Honey Locust broke my tools!

[Mike Cruz]

Lee, Locust is very hard. One of, if not the best, wood for burning (at least in a wood stove). It is very dense, and if you've ever cut locust late in the evening, you'll actually see sparks come off your chainsaw. You could cut maple all day with one chain. Locust...not so much.

As for the crack on your carbide cutter, I'm with the other guy(s) that thinks your sharpening it may have been the culprit. As for the bending of your 3/8" bar, wow, that was some catch! As for the bending over of the cutting edge of your gouge, it looks awefully dull to me. You may need to sharpen more often. If your gouge isn't cutting smoothly, it isn't sharp. You should have stopped long before your edge got bent over like that. I can imagine dry locust heating up your tool easily. And if you turn with it dull...letting it over heat, bending over like that. Now, I haven't had it happen, and haven't heard of it happening to anyone else, but could see it happening in those circumstances. Sharpen, sharpen, sharpen.

[Jerry Rhoads]

Gads Lee, sorry to here that the tools are breaking. I work a lot of Honey Locust (mostly because I love the color) and it is very hard and can beat you up wet or dry. But I have opted not to rough turn it any more on bowls. turn start to finish. Sharp tools and light cuts, it takes longer to cut than any other wood that I use. I also cut and dry billets for mills, shakers and stoppers, pens and other items. Just because I love the color. Natural edge pieces really look great.

[Dick Strauss]

Carbide inserts need a flat surface to support them and the right screw to secure them. Most inserts are made to be mounted using special screws (not flat head screws like the one pictured). You can also crack them if they are tightened too much (this is easy to do with the wrong screw).

As others have said, you should not try to take a big bite when roughing. The square cutter is the wrong tool for roughing IMO beacuse it is too big and carbide doesn't take shock loads well. You also don't want to have too much carbide overhanging the front of the tool because carbide is brittle. Once the piece is running true, then the square inserts can be used more effectively taking a small bite. Any way about it, you don't want to engage the whole front surface of the square carbide insert at once unless you want a catch.

3/8" stock can bend when you hang it over the tool rest too far even if you have a longer lever working in your favor.

I know that you are eager to try more challenging pieces (as we all were at some time). All of these tool issues are warning signs. Please try to find a mentor at a local club or Woodcraft store to help guide you on your turning journey before a serious accident ends your journey prematurely!

[Lee Alkureishi]

Carbide inserts need a flat surface to support them and the right screw to secure them. Most inserts are made to be mounted using special screws (not flat head screws like the one pictured). You can also crack them if they are tightened too much (this is easy to do with the wrong screw).

As others have said, you should not try to take a big bite when roughing. The square cutter is the wrong tool for roughing IMO beacuse it is too big and carbide doesn't take shock loads well. You also don't want to have too much carbide overhanging the front of the tool because carbide is brittle. Once the piece is running true, then the square inserts can be used more effectively taking a small bite. Any way about it, you don't want to engage the whole front surface of the square carbide insert at once unless you want a catch.

3/8" stock can bend when you hang it over the tool rest too far even if you have a longer lever working in your favor.

I know that you are eager to try more challenging pieces (as we all were at some time). All of these tool issues are warning signs. Please try to find a mentor at a local club or Woodcraft store to help guide you on your turning journey before a serious accident ends your journey prematurely!

Hi,

Thanks for the suggestions. I do intend to join my local turners club asap!

Regarding the cutters: This is the one sold by Eddie Castelin, and he recommends using this type of screw. It fits nicely and snugs up easily. Not saying it's right, but it's what he uses and recommends. I do believe the break in the square cutter is related to a slight imperfection in the seating surface of my home-made tool, and aim to fix that before mounting a new cutter. As I mentioned in a previous post, I do not sharpen the cutters. For the 3/8" round bar tool, I believe I had ground away too much of the steel while making the flat, so the actual portion that bent was around 3/16" rather than 3/8" - won't do that again!

Last night, I tried again on the honey locust. This time, I used my 1/4" oland tool and approached from the tailstock end. What a difference! I was getting streamers of wood shavings instead of huge catches (honey locust has a really weird smell, can't decide if I like it or not...). Not a single catch last night, and the wood underneath that top 1/2" was nice and wet, finally. I will have to discard the piece, though - those cracks run right through it unfortunately. Might be able to salvage some pen/stopper blanks from it though

The oland is going to be my tool of choice for these bowls for the moment, at least until I figure out the bowl gouge situation (or maybe buy a gouge with better HSS). For my own education, though: I thought the square carbide cutters were marketed as "roughers" by a certain company, and some of their promotional materials shows them being used on bowls?

Thanks again,

Lee

[CW McClellan]

Pg. 123 of Woodturning causes OPERATOR ERROR

[Lee Alkureishi]

Pg. 123 of Woodturning causes OPERATOR ERROR

um, not sure what that means.

Lee

[Dick Strauss]

Lee,
I'm glad you are having some success now so that you don't become discouraged. As others have noted, a tool with a smaller bite like the oland is easier to control and safer. Cutting with the grain or downhill is best as you've discovered.

I always worry about beginners hurting themselves while they are learning. I'm sorry if I came across as being too preachy!

[steven carter]

With locust or hickory I usually start out shaping with my homemade oland tool with a 1/4 or 5/16" tool bit. Get it round and starting to the shape you want then go to your other tools. Just IMHO.

Sid

+1 on that. Use the smaller cutter on harder more out of round.

[Lee Alkureishi]

I always worry about beginners hurting themselves while they are learning. I'm sorry if I came across as being too preachy!

Not at all Dick, I'm glad for the advice!

Can anyone tell me what post #22 means?

Thanks!

[Ryan Baker]

I have, and have turned, quite a pile of honey locust, and it certianly is one of the hardest woods out there. I generally use an oland tool and the square carbide tool for rough shaping, working from the side as mentioned. It's slow, but you can get there.

On your square tool, the carbide is sticking out too far over the edges of the steel bar. Carbide needs support very close to the edge. It also looks like there may be a slight gap on the left side, but it is hard to tell from the pictures.

You don't show the 3/8 bar, but I would never use a 3/8" bar on a job like this. A bar that size will bend VERY easily, especially if it is hanging over the rest much at all. You should be using a bar more like 3/4" for a job like this.

Keep the tool rest as close to the work as possible, and stay close to the center post to provide the most solid support for the cutter. With an oland-type tool, you can often do better with a smaller cutter ... e.g. try 3/16" instead of 1/4-3/8". It is taking a smaller cut, so it doesn't grab as hard. Other than that, sharpen often and take your time.