Big roughing gouge

[Wes Ramsey]

The only BB tools I find to be worth buying are the scrapers and the 2" roughing gouge. I don't use the roughing gouge much in the type of work I do, but I find it to be very functional and a good value as I use it so little. Touching up the edge when I need to use it is not an inconvenience. The scrapers, at about $17 each, are nice to have for re-grinding into various special use tools. I have a couple that are rounded on one side, left and right that I use to shear scrape, one that is ground to cut a 3/8" recess, one that will do an undercut dovetail, etc. they do require frequent sharpening during use, but again, they are special use tools that don't get a lot of mileage. Therefore, touching them up when used isn't an issue.

I look at them the same way. Spending more $$ on ANYTHING never guarantees perfection or quality - only that your chances of getting them are increased. BB and Thompson are the only lathe tools I know, and when I only had BB tools I was quite happy with their performance. Now that I have a few Thompson tools I understand why there is such a wide gap in price, but when they are ground correctly I don't know that one really cuts any better than the other and they all have to be sharpened on occasion. I would wager that a majority of wood turners frequently or exclusively use tools in the price range of BB simply because of the price, and those more experienced of us started out using them before graduating to more expensive tools. Sure I would prefer they have better control of their QC folks, but that would increase the price and keep more people from taking up the craft. They have their place in our world. Maybe not in everyone's shop, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to a friend.

[David Walser]

... I would wager that a majority of wood turners frequently or exclusively use tools in the price range of BB simply because of the price, and those more experienced of us started out using them before graduating to more expensive tools. Sure I would prefer they have better control of their QC folks, but that would increase the price and keep more people from taking up the craft. They have their place in our world. Maybe not in everyone's shop, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to a friend.

I started turning with Harbor Freight's Windsor Design set of tools (the cheaper of the two sets). I continue to use several of the tools. Indeed, my favorite 3/8" spindle gouge is the one from that set. Harbor Freight didn't grind the flute to full depth, which makes the tool a little stiffer than my 3/8" spindle gouge from Hamlet. I have the HF gouge ground with swept back wings, leaving a narrow nose that allows me to get into tight places. So, I agree that tools in this price range have their place. I have, and will continue to, recommend the HF set to new turners. It's a fairly complete set for spindle turning and the fact you can get it for less than $50 with a coupon means you can afford to grind away a lot of metal while learning to sharpen (which I've found much more difficult than learning to turn).

However, it appears that not all brands of tools in this price range are of equal quality. My admittedly small sample (two sets of HF tools, one the cheaper and one the more expensive) and my similar number of BB tools lead me to believe BB tools are, one the whole, inferior to HF tools. This is a shame because BB produces a much greater variety of tools. There are other brands in this price range and I hope we can identify one or more of those brands that are more consistent in quality than BB. I'd hesitate recommending BB to a new turner for fear an inferior tool frustrates the newbie. When I was newish, I wouldn't have known the the problem was the tool and not me.