Turning Tools...

[Greg Cuetara]

I received a few Henry Taylor Kryo turning tools from Craft Supplies as a christmas gift. I have a small lathe and mostly do pens and smaller items. I have a not so good set of tools right now but mostly just use the gouge, round nose scraper and skew.

The tools I received are a pen turning package and smaller in size. They are nice but not exactly what I would have gotten. The person I received the gift from wanted me to have a few really nice tools so I would like to exchange these for one or maybe two other tools which are larger and would meet my needs right now.

Looking on the Craft supplies website there are a lot of tools and a lot of different names out there. Any help would be appreciated in tools that are better or some that i should stay away from or if they are all pretty good then I will just pick a few.

I was looking at the Crown tools as they looked like they provided good quality for the buck and it says they will hold an edge 3x longer than M2 steel.

I saw they have a square scraper. Not sure if this is really want I want because i typically use the skew on it side to just even out and make all my pens flat etc. Probably not the best use of a skew but I take very light cuts etc.

Again any help in picking up some quality tools would be appreciated.
Greg

[Brian Libby]

I have some Crown tools and for the money they are good buy.

[Jim Burr]

A quick search will pop up loads of info on this Greg...just had the same questions in the last week or 2

[Curt Fuller]

There may be others that feel differently, but I honestly can't tell the differrence in the "brand" of tools I use as long as they're comparable steel. I have several brands of gouges in various sizes and I use them all. But what I do notice to be different is in the type of steel. The HSS tools sharpen up pretty easily while the harder Thompson gouges I use seem a little trickier to sharpen. But they stay sharp longer. Although I haven't used the Henry Taylor Kryo tools I suspect they have similar characteristics to the Thompson when it comes to holding an edge. My recommendation would be to go with any of the Thompson tools. They just seem to be very good tools and fairly priced.

[David E Keller]

I love my Thompson's too, but I'm not sure you can get them from CSUSA. The Kryo tools look interesting, but I don't have any personal experience with them. BTW, I see nothing wrong with using a skew as a scraper... It's just a tool.

[Harry Robinette]

Greg
That I know of Doug doesn't sell his tools through any body but him.But you can call him or pull him up and send him a PM he answers petty quick.
Harry

[Dale Miner]

I have a 1/2" Crown cryogenic spindle gouge. It does hold an edge pretty well. Not as well as the Thompsons, but much better than a Benjamens Best.

I do think that for pens, any of the name brand High Speed Steel tools would hold and edge for a satisfactory length of time.

Using your skew on it's side as a scraper will take the razor's edge pretty quick from any type or brand of skew.

Later,
Dale M

[Greg Cuetara]

thanks for the thoughts so far.

[Bill Blasic]

Greg,
I like using a spindle roughing gouge for my pen work. The Mark St.Ledger 5/8 Spindle Roughing Gouge made by Doug Thompson works very well for this purpose.
Bill

[John Keeton]

Greg
That I know of Doug doesn't sell his tools through any body but him.But you can call him or pull him up and send him a PM he answers petty quick.
HarryHarry, actually Vince's (http://www.vinceswoodnwonders.com/Thompson%20Lathe%20Tools.htm) has some of Thompson tools.

[Greg Cuetara]

The thompson tools look very nice but don't help me too much right now because I will have a credit at CSUSA. Still trying to learn what each tool is good for right now. Would a square nose scraper be better for me than putting a skew on its side? I am shooting to have a tool which will give a flat smooth surface. I had some problems where my pens and other items which i turned were not smooth they were a little bumpy but once i put the skew to it i was able to flatten out and smooth the surface so I am thinking the square nose scraper would be better for me.

[Bill Bulloch]

The thompson tools look very nice but don't help me too much right now because I will have a credit at CSUSA..

Look at the P&N Tools. They are reasonably priced and CSUSA has them. I have six of them and they are the ones I always turn to.