Collecting Wood That Was Destined for The Fireplace and Using it For Making FREE WoodTurning Bowl Blanks

First Piece From A Portable
Bandsaw Yields [14] FREE 12″
Cherry Bowl Blanks

This article is kind of an add on to a previous post I did on collecting free bowl blanks by interacting with a variety of sawmilling people and businesses. If this post interests you please check out Free Source of Wood Blanks From Slabs.

We picked up some oak, hickory and cherry logs. A homeowner basically clear cut his yard to build a new home. I might mention that they were millennial’s from the city and they didn’t like trees. They wanted to move to the country and get out of the cement city. But they did not want trees for some reason. On one hand its sad to see some old growth forests taken down but on the other hand, it is either firewood, building timbers or free wood bowl blanks for me!

It was actually kind of tragic since whatever wasn’t to be used by us would get burned up in one big pile. And they did not want any trees in their yard….. so 200 year oak trees along with many other trees were clear cut so they could have a lawn!

Harvesting Logs for Woodturning
From New Construction Site!

I’m not a tree hugger, but I hate to see a forest, that is a 200+ year forest removed because some yuppie wants to build a house. I’m thankful that we were able to collect and use some of the wood for firewood and some of the trees were milled into lumber and some will be used for wood bowl blanks.

I have 2 interests when it comes to trees, logging and making things out of the wood you get from harvesting a tree ….my main excitement comes from the wood I harvest for turning bowls. I have been learning the best way to harvest this wood and the best way to dry it so I can share it with other wood turners.

What you see in this video is the first cut that comes off the log as it is on the bandsaw mill. The sawyer tries to cut a “cant” which is basically a piece of wood that is square or longitudinal. Once the cant is shaped he will cut it down to dimensional lumber or whatever you want. So the very first cut is the “slab” which is semi-circular on the bark side and flat on the cut side. You can usually get the “slab” for free or next to nothing and they make excellent bowl blanks!

Collecting Slab Cuts for Woodturning Bowl Blanks

Since I am kind of new at this I was interested in that first piece that is cut off of each side. Years ago I would go to the local sawmill and pick up these slab pieces for free and use them in my wood stove to heat my house.

Now I see another use for these “slabs” or first cuts. They are the perfect shape for bowl blanks!

If you can talk the “sawyer” into adding an inch or two to the first cut you will end up with some pretty awesome bowl blanks, you can do some pretty nice live edge work and even if they might not be as thick as you want they can easy make platters or shallow dishes. Of course if you hired him to cut a log then you can tell him how thick you want those pieces. Or better yet if you really start to get into making and collecting your own free wood bowl blanks you can get a small gasoline bandsaw mill for under $2000 and you’ll have enough bowl blanks for a lifetime. In fact, I plan on cutting up a few logs and harvesting these free bowl blanks and selling them at some point in time. There are lots of folks in my woodturning facebook group that are always looking for wood to turn …..so the market is there and I would be helping my fellow turners.

Up to Now We’ve Been Following The Bandsaw Around and Helping
Him For Some Free Bowl Blanks

Up to this point I have been talking about following the “sawyer” around and snagging the stuff nobody wants. It is a very good source of turning materials. Make sure you give the guy a couple of your nicest bowls 🙂

There is another option. And I’ve mentioned if briefly.

#1 Hire Out The Services of A
Local Sawyer and His Bandsaw Mill

You can find someone with a portable bandsaw mill that will come to your property and literally cut up a log into any size pieces you might want.

Let’s say a storm comes in and blows down a hickory tree. You can try to cut it up into wood-turning blanks with a chainsaw ….and that’s cool. You will end up with a lot of stock.

You can have a portable sawmill come in and slice up every trunk, branch or whatever is available into the thickness you need for your turning projects. At this point you can dry the pieces for yourself or you might even consider selling some. Or perhaps share the cost with another woodturner or woodturning club.

Lets say you have a 12′ log on the band-saw mill. You can have the sawyer cut a couple of slabs that might be bowl blanks ….remember to tell him to make them bigger than normal ….tell him why and he will began to understand what you want. That log will give you 4 slabs at least 12″ wide and 4 inches deep. Then you can cut the middle of the log into lumber that could be used for spindles ….so 2 or 3″ thick and then you could cut some bigger bowl blanks 6+ inches thick. You would be amazed at how many blanks you will end up with. Just remember to treat them properly for drying so you don’t get checks and cracks.

Make sure you tell him how you want to handle the pith. You do not want that pith in the middle of your thick blanks.

