How To Use Carbide Wood Turning Tools

Wearing heavy gloves is a good idea.

How to use carbide wood turning tools. Carbide wood turning tools dont leave as much of a smooth surface as traditional woodturning tools. Once youve got it lined up the way that you want it use the inside of the carbide insert as a guide and scratch a circle into the steel tool shaft. Be aware that the carbide inserts are razor sharp.

Conventional HSS tools like the spindle roughing gouge shown above have the cutting edge ground like a chisel. The round shaped carbide tool works well for the bowl interior but not well on the exterior. Usually a piece of 12 steel round or square notched out in the end to accept a small square round or triangular carbide cutter that is screwed onto the steel shaft and the far side of the shaft has a long wood handle.

Im excited to give these a try Ive made carbide tipped tools but never have used these tool blanks for making woodturning tools. Repeat with the second blank. Divide the minimum diameter of the workpiece by 7 and we will get a value of adjustment distance.

When turning wood bowls this is primarily a problem in the trouble zone areas. If the tool is installed facing down the tip should be lower than the center point by this distance. You must use care when handling them so that you dont cut yourself.

If the tool is installed upward the blade tip should be higher than the center point workpiece by this distance. This steep impactful angle scrapes and tears out wood fibers violently even with a sharp edge. Carbide tools are introduced to the wood at a 90 angle.

Since these are more of a scraping tool than a shearing one you will have more sanding to do. This value is the exact height of the carbide woodturning tips that we should adjust. I then used a file to make it as flat as I could and a little shaping on the bench grinder to make sure the carbide insert is the actual thing that will cut the wood not the steel bar.