Easy Wood Carbide Lathe Chisels

[AndrewB]

Okay, well in a previous post I had mentioned that I was going to purchase Easy Wood chisels.  I did yesterday, I had ordered them off amazon.  They actually just arrived at the front door.  First off I'm impressed with the packaging.  I some what wasn't expecting them to be well packaged since they were ordered from Amazon.  The tools themselves are MUCH MUCH MUCH smaller than the Savanna tools.  So these will be far easier to handle and use.  The cutting tips themselves are much smaller so I will have to re order some extra tips that are made for these chisels.  Not to mention the easy start tools come with a nice protective case on the working end of the chisel.  This I was not even expecting.  So I'm impressed.  The handles look well made and sturdy.  I should be able to give them a try out tomorrow.  After the blank I glued up today is dry and glue cured.  But over all even after just taking them out of the box.  I'm happy with these.

[lew]

14 minutes ago, AndrewB said:

The cutting tips themselves are much smaller so I will have to re order some extra tips that are made for these chisels.

You will be surprised how long these tips will last- especially when turning wood  (vs. acrylic). I get close to a year from a single cutter. When you order cutter- get a negative rake cutter for at least the finisher (round cutter). Before you start to use the tools, take a sharpie and put a witness mark on the bottom of the cutter. As it dulls in one area, you can rotate the cutter to a fresh place. When the witness mark gets back to the starting point, you'll know it's time for a new one.

 

The "Starter" tools look like they are about half way between the Mini set and the Mid sized tools. It looks like the maximum overhang for your tools is 2" so you'll need to keep the tool rest fairly close to the work. For the inside of bowls, the curved tool rest will facilitate that.

 

Looking forward to seeing how you like them.

[AndrewB]

That's what they feel like.  They feel like about the size of a normal set of HHS chisels.  In comparison to my Savannah carbides.

[lew]

You probably noticed the screw holding the cutters is pretty small. The allen wrench that comes with the tool is also really small. Some turners, remove the screw- before using the tool the first time- and put a tiny amount of anti seize on the screw. Turning can build up heat and make any dust collected in bare threads really hard- making the screw difficult to remove. I read another place where some turners use a match or lighter to gently heat the screw area for a few seconds to loosen it. Personally, I haven't had any trouble like that but I do use a pin to make sure the dirt is out of the allen screw hole so the allen wrench seats completely.

 

In case you are wondering- here's some of the screw/allen wrench sizes

**Mini/Mid/Detailers &
All Hollowers Except Mid*:
~Small Wrench 1/16"
~Screw 4-40 x 5/16"

**Full/Pro/Rougher/Finisher:
~Screw 8-32 x 3/8"
~Large Wrench 3/32"

**Exception (Mid Hollower):
~Small Wrench 1/16"
~Screw 4-40 x 1/4"

 

[AndrewB]

I have a good set of allen wrenches here at the house.

[Gerald]

A couple points on carbide tools, well maybe more.

 

Smaller bits actually cut faster in my experience. So do not count that small cutter out.

 

Lew gave you a good tip on cutter rotation. Now I pass on one I got from Mike Hunter himself in regard to stuck screws. Each time you use the tool loosen the screw and clean around it and rotate .

 

I do not change the cutters after one full rotation and do not have a schedule for it just get a feeling eventually.

 

Enjoy the tools but do not neglect using your HSS tools as the two types can work together. With experience you will find that good technique and sharpening will give your a surface ready to skip a lot of sanding and probably start at 180n instead of 80. Ok confession time I do sometime start at 60

[AndrewB]

Yea I was reading over the tips.  All good info to know.  I've actually been outside playing with the new chisels.  So far I'm really liking them.  The only downside to them is the length of the tool itself.  They are quite short so it doesn't give a lot of play room and you have to get in very close to the piece.  Other wise I can say I like them.  Definitely worth the money.

[lew]

24 minutes ago, Gerald said:

Ok confession time I do sometime start at 60

Hahahaha me too.