Then tell him what size you want the tree to be cut up into. For instance, lets say you want some big bowls so you tell him to cut 6″ or 8″ thick slices. Once you get your slices you will need to quickly cut them into blanks sizes ….say 14″ and seal the ends. Then you need to dry them, either in shavings or a dehumidifier of some sort or commercial drying company.

One big tree could get you all the wood you every wanted for your woodturning needs. Or it might even set you off on another adventure where you collect, process and treat bowls blanks for others to use.

My FREE Woodturning Bowl Blanks

Free Wood Bowl Blanks from portable bandsaw mill — Cherry “slab” cut that I cut into 14″ long blanks.

This slab yielded me about 12 free cherry bowl blanks that were about to be cut down to 12″, each had a unique shape.

The slab had been sitting outside for a year so it was getting dry. The bowls I made from that piece where further dried in the microwave …..60 second blasts, maybe 4 or 5 times a day.

It was beautiful wood. I did some with live edges and the bark stuck hard, some of the bowls/platters were traditional and only took about 4 times in the microwave …..which I’m guessing would have been 4 months in a bag of shavings.

This picture was from one of the small cherry bowl blanks. It was a 12″ blank I cut on my bandsaw and about 4 inches thick. One thing you don’t want to do when turning these small and thin platters/bowls is to use a recess to mount your cut. That will eliminate the amount of wood that can be gouged out of the bowl. You should use a tenon, to turn the bowl and obviously cut the tenon off at the end of the project.

cherry bowl from bandsaw mill slab — A bowl blank was taken from the first cut of a log called the “slab’ it was 14″ long and about 4” thick. The natural curvature of the outside of the first piece lent itself perfectly to the bowl shape.

My whole purpose of this post and video was to show you that there are many sources of wood that you can find and use to turn your creations. And, further processing can be expanded from buried in shavings to using a microwave to hurry the process so you can finish it and put it on the market.

This was on of my first microwave dries. I put it in the microwave about 6 times and varied between 60 and 90 seconds. If the bowl gets too hot to touch then you need to reduce the time. So far so good, I keep the microwave procedure going until my scale showed that weight loss had stopped. That means there was no more water to evaporate. I was please, no cracks or checks and I will getting a dedicated microwave for the shop! Thanks to Al Auth from the facebook group who encouraged me to give this procedure a try.

You will need a scale, I like this one …can actually weigh up to 90 pounds but I use it in the kitchen when I get the urge to whip up a gourmet dinner for my favorite wife 🙂

And its nice to have a moisture meter, this one works fine for me

I plan on doing a lot more on my woodturning blog, however, if you haven’t please check out my facebook woodturning group. https://facebook.com/groups/woodturningbasics you’ll find a great group of people there. Some are clueless as to how to start and what to use but then there are the guys that have been turning for 30 or 40 years and can answer any question you might want …..all very good people. I keep the facebook group clean. If you need to swear or make lude and crude jokes or just make fun of someone …..you will be deleted. I want this group to be a family affair. Some of my favorites are Guilherme Eduardo, Al Furtado and I see Capn’ Eddie just signed up…..I think Capn’ Eddie videos were some of the first I started to learn on….. great guy, great wood turner and he served our country, he lived enough life to throw some golden nuggets our way….wish he were my neighbor!

All 3 of those woodturners have excellent woodturning channels on youtube and if you get stuck, you might want to check them out:

Guil ……. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChVVt0WnzTJ81S1V7itCEqA/videos

Al………………………. https://www.youtube.com/user/Alfurtado1/videos

Capn’ Eddie………….. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgEbScotUCk64Mnw1jU9jFw/videos

I think this is a second channel Capn’ Eddie started, there is another one with a ton of videos on when he was feeling well and a little younger 🙂
You might want to visit his site to support him, he sells turning tools, equipment and has free tool plans and project plans ….you will learn a lot and he is someone who deserves the “pass it on” mentality http://eddiecastelin.com/

Free Source of Wood Bowl Blanks From “Slabs” Cut By Portable Sawmills

Sawmills As A Free Source of Woodturning and Bowl Blanks

I know there are a lot of people who turn wood and enjoy the hobby have a hard time finding wood.

That’s a little difficult for me to comprehend because we have so many trees that they fall on our houses, or in my case the garage/shop!

There are a lot of good posts on where and how people find different sources of wood. How they collect it and how they process it.

I have one source of wood you might find interesting. There are many sawmills around the country/world large and small. There are many portable sawmills that will come up to your home or property and mill a tree into pieces that you tell them to. You can use these for construction or in our case, get them milled into sizes that we would want for bowl blanks or whatever you happen to turn.

