Cheap Ebay Tools

[Robert Rozaieski]

Hi All! I usually post on the hand tool board but I have a lathe tool question so I'm seeking out the experts over here. I don't currently turn and never have but I'm currently building a Roy Underhill design spring pole lathe so that I may begin turning (spindle mostly) for furniture projects. I've been looking at the cheap (like $10-$15) sets of turning tools you always see on the bay and was wondering if anyone has ever used them?

Now before you jump all over me about saving my pennies and buying quality, hear me out on my thoughts about these tools :). I realize they will not be HSS but I do not want HSS.I am looking for carbon steel tools, not HSS. I only work by hand and hone freehand on oil stones so I want to be able to sharpen them like I do all my other edge tools. My thought is that the cheap sets are likely regular O1 or even W1 tool steel and may not even be heat treated (or if they are they were probably poorly treated). However, I have re-heat treated tools before and even made my own from scratch so I am not intimidated by this if it needs to be done. I figure that for the $15 I am buying a piece of steel rough ground to resemble a turning tool, not a finished tool. I am expecting to need to do some work on them and maybe even redo the heat treating and I am ok with that.

So has anyone ever tried these cheap imports as a starting point for making turning tools? I figure for $15 for an 8 piece set it may be worth a try. If you have tried doing this I would really be interested in how the tools turned out. Thanks!

Be gentle! :D

Bob

[David Drickhamer]

Robert
I've purchased some of the "cheap tools" from Ebay with the intentions of using them as a source of steel for making my own scrapers. The ones I got are HHS. I gave the gouges to a friend at work that's getting into turning and used the flat stuff for my own projects. So far I've made a captured ring tool and a few bowl scrap♦ers. The metal was easy enough to work with and seems to hold an edge just fine. While not high quality tools or metal they served the purpose. Another thing these tools are good for is to learn how to grind and sharpen your tools and figure what grind you like.
Dave

[Chris Haas]

shoot, if your going to be turning on a spring pole lathe, they should have no problem holding an edge figure if my lathe is spinning at 1700 rpms and i'm working for 5 -10 min between sharpening, and yours is spinning as fast as your leg can handle, well you can probably turn for days before sharpening.

[tom martin]

Happy New Year Robert,
I have never turned on a spring pole lathe so I am unsure what tools would work best with them. I think that the 15 dollar tool sets are probably similar to those available at local stores (Menards, Lowes, Home Depo) for about the same price or lower considering year end sales.
There is another range of tools slightly higher than the $15 variety.
Look at Benjamin Best (Penn State Ind.) or Harbor freight for their $45-$65 sets (I have seen these go for as much as $150 on Ebay two years ago!) They are heavier, longer,and stronger than the ultra cheap tools with better handles.
The other option are vintage tools on ebay or cl. You should be able to find carbon tool steel tools with a little patience. I have a few carbon tools you are welcome to if you ever get to my neck of the woods or for postage if not. Send me a pm and we can set something up.
Good luck with your lathe. Ive seen videos of the spring pole lathe and am facinated with them.
Thanks,
Tom

[robert hainstock]

The question I would consider is "would I buy a cheap Plane blade"? I suspect from your post that you have used several hand planes, and would not bother to pick up a fifteen dollar plane. I know I wouldn't. As to Benjamen's best tools, I have and use several and they seem like pretty good, (albeit Cinese) steel I also have some of the HF tools marked HSS htat do a credible job. Just my 2c worth. :)
Bob

[Bob Hallowell]

This is want you want ebay item# 130277700565 Old disston chisels in good shape 8hrs left but they come up alot.

[Robert Rozaieski]

The question I would consider is "would I buy a cheap Plane blade"? I suspect from your post that you have used several hand planes, and would not bother to pick up a fifteen dollar plane. I know I wouldn't. As to Benjamen's best tools, I have and use several and they seem like pretty good, (albeit Cinese) steel I also have some of the HF tools marked HSS htat do a credible job. Just my 2c worth. :)
Bob
Actually, I've paid as little as $1 for a plane and it's one of my best ;).
http://logancabinetshoppe.weebly.com/uploads/9/4/7/5/947508/4313105_orig.jpg

Seriously though, I completely understand your point. I looked at the Benjamin's best and the HF tools but they are HSS and I do not want HSS. I want carbon steel. I have a couple of old tools (a 1-1/2" roughing gouge and a 2" skew) that were made by someone else from old cast steel bench chisels/gouges. I would love to find more like this but they just don't come around often. Even on ebay everything is HSS for the most part. I figured the cheapo imports (like the $9.99 set from HF) are likely carbon steel not HSS and could therefore be altered and heat treated to my liking. I may still try to get my hands on some old ones or make them from old cast steel like the others I have instead. I was just exploring other options for carbon steel tools. Thanks for the input :D!


