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A couple of carbide insert lathe chisels I made, 1 10" straight shaft round cutter 1/2 stainless shaft with 18" walnut handle. 1 stainless steel hollowing chisel with 9" blade and 15" curly oak handle. the hollower is very smooth and sanded through the grits to 600, almost looks polished.

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169 Posts
I love DIY tools. Very nice work that you did on making them.
 

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Mind my asking where you got the inserts? Can use use metal-lathe inserts ?
 

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wildbiil, I got them at woodcraft, Inserts that are made for metal wont work as they are not razer sharp and usually have a formed edge to break metal chips and usually have a titanium coating. flat uncoated carbide can be sharpened on a diamond hone.
 

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50% of my lathe tools I made. Make them to fit you and your use. Yours are a lot prettier than mine. Nice job.
 

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hunter71, I am in the process of making all new carbide insert turning tools. 3 mid size tools to go and 2 mini's for pens. I am really sold on these carbide tools, they stay sharp way longer, they are easier to sharpen, I can make my own the way I like them, and I can make them really cheap, they cut really fast and at high rpm, roughing with a large square cutter chisel is far less stressfull. the toolrest takes the beating, you don't have to find the bevel. I even make a few for friends and I have sold a few. Funny thing is I can make the stainless steel part of the chisel faster than I can make a handle! Due to waiting for finish to dry.
 

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Fantastic! I've been thinking about making a set and I'll probably copy yours, since they're the best I've seen. I take it you used the inserts made for the "easy" wood turning tools at Woodcraft? 1018 mild steel rods (turned round for the handle portion, I take it)? How do you machine the sort of rounded notch at the end of the rod where the carbide insert sits? Are the ferrules made from brass tubing? Thanks for sharing these fine tools… I'll clone them someday :) .
 

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Great looking tools and handles : )
 

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Bob, they are easy wood tools inserts, they are made with 1/2" stainless steel and ground round for the handle shank, I used a cross slide vice mounted on my drill press and a cobalt roughing end mill to machine the insert pockets, the ferrules are 1" copper pipe couplings cut in half to yield 2 ferrules.
 

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Thanks for the information, woodtick. The stainless steel sure looks nice. I wouldn't have thought of using the drill press like a mill, though seems to work well for you so I might try it. The copper ferrules look nice… not sure why I thought they were brass.
 

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Bob, you can mill with a drill press but very very very slowly, listen and feel for vibration and use lots of oil when cutting to reduce heat. Heat is the enemy, stainless is a bear to machine but it sure looks nice and it is hard and corrosion resistant. I use 304 stainless as it machines a little easier. You could use other steels that are easier to machine other than stainless. If you have not done much machining I would practice on a piece of scrap steel until you get a feel for it before you use your stock for tools, or obtain extra material for the oops factor. The milling is easy, try drilling and taping a 4-40 machine screw hole, that's scary and even slower, I can machine the pocket quicker than I can tap the hole! Good luck and give it a try, It's very rewarding to make your own tools!
 

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I've been wondering if carbide is the way to go, seeing that I can hone them with my diamond stones is nice, and hearing that they last longer is better (as I watch my used, and very old, chisels get shorter and shorter). so happy to see other jocks making their own. These look fantastic! Now I just need to source the steel and get myself set up to tap the holes. Saving $100 on a chisel has me sold. Thanks for the added inspiration!
 

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scottb, I don't know if they are the way to go, just a way. I really like the carbide tools as they allow me to concentrate on the form I am creating and not have to watch the tool angle or bevel. Just hold them flat on the rest and parallel to the floor. They remove material very quickly and I am not stopping and going to the grinder to sharpen all the time. I still use my traditional tools, just not as much.
 

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I have milled a few out of whatever strength steel you can get at Lowe's. Bought a stick of 1/2" x 36" square stock for about $10. I have made two tools out of it so far and have enough for one left. As far as how I mill it. The first thing I do is drill and tap an appropriate size hole. The most important thing is to make sure it is centered and not too close to the end. It's ok if its a little far back because I grind the end anyway. I start tapping with the tap chucked into my drill press (turned by hand) to make sure that it is straight. Then I screw the tip down upside down so I can scribe the outline to be milled. I mark the sides and front of the bar for the appropriate depth and remove most of the waste with a cutting wheel on my dremmel. For the final clean up of the cutter bed I cut a 1/2" by 1/2" dado in plywood with a 1 1/2" hole at the end of the dado. Then I put the piece of steel in the dado and use a flat tipped grinding stone in the dremmel in a plunge router base.to finish the tool bed. For the last one I made once I was done milling the tool bed I put the bar in my Baracuda 4 jaw chuck (with no jaws) brought up the tail stock and with the lathe on low speed I was able to use a coarse file to turn the end of the steel bar round which turned out to be much easier than making a square straight hole in the handle.
 

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I have been restoring a 1949 south bend metal lathe, this will make turning the square shafts round a piece of cake! Cold rolled steel is great for these chisels, I just like stainless, it finishes so nice! And it doesn't cost that much more than cold rolled steel
 
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