Here’s a source I thought you might be interested in. Portable bandsaw mills are located around the country. You just have to find them. Search for sawmill, portable sawmill or contact any of the manufacturers and ask them if they have any of their mills in your area.

A portable bandsaw mill is basically a trailer with a gasoline powered bandsaw on it. A log is loaded on the trailer and positioned. The saw head is then lowered so the bandsaw blade can make a cut down the length of the log. The sawmill operator is looking to make a flat surface across the top of the log, it is then rotated and another cut is taken. This first cut is usually called a “slab” and this slab will have varying thickness.

This first piece or “slab” is usually worthless to everyone except perhaps for firewood. For woodturners, particularly “bowl turners” this first piece could be gold. Depending on how it is cut you might end up with blanks that could be ‘platters’ up to ‘bowls’. If you were able to convince a sawyer to add an inch or two to the first cut you would end up with as many bowl blanks as you can use since it runs the length of the log.

We had a guy come out and cut up some oak, cherry and poplar logs we had. Nobody wanted the slabs, I asked him to add a couple inches to the first cut and he thought I was crazy. But I ended up with 2 slabs that were 12′ or so long of Cherry. I then cut the slabs into 14″ pieces so I ended up with about 10 or 11 bowl blanks per slab.

These ‘slabs’ as bowl blanks offer 2 types of bowls. You can turn live edge bowls or flip it around and you can cut some nice platters or bowls.

Take this one step further. One of my son’s purchased a bandsaw mill. It is a manual mill, hard work to load the load and then turn it while on the cutting rails. But….I can now cut that first piece any size I want!

Sawing wood is almost as addicting as turning wood. I suppose if I were younger and stronger I might want to a little more sawing 🙂 Keep in mind if you are interested in sawing wood, you can get a sawmill that is all hydraulic, no muscle required! But for the occaisional log here and there I can cut blanks for the next 10 years 🙂 Seriously, I started this article by talking about the first cut for bowl blanks because you can get those free from most sawyers. But if you had your own mill, or had someone come out and cut up a tree for you….. you can have the sawyer cut the log in slabs with the thickness that you desire.

I recently grabbed a cottonwood tree, actually about half the tree came down. I can now cut the slabs and then cut some middle pieces that are 6″ or more thick and then cut them in 12″ pieces that I will seal and stack for drying.

Slab Cut Into Bowl Blank Widths

The picture shows the Cherry “slab” that I cut into 13 to 14″ pieces. The slab sat outside for about a year and was 15% to 20% moisture level. I should have immediately sealed the ends of those pieces but I didn’t. I just don’t have the energy or strenght to do too much anymore …..very depressing but that’s my life. I eventually did seal the ends to keep them from checking and cracking. I think I had about 10 bowl blanks.

Turning the Cherry Bowl Blanks

When turning bowls its nice to have the option of turning live edge bowls. The problem with live edge bowls is that the bark doesn’t stick and gets ripped off. I found this piece of cherry had some decent bark adhesion and it was possible to turn some shallow live edge bowls.

If you try to turn live edge bowls and it almost never fails …..a piece of the bark will rip off and leave a space on the edge. You can sand and shape that edge or you can grab some of the bark and use some CA to glue the bark back on the edge of the bowl. Usually you need to use one of the 2″ sanding disks to shape and blend it into the existing bark …..but a little practice will make it look like it was never missing 🙂

Mounting The Slab Bowl
Blank on Your Lathe

Next would be to turn a bowl from the “slab” bowl blank by making the ‘flat’ side of the blank the top of the bowl. I usually will drill a 2-1/8″ hole with a 2-1/8 inch forstner bit for the jaws of my Super Nova 2 Chuck (click here https://amzn.to/2JUGzXq) and chuck up the flat face against the chuck with the jaws into the recess that I just drilled.

I will next shape the bottom of the bowl so that it looks like a bowl bottom. Normally the bark will fall off your bowl blank or you can pull it off easiy ….no so much with this piece. I read someplace how a turner would remove bark before putting it on the lathe, he used a small air powered chisel to pry and rip off the bark. So……first however I use a cheap harbor freight air powered chisel to take the bark off. The natural profile of the bottom is close to the profile of the bowl. So I will turn a tenon on the bottom of the bowl…..I like recesses but a tenon makes more sense since these ‘slabs’ are usually not too thick and a tenon helps to keep you from blowing through the bottom of the bowl.

I looked around for an air powered chisel and I think I found you a better deal, you get 4 or 5 chisels instead of one and it costs less than $20. You’ll find yourself using this tool a lot but for our specific purpose it and easily strip the bark off a short piece of long in no time.