[AndrewB]

The easy wood tools made quick work of this little piece of scrap that I had.  I wanted to give the tools a test run.  This isn't quite a full goblet and its not hollowed out.  But again this is a poorly glued together wood piece.  Either way I think i like the shape I would have probably gone with a longer stem but.  This was only to test how well the carbide tools worked.  This took me oh no more than 45 minutes to cut out.  I still sanded it down put a coat of boiled linseed oil on it but no more than that since it was just scrap.

[lew]

Great! You are getting the shape really nice. This is the point where I'd start hollowing- before you refine the stem. That gives you more support while you do the inside. You can also kinda go back and forth between inside and outside to  get the shape you want. Once you start in on the stem, you'll want to provide support for the hollowed end.

[AndrewB]

The hollowing part is still kind of where I'm getting stuck I've gotta get some solid chunks of wood before I actually do any more hollowing on projects.   So I can avoid the chipping and hopefully less catching on the next one I should be able to get some hollowing work in.

[John Morris]

Andrew, so glad you decided to support our sponsor too in the process. Easy Wood Tools has been with us since our inception, it's great to see our folks showing the love back. Thanks.

@Jim from Easy Wood Tools would be proud to see the sales coming from this community.

[AndrewB]

It was a kind of a spur of the moment buy as well.  Expensive spur of the moment buy.  But I wanted something that I was going to be able to control in the long run with out having to move around the actual tool while carving wood LOL.  Eventually Id like to start making pens bowls of course too.  But I think I'm almost more interested in pen making I haven't tried it as of yet.  But I was quite impressed with the packaging of the tools.  Not sure who the shipper was on it exactly I had ordered them through amazon.  I was going through that with out even realizing it contributed to supporting the sponsors LOL.  I was thinking more this is the tool I need and why.  LOL.

[lew]

Sometimes it helps to drill a hole on the turning before hollowing. The hole can serve 2 purposes. First it can help you determine when you have reached the desired depth of the hollowing. The second thing is that it provides a bit of a relief area for the cutter/chips.

 

This is a simple version I made. Notice the drill bit runs completely thru the handle to allow the bit to be adjusted for different depth holes, although that's not necessary.

 

 

All the parts came from Lowe's.

 

 

Here is a video of a similar one being made.

 

 

As far as catches, try to keep the cutter's sharp edge at the center line of the of the turning. Too low/too high can cause problems. This is a video from the founder of Easy Wood Tools making a goblet. See if this gives you any ideas-

 

[AndrewB]

I'm going to be ordering a kit for the lathe soon for the tail stock and getting the drill chuck for that as well.  With a couple of other tools.  So I think in the long run it might pay off to have that on order.  I just gotta find the right bits, Jacobs chuck ordered.  Hurry up and wait.  On the chisels though, from the use that I got out of them today they held up quite well.  How ever the only down fall I see with the easy start set is that they are on the shorter end of the tools.  But even still they are decent to work with.  I just need to get a bit more comfortable with them.

 

Edited July 4, 2020 by AndrewB

[Ron Altier]

Beware!!  These carbide cutters get dull quickly!!!!

 

When accidently pushed into a spinning chuck. I did it. However, it can be rotated to a new cutter surface. Just don't do it again

[HandyDan]

I saved the drill chuck from a retired drill and mounted it to a handle I had.  Can use any size bit.  Most drill chucks are 3/8" fine thread so they are easy to use.

 

[AndrewB]

Yea the Jacobs chuck should be here at some point tomorrow.  USPS gotta love to hate their delivery practices.  Either way it should be here tomorrow and I can tinker around with it.  Come to find out the lathe I have is an MT2 tapper.  Which is what I ordered.  I'm still curious though about the easy wood hollowing tool.  If that would be worth to buy.  Not exactly sure how big it is and how long the handle is.  In comparison to to the easy start ones.

[HandyDan]

55 minutes ago, AndrewB said:

I'm still curious though about the easy wood hollowing tool.  If that would be worth to buy.  Not exactly sure how big it is and how long the handle is.  In comparison to to the easy start ones.

Here is a link to all the Easy Wood hollowing tools and their dimensions.

https://www.easywoodtools.com/hollowing

 

 

[AndrewB]

Thanks, I was also looking at the price of that set and its a bit beyond my budget at the moment.