometry of the Woodriver spindle gouges, I prefer P&N tooling for most of my tools. Granted, they come unhandled, but if you have a lathe that's easy to fix. Or you can purchase an aluminum "universal" handle, which I also use and like for certain tools, though mine are custom machined and not commercial pieces.

http://www.packardwoodworks.com/Merchan ... e=tools-pn

They're priced very reasonably for a tool of their quality, which is excellent.

One issue I have with the Woodriver tools, are their overly long handles. It's just not necessary, especially not on the small spindle gouges. It makes maneuvering the tool for smooth, precise cuts much more difficult than necessary. At least for me.

My small spindle gouges (1/4" and 3/8") use 10" and 12" handles. And being hollow drilled with special ferrules using set-screws to hold the tool, I can choke up on them if needed. Packard sells such ferrules, though again, if you have a lathe (metal-lathe), this is an easy piece to make.