You ask, “Why do I need to strip off the bark. First let me say, if you are doing a live edge bowl then you might not want to use this tool. But if you are going to turn a bowl that doesn’t have any bark inclusions on in when finished ….this is what you want to use.

Of course you can leave the bark on and use your tools to cut through the bark and get down into the good wood. Unfortunately this is going to give you one hell of a ride. Some bark is attached to your bowl blank like the mountains of the Grand Canyon and other bark might be attached like the gentle rolling hills of the great planes.

Assuming you want to get rid of the bark so you can turn some wood, the bark has to come off. Embedded in the bark are stones, sand, and metal. You never know when stripping the bark will test you patience because your tools will become useless afterwards. I mean, you’re gonna have to go and sharpen them again so they might be cutting good again.

I can’t remember who turned me on to a small air hammer with a chisel to strip the bark from a bowl blank, or log …..but it has been a real blessing to be able to strip the bark off in a couple of minutes rather than using my hammer and chisel to clean the bark off a project whether it be bowl blank or small log. For 20 bucks you just can’t beat it and it might be one of the best wood-tuning investments you make 🙂

As I turn the tenon I will shape the bottom of the bowl/platter. Even if it is wet/green I will shape the bottom of the bowl and then take it through the progression of sanding from 80 grit to at least 240 grit or higher. This 2″ drill powered sanding disk is one of my favorites https://amzn.to/2JSk9WN

I then flip the bowl around, attach it to the tenon and began to square off the front of the bowl. I usually will figure out how deep to take the bowl. Then I will attach a drill bit or forstner bit and drill a hole in the center to the maximum depth of the bowl. This keeps me from gouging out the bottom of the bowl and making a funnel 🙂

Since the “slab” usually isn’t too thick I usually forego keeping pressure on the bowl from the tail-stock. It makes for quick gouging and shaping of the inside of the bowl without fear of the bowl flying off the lathe. That is another reason I like using a tenon on these….. you can crank down on that tenon as hard as you can without damaging the tenon and feeling confident that the bowl will stay on your chuck.

So I finish he inside of the bowl with my Big Hurricane Scrapers and then sand once again through a progression usually starting at 80 or 100 to 240 grit.

After sanding I will either finish the project or dry it. I use a couple different drying methods. If I think the water content is low I will set it on a shelf to dry. If I think it is over 20% moisture (use a moisture meter https://amzn.to/30UNIg9 or https://amzn.to/32V7xFQ ) I will put it in a bag of shavings and let it dry. Or…..my new technique is to put it in the microwave at 60 to 90 seconds. I’m still experimenting with the microwave treatment but I think I like it. You can literally and actually dry a piece within a 24 hour or less period of time and then mount it back up on the lathe ….sand it and apply your desired finish.

Wow!

All I wanted to do was tell you about portable sawmills and “slabs”. Sorry, got a little carried away but I hope you might find some if not all the info helpful.

For those of you who are having a hard time finding wood in your local area ….check out some of the local sawmill operators. Contact these guys ….they really are cool and enjoy doing what they do. If you have a relationship with one, when that tree comes down you might be able to get him to come out on the cheap. You also might be able to come out a job he is milling up ….make sure you give him a couple of bowls and you will have a source of wood for your tuning for a long time 🙂

If you haven’t checked out our facebook group, please do. Lots of good people there, lots of cool projects and if you have a question ….I’m sure you can get it answered. And if you are a woodturing pro or expert …..we can use your advice and you can help newbies out https://www.facebook.com/groups/woodturningbasics

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Best Woodturning Tools and Recommended Best Tools For Turning Wood

Beginner WoodTurning Tools

So on our Woodturning Basics facebook group a new member had a question about what tools to buy. What should he get, he didn’t have a lot of money and wanted to be frugal.

So, I shared some of my experiences with him and gave him some ideas on what kind of woodturning tools to buy or consider buying.

Which Woodturning Tools Should I Get?

I don’t feel like working tonight so I think I will put a little thought into your question.

First I will assume you are either new to wood turning or you haven’t turned that much yet?

Let me tell you my story first.

My Start In Turning Wood

I don’t know why, but suddenly I had the urge to buy a lathe…maybe because I kept seeing it at Harbor Freight. So….I bought the 12×36 and the cheapest set of Chinese turning tools they had…..I think it was around $40 bucks.