Happy New Year Robert,
I have never turned on a spring pole lathe so I am unsure what tools would work best with them. I think that the 15 dollar tool sets are probably similar to those available at local stores (Menards, Lowes, Home Depo) for about the same price or lower considering year end sales.
There is another range of tools slightly higher than the $15 variety.
Look at Benjamin Best (Penn State Ind.) or Harbor freight for their $45-$65 sets (I have seen these go for as much as $150 on Ebay two years ago!) They are heavier, longer,and stronger than the ultra cheap tools with better handles.
The other option are vintage tools on ebay or cl. You should be able to find carbon tool steel tools with a little patience. I have a few carbon tools you are welcome to if you ever get to my neck of the woods or for postage if not. Send me a pm and we can set something up.
Good luck with your lathe. Ive seen videos of the spring pole lathe and am facinated with them.
Thanks,
Tom
Thanks Tom! Not sure where your neck of the woods is but I'll send you a PM.

[Scott Lux]

Tra-La-La!! El-Cheapo to the rescue!!! Finally my frugality has an application!

Habor Freight has a set of carbon steel tools for $10.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=3793

I bought them as my first set of tools, and I still use several of them. I don't feel guilty learning how to sharpen on these, and they do take a very sharp edge.

Lux

[Bob Hallowell]

Robet I am preety sure the disstons I posted are carbon steel.

Bob

[Jim Kountz]

Hey Robert, glad to see you knuckle draggin types over here on the turning board!! LOL (Sorry couldnt resist) I bought a set of cheapo turning tools from Big Lots and the problem I had was I couldnt even get them to get an edge in the first place. Seems like all they wanted to do was grind away to nothing. Im thinking maybe Bob's suggestion of trying to find deals on some older but better steel tools would be the way to go for what you're trying to do. And please post some pics of that lathe when you build it, I would love to see the progress and the after pics of that thing is use!!
Sounds like a cool project.

[Curt Fuller]

Hi Robert,

I got the impression from your post that you're leaning towards keeping your turning kind of in "the good old days" mode. Here's one thing you might want to consider. I played around on a spring pole lathe a while back and with the combination of slow speed and the stop and start action of the lathe you get a lot of jerky action between the piece you're turning and the tool. It's very different from a modern lathe. The really cheap ebay tools are pretty small and light weight and will really bounce around and be hard to control. With a pole lathe you'll probably only need 2 or 3 tools, a spindle gouge, a skew, and maybe a parting tool to start with. The guy whose lathe I played on was using old chisels that he had made long (24") handles for. That way he could keep them against his hip for stability. They were just the old chisels you see at the antique sales all the time with the tapered tang. But for slow speed spindle work they worked really well. Otherwise, I'd check ebay for some heavier tools than those cheapo starter sets, just for the weight factor. BTW, I think you can actually get a sharper edge on the carbon steel than the harder steels. It just won't keep it very long.

BTW again, 30 minutes on that springpole and you'll have your dailey dose of cardio. Keep a towel close by to wipe off the sweat!

[Moshe Eshel]

Hi Bob,

For spring pole turning I would consider getting or making a Hook tool, seems to be historically correct and VERY effective - have a look here:
http://www.robin-wood.co.uk/turning.htm
And a nice tutorial on making one of your own (if you heat treat, this should be no problem)...
http://www.aroundthewoods.com/hooktool.shtml

Have a great time!

[Robert Rozaieski]

Thanks to everyone for their input and to Tom for his very generous donation. The lathe is complete and can be seen here:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=101796

Now I just need to learn to use it :D.

Thanks!

[Jeff Nicol]

Robert, No matter how good it turns, It is a little work of art all by it's self! I used to watch the Woodwright's shop all the time, but it is not on here anymore!

Great job on your lathe!

Jeff

[Kurt Bird]

Robert,
Most of the older sets of Craftsman tools are carbon steel IIRC. They show up pretty frequently on eBay.
Kurt

[Dean Thomas]

If you've not found tools yet, you might want to look for really OLD Shopsmith tools. The pre-HSS tools are pretty good for carbon steel tools and you can often get them for a song on eBay.

[JerHall]

I know where you are coming from. I make my own planes (with old plane blades) and was a serious furniture maker before I got my &6%$3#4?! lathe, but that is another story. Unlike a lot of turners I hone all my lathe tools, because that is what I was used to with my bench chisels and and plane blades. I have found that it is faster than returning to the grinder, and sure is handy when demonstrating in the field. Honed turning tools stay sharp longer IMHO because they start out sharper. OMMV. Anyway. I use the medium india woodcraft slip stone on a carefully hollow grind bridging just like with a plane blade. It works just fine on HSS, liittle different than carbon steel. I use the Penn State tools all the time this way. They do the job just fine. On gouges I use a jig for grinding so I have a nice uniform bevel to bridge for honing. So get the HSS steel tools and take advantage of the modern cross section. That said the old steel does produce a nicer initial edge, it just doesn't hold up as well, and is prone to blueing when shaping on the grinder.