spear point chisel

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

Almost every set of lathe chisels (we always called them knives) comes with a spear point. If I go to You tube, there will be hundreds of videos about gouges and sharpening them, there will be almost as many about using a skew chisel. There are dozens about scrapers and sharpening them. There is next to nothing about the spear point. In fact, I rarely see them for sale individually. Some friends have ground theirs into scrapers. Are they really as worthless as all that. Frankly, I do use them to clean out corners, but wish they had a 90 degree angle on the point instead of 60.

[Bill Boehme]

Almost every set of lathe chisels (we always called them knives) comes with a spear point. If I go to You tube, there will be hundreds of videos about gouges and sharpening them, there will be almost as many about using a skew chisel. There are dozens about scrapers and sharpening them. There is next to nothing about the spear point. In fact, I rarely see them for sale individually. Some friends have ground theirs into scrapers. Are they really as worthless as all that. Frankly, I do use them to clean out corners, but wish they had a 90 degree angle on the point instead of 60.

If the tool is round with three facets on the end then it is a pyramid tool or detail point tool, used for fine detail work like putting tiny grooves or narrow V's in the work.

If the tool has a rectangular cross section then it is probably a beading/parting tool.

[David M Peters]

The classic Benjamin's Best set (https://www.pennstateind.com/store/LCHSS8.html) was my first set of chisels, second from left is the "point scraper" Perry is talking about. Mine has either been turned into a dovetail tool or reground to a much longer/pointier tip, but it's certainly not in its original form! They should label that tool "The Wildcard" and just tell the user to get 6 months of turning under their belt and to then shape it to what they need.

[Bill Boehme]

The classic Benjamin's Best set (https://www.pennstateind.com/store/LCHSS8.html) was my first set of chisels, second from left is the "point scraper" Perry is talking about. Mine has either been turned into a dovetail tool or reground to a much longer/pointier tip, but it's certainly not in its original form! They should label that tool "The Wildcard" and just tell the user to get 6 months of turning under their belt and to then shape it to what they need.

That second from the left might be a frontrunner for the most useless turning tool ever created award. But, actually it's not totally useless because it can be reground into whatever you wish without any misgivings.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

+1 to the most useless tool award.
I can't even remember what I reground mine into...........

[Marvin Hasenak]

+1 to the most useless tool award.
I can't even remember what I reground mine into...........
I reground mine, the left side is a side scraper that is about 2+- inches long. Works pretty good at redoing walls inmy boxes made out of 4x4 stock. I drill first with a 1 1/2 bit, then widen with the opening, and finish the bottom with a round nose scraper. I use the same chisel to open up the inside of the bell on my Christmas ornaments, and to flare the exhaust end of duck calls and predator calls.

[Christian Setla]

Spear point, afaik, refers to a type of scraper used by someone, possibly Richard Raffen? I think there is one tool manufacturer who offers this scraper, but it is not a common tool and would not be included in a basic set of turning tools.

A typical set of turning tools would include a parting tool, which, if you turn it so you look at the wide flat side, will have a 60ish degree point. It is meant to be used vertically and for parting off something you have turned. There are several types of parting tools, some of quite thin steel so there is minimal waste when parting. The flat sided parting tools can start to bind if doing a fairly deep cut so some of these tools do not have flat sides but rather are thicker in the center where the tip is ground and they taper off to both sides which reduces the binding.

A standard parting tools is ground as you hold it for parting against a grinding wheel. There is really only one way to grind them and thus, there's not much out there for videos.

There are scrapers made for 90 degree corners, or to match dovetail jaws on a chuck.... Again, these would be more specialized tools and something you would purchase if you really have a need for one.

The point scraper is really just a round steel rod with three facets ground with a grinding wheel. As others have said, it's a dismal tool and the tool steel is often better used for something else.

Regards

Christian

[Bill Boehme]

Spear point, afaik, refers to a type of scraper used by someone, possibly Richard Raffen? I think there is one tool manufacturer who offers this scraper, but it is not a common tool and would not be included in a basic set of turning tools.

A typical set of turning tools would include a parting tool, which, if you turn it so you look at the wide flat side, will have a 60ish degree point. It is meant to be used vertically and for parting off something you have turned. There are several types of parting tools, some of quite thin steel so there is minimal waste when parting. The flat sided parting tools can start to bind if doing a fairly deep cut so some of these tools do not have flat sides but rather are thicker in the center where the tip is ground and they taper off to both sides which reduces the binding.

A standard parting tools is ground as you hold it for parting against a grinding wheel. There is really only one way to grind them and thus, there's not much out there for videos.

There are scrapers made for 90 degree corners, or to match dovetail jaws on a chuck.... Again, these would be more specialized tools and something you would purchase if you really have a need for one.

The point scraper is really just a round steel rod with three facets ground with a grinding wheel. As others have said, it's a dismal tool and the tool steel is often better used for something else.

Regards

Christian

I don't think that you mentioned this one in the BB set:

371409

I actually like the round with three facets on the end. There are variations. The most common is usually called a pyramid tool. The one that I like is what I learned to use in a Joe Ruminski class. It looks something like this Sorby tool:

371410

[Christian Setla]

Indeed I have never seen such a tool in a kit before, nor have I ever heard of that name, but then I'm not in the USA.

The tool to the far left is the one with a 60 degree (ish) angle and that IS a parting tool. The second from the left looks like a pointed scraper with about a 120 degree angle, so in this case I can see how most would just regrind it to something more useful.

One thing I did notice was that Penstateindustries does not appear to offer the tool by itself, or perhaps it was just me not being able to find it?

Regards

Christian

[John K Jordan]

I actually like the round with three facets on the end. There are variations. The most common is usually called a pyramid tool.

I've been using this point tool since I came up with the grind long ago. I call it my Wicked Point Tool. I think it cuts cleaner than the normal point/pyramid tool. I sharpen the edges between with a rounded diamond or ceramic hone on the bottom facets only.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=371413&d=1510406093

I use this one a lot but I just made a couple from 1/4" round Thompson steel stock earlier this week and I think I like it better since a skew is a better choice of deeper grooves.

I've tried several variations. I made one with a less steep angle at the front (from the side view) that also doubles as a small round skew for cleaning up or beading the edges of a groove, cutting instead of scraping.

JKJ

[Marvin Hasenak]

I have a few variations of the 3 faceted chisel. A 1/4, 5/16 and a 3/8, they come in handy on spindles.

[Dick Strauss]

It is a common tool in the US and used to be included with both HF sets. You don't want the sides to be ground at 90 degrees to make a 90 degree corner. If both sides engage too much at the same time, bad things will happen!

JKJ, your wicked tool is effectively like a negative rake spear scraper....maybe explains the cleaner cut....just food for thought...

[Reed Gray]

John, that is a 'skewchigouge' with a point..... I had a Raffen spear point and it got turned into a NRS. I do use shear scrapers on spindles, and the spear point scraper could go either direction, but other than that, I have no use for them...

robo hippy

[Bill Boehme]

JKJ, it almost identical to the Joe Ruminski point tool so obviously he stole it from you ... or more reasonably it's just a natural evolution where more than one clever mind came up with similar designs. :)


John, that is a 'skewchigouge' with a point....

Now, THAT is funny. :D. But, seriously it give me an idea for making something actually useful out of my skewchigouge which also is a serious contender for the useless tool runner up award. :D

If that BB point tool (or whatever it is) is common then I must be in the dark because I'd never even heard of it before.

[John K Jordan]

JKJ, your wicked tool is effectively like a negative rake spear scraper....maybe explains the cleaner cut....just food for thought...

I've considered that and tried a couple of variations. But I couldn't see much difference in the cut if the grind was nearly flat at the point or one angled down some like the top bevel of an NRS. I'm imagining the better cut is from the much sharper edges than the standard pyramid tool.