What to do with these tools?!

[Luke Draper]

Purchased a Oneway 1224 from an estate and it came with 34 vintage sorby tools. I am pretty sure when the guy started turning he just ordered one of everything the sold at the time. Most have never been used or sharpened. I’ve already started using about 12, regrinding some, but I’m a little overwhelmed with the quantity and size of the rest.


Other than giving away or selling them, any ideas?

[Patrick McCarthy]

Luke, those are the best kinds of "problems" to have. Nice collection. Patrick

[Brian Deakin]

Luke they appear to be Sorby Kangaroo brand I believe they are likely to be carbon steel and not High
speed steel

Origin
Marketing their products in Australia and New Zealand lead Sorby to name their factory in England the Kangeroo works
The factory was located in Trafalgar Street, Sheffield and had the famous Kangaroo motif carved in stone over an archway

https://www.robert-sorby.co.uk/media/wysiwyg/robert_sorby_history_of_booklet.pdf

[John K Jordan]

I wondered about that. If they are in fact carbon steel, be careful when sharpening, Patrick - getting them hot enough on the grinder to "blue" the edge can destroy the hardness/temper of the edge. (but you probably already know this!) A water wheel sharpener might be ideal.

JKJ



Luke they appear to be Sorby Kangaroo brand I believe they are likely to be carbon steel and not High
speed steel

Origin
Marketing their products in Australia and New Zealand lead Sorby to name their factory in England the Kangeroo works
The factory was located in Trafalgar Street, Sheffield and had the famous Kangaroo motif carved in stone over an archway

https://www.robert-sorby.co.uk/media/wysiwyg/robert_sorby_history_of_booklet.pdf

[Don Jarvie]

Keep them all. You can regrind scrapers, spindle and bowl gouges for different purposes. You can also learn to sharpen and not worry about learning on expensive tools. Once you find the ones you like using you can upgrade as needed.

[Dick Mahany]

Interesting. JKJ 's comments well heeded.

On the second pic there are two tools that have flat spots worn on the wooden handles as evidenced by the white spots on the stained handles. I have done this a few times personally due to improper sharpening set up with my Wolverine jig on small angles and small handled tools. If the steel is HSS, I'd keep them and regrind to custom tool profiles in the future. It took me several years to get the confidence to do this, but having an excellent source of donor HSS or M2 steel can be a benefit to be realized later.

I'd keep the tools for just that purpose alone.

BTW none of my Sorby tools have the sticker type logos that the pictures show, so I don't know about the vintage or origination of those tools.

[John K Jordan]

BTW none of my Sorby tools have the sticker type logos that the pictures show, so I don't know about the vintage or origination of those tools.

I think an article on the history of Sorby said they quit making the kangaroo tools in 1980.

JKJ

[Luke Draper]

Luke they appear to be Sorby Kangaroo brand I believe they are likely to be carbon steel and not High
speed steel

Origin
Marketing their products in Australia and New Zealand lead Sorby to name their factory in England the Kangeroo works
The factory was located in Trafalgar Street, Sheffield and had the famous Kangaroo motif carved in stone over an archway

https://www.robert-sorby.co.uk/media/wysiwyg/robert_sorby_history_of_booklet.pdf

Thanks Brian. This is helpful information. I’m going to assume that since none of them are marked HSS like my newer sorby tools that they are indeed carbon steel. This begs the question on if should keep all of them or sell and invest in some Thompson or d way tools

[Luke Draper]

I wondered about that. If they are in fact carbon steel, be careful when sharpening, Patrick - getting them hot enough on the grinder to "blue" the edge can destroy the hardness/temper of the edge. (but you probably already know this!) A water wheel sharpener might be ideal.

JKJ

Thanks for the tip. I’m still a relatively new turner with little sharpening experience. I do have some newer Robert sorby tools that are stamped HSS while these are not. They seem to sharpen the same but the sparks should be different so I need to pay closer attention to determine.

Begs the question on whether or not ALL are worth keeping or just some while selling the others to buy HSS tools

[Brian Deakin]

The Kangeroo works Sheffield

https://www.sheffieldhistory.co.uk/forums/uploads/monthly_08_2009/post-5463-1250935211.jpg
(https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=imgres&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwj6yvyU3u3oAhUJz4UKHWDuCMUQjRx6BAgBEAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sheffieldhistory.co.uk%2Ffor ums%2Ftopic%2F3623-kangaroo-works-wellington-street-has-been-demolished%2F&psig=AOvVaw23SGRUCvFLk7ma5sp-19ZI&ust=1587153631547396)

[David Gilbert]

Looks like you have a nice collection of tools. I have a number of carbon tools that I have ground into scrapers. I don't use them an awful lot. The steel in your tools should be very fine grained. You can carefully sharpen them and they will last you a lifetime. Just don't over heat them and turn them blue.

Good luck,
David