Excelsior tools by Sorby

[Harry Robinette]

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I bought a 1/2" Excelsior TiN bowl gouge from Sorby just to see what if anything they actually do better then regular Sorby tools. Put finger nail grind on it and sharpened on my Norton 3X 80 grit wheel.The spindle in the picture was 6" long and 7 " in dia dry Cherry.
The bowl was a dry hard Maple blank 6" dia x 4 " deep it's cut to a bowl 5 x 3. The shavings are from both I did NO sharpening or honing of the tool and it is still rather sharp.They are NOT a Thompson or Glaser but I think they out preform regular Sorby HSS tools.
I'm going to try something ,I'm going to send the gouge to someone on the Creek and have them check it out,That person well send it on to someone else of they're choosing that says they will send it on if you can't find someone to send it to send it back to me. Please sharpen as you see fit but try not to change the grind allot I would like a little gouge left when it gets back. Also everyone is to write a what do you think of the tool.Hopefully this makes sense to everyone.I think 8 people should be enough to get a good idea of the tools overall value and may help some of the new Creekers just starting out.
I Hope this is OK to do here if not please canx this post.
I should be sending it out to the first person by the end of the week.

[Scott Hackler]

Harry sent me his gouge a couple weeks ago and asked me to "check it out".

The Sorby line is no stranger to my shop. I started with Sorby and still use quite a few of my original gouges and assorted tools. Since starting my "collection", I have also gathered a couple Thompsons. So with those to compare, I went to work on a piece of green sycamore.

I use this larger sizes gouge (regular Sorby) for roughing and the larger bowl, here and there. Its a big chunk of metal and gives you stability rounding those irregular blanks.

This paricular Excelsior edition has a coating over the HSS. At first I thought I thought the "treatment" was a different kind of metal throughout, but that isn't the case. Fresh out of the package, it was very sharp. I believe Harry just sharpened it. His angle was fairly close to mine, to I just wanted to get going with it. Only slight problem was that I don't own a handle that I could put this dude into! So, through my two tests... I used it without a handle. Yeah yeah yeah, I know, but its what I had to do.

One thing that I really like about the Sorby's is the deep flute. When pealing a green long, such as my piece of sycamore, the curlies where flying 8' into the air! Fun!!! The only difference between this one and the 1/2" Sorby I own, is the coating (to retain an edge) and the price. I am on the fence as to how much better this version holds an edge over the normal one, but it does. Not like the Thompsons, but then again it's not the same type of steel.

At $69 for the loose steel, I can't really recommend it for a "good deal" but it is a good tool. With the price point of the Thompsons and the hardness of their steels, I don't think I would be adding one to my stable. BUT, if I received one as a gift or won one in a contest, I guarrantee that I would put my original one in the drawer and start using this one.

The gouge is being sent to the next Creeker, tomorrow.

Thanks Harry for letting me "try out" your new tool!

[Harry Robinette]

Scott
Thanks for helping.This is why I decided to do this it's all to get some ideas on how people feel about this new coating and if it adds anything to the tool.
Waiting for the next input.
Hope you all are finding these helpful or at lest interesting .

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

Harry,
Just a question. I know the Tin coating on drill bits grinds away with the first sharpening. Is it the same for this gouge?
faust

[Harry Robinette]

Faust
The TiN coating is only on the flute after you sharpen the tool. The thing is that thats were the wood is being cut,the bevel rubs the flutes edge is sliding through the wood.Now thats the way it was put to me from Sorby. The thing I'm doing is having some of the Creekers use this gouge and report how they fell this new coating works or doesn't work.So that all of use have a little more knowledge to help us decide on these tools.

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

That seems logical, Harry. Thanks for the explanation.
faust

[Jeff Nicol]

Harry, Scott sent me the Sorby Tin gouge and I put it through the paces and I am finally getting to posting my response to it. I tried it on hard, dry, soft , wet and everything I could think of and it performed well on all accounts. It compares to my Sorby Ellsworth signature gouge and I believe the TIN coating does help in letting wet wood slip off a bit better. My Ellsworth is a step larger but the flute shape is virtually identical and I really like that shape as the Ellsworth is my go to gouge for a lot of my turning.

Here are a few pictures of the outcome and if someone else wants to be the next tester or if you want me to send it back to you Harry let me know in a PM.

Thanks for sharing your tool with us!

Jeff

Pics 1-4 pic are of a dry red oak bowl and a wet White ash root chunk bowl, The next is a box elder HF rough out and the last is the mess after the fun!