Up until this point I hadn’t turned anything since high school, probably 45 years ago. I did not watch any YouTube videos, didn’t read anything online, didn’t attend a club and didn’t even read a book. This is not the approach I would recommend to anyone 🙂

I set up my lathe. Figured out there was a faceplate to use or to turn between centers.

My First Woodturning Project

I cut a piece of dead ash tree branch about 4″ wide and maybe 12″ long. Put that between centers and tried to figure out how to make it round by sticking each tool into the rotating piece. You can imagine some of the tools didn’t work so well. I did get it round, put a little design on it, coves and round overs. Then I sanded, finished and drilled a hole in the top for a candle. First project, gave it to my wife and she is so good…..encouraged me to do more ….the thing was pitiful 🙂

I share that story because I had to learn how to use traditional tools that were crap. They were unsharpened, I had no idea how to sharpen them when I started.

After a while I found YouTube and the wealth of info on all things related to woodturning.

Sharpening My First Woodturning Tools

oneway wolverine woodturing tool sharpening jig — Best way to sharpen your woodturning tools, gouges and chisels is the oneway wolverine sharpening jib

After watching enough videos I decided to try and sharpen my tools by hand. It wasn’t pretty but they were sharper than when I purchased them. It was amazing what a difference it made.

So….my first suggestion is to get a cheap set of tools and a wolverine sharpening jig along with an eight inch grinder with white oxide stone wheels. Mind you, I’m telling you the cheapest way to go, others will say get daves, thompsons and get cbn wheels before you know it you spend $1000 and all you’ll do is grind those expensive tools away to nothing. My theory is to learn with the cheap stuff unless you have deep pockets. Once you know how to sharpen your woodturning tools, go ahead and buy some good stuff.

#1 Get a Cheap Set of Turning Tools to Practice Sharpening On

-I found this set of woodturning tools for $20 and its probably the worse set you can buy, but you should buy it so you can learn sharpening https://amzn.to/2LFvuMh
-As you grow in your knowledge of woodturning tools you can reshape these tools into specialty tools if you so desire, making tools is fun!

#2 Next you need to get a Wolverine Sharpening System.

This is important because you will learn how to properly get consistent angles and sharpening on your cheap tools, once you get that figured out you will be able to sharpen you new good tools and not waste metal. The wolverine sharpening system is the first of its kind and the one everyone is copying. This is the exact one I purchased https://amzn.to/2YfAAR5

#3 You can use it with just about any grinder

But …..you will want to set up a dedicated grinder. I did a lot of looking and found one at Harbor Freight, 8″ grinder with a lamp. If you use their 20% or 25% coupon I think I got it for under $40, you can order one online if you don’t have a store near by https://www.harborfreight.com/8-in-bench-grinder-with-gooseneck-lamp-62501.html

#4 You should change out
the grinding wheels.

I got an 80 grit and 120 grit POWERTEC 15505 White Aluminum Oxide Grinding Wheel, 8-Inch by 1-Inch, 5/8-Inch Arbor, https://amzn.to/2LGaIfj Also look into a stone dresser, I went at least a year without properly dressing my grinding wheels, when I did, my sharpening was 100% or more better https://amzn.to/30TqnLN You can use the wheels that come with the harbor freight grinder…..they will be hard to keep true and will not do a very good job ….but better than nothing.

Now you have some new woodturning tools. Wolverine sharpening system and a grinder. You just need to practice. Watch some YouTube videos, the Wolverine system comes with a dvd that is pretty decent. It just takes time and it won’t matter if you grind those tools down the the wood….you will only have lost $20 🙂

#5 I pieced my tools together after I figured I needed some decent tools.

The first woodturning tool I got was a 1/2″ bowl gouge, then some scrapers, I made some tools [parting tool and carbide tool] check them out here:

The most expensive wood turning tools I have are Robert Sorby’s and the difference in the sharpening and the steel is nothing short of amazing. I have yet to have any Thompson, Carter or D-way tools, they say those are just dream tools…..maybe some day. Until then I just have to sharpen my tools more.

#6 What type of turning will you do?

Depending on what type of turning you will want to do will determine what type of tools to buy. Lets say you want to turn bowls. Then you’ll need some good bowl gouges and a couple nice scrapers.

#7 Consider Getting Some Hurricane Woodturning Tools.

If you are unsure of what to get then you won’t go wrong with getting a set of Hurricane Tools. I did not buy the set but one or two tools at a time. This Hurricane set has just about anything you would need to start out. The steel is good and I’ve found I can get them almost as sharp as the Sorby tools. Hurricane Woodturning 8 Piece Starter Set – Bowl Gouge, Scraper, Roughing Gