lee valley bowl gouge

[John Beck]

Anybody have experience with LeeValley economy turning tools? They are made of 6542 steel,which I've never heard of. Are they easier or harder to sharpen than M2? Do they wear down faster and do they hold an edge as long?

[Art Kelly]

Looking at the manufacturer's websites for 6542 steel, it looks like it's about the same as M2. The "6542" seems to represent the percentages of tungsten, molybdenum, chromium and vanadium. This is what comes up if you Google 6542 high speed steel: http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/221465880/High_speed_steel_Din_1_3343.html

Even refers to it as "M2."

Here's the Wikipedia description of M2: Tungsten 6%, molybdenum 5%, chromium 4.2%, vanadium 2%.

Has about the same ultimate Rc hardness in the mid 60s. I doubt if I could tell the difference in my shop.


I'll check my metallurgist tomorrow.

Art

[Dennis Ford]

I have not tried the Lee Valley gouges, they may be great. Knowing the type of steel is NOT the same as knowing the quality of the tool. The heat treatment is as important as the steel type. Anyone with a few machine shop tools can buy M2 steel and make gouges, getting the hardening and tempering just right on every gouge is more difficult.

[Mike Davis NC]

These days most small shops send out the heat treating. There are several large firms that specialize in high quality heat treating, tempering and deep freeze treatment.

Their equipment is far above most commercial manufacturing companies.

What you have to watch out for is the third world countries making very cheap tools.

Lee Valley has a great reputation to protect so I really don't think they would offer inferior tools.

[Bob Hamilton]

I have not tried them but in my opinion the reason they are "economy" tools has more to do with the usable length of the flute than the quality of the steel. I would expect that they are made from excellent steel but will not last nearly as long as the equivalent Thompson tool since the flute length is much less. That would matter more to a high usage tool and turner than an infrequently used tool.

Take care
Bob

[Grant Wilkinson]

I have the roughing gouge in that line. For the price, I think it's excellent. It takes and edge well and the edge seems to hold up. I'm not saying that it goes head to head with my Thompson tools, but neither does the price.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Ditto what Bob said. The flute looks awful short to me.

[Thom Sturgill]

The advert says the tools have a 16" handle and are about 22 long - that means 6" of tool sticking out and from the picture about 3" of flute - a 1/2" gouge is $27 or about $9 per inch of flute - allow a couple of bucks for the handle and drop that to $8.

A Thompson has 7" of flute on the 1/2" bowl gouge for $55 or less than $8 per inch usable tool.

Nothing against LeeValley - I have always been happy with their products, but which is the economy tool again?

[John Keeton]

I am a big fan of Thompson Tools, as evidenced by my tool rack. Best for the money, IMO.

But, were I looking for "economy" I would have to say the PSI Benjamin Best tools are the best choice. Seems to me that nearly all of the standard HSS tools are very similar, and price is the main consideration (along with flute length, of course.) With that said, hardly anything I have seen gets cheaper than the BB tools.

But, in the long run...Thompson!;)

[Dusty Fuller]

I've got the bowl gouge, the roughing gouge, and the round-nose scraper. The usable flute is short, and most folks who turn and sharpen frequently would use it up quickly. I try not to remove too much when I sharpen, except when I modified the grind, so my bowl gouge has lasted a while. The other two tools work just fine. If you're looking to get your feet wet, go ahead and buy one. You'll end up keeping it even after you've got another one - mine now has swept back wings to compliment a slightly more standard grind on my other, longer gouge.

Overall, yes, the flute is short. But as far as function, it works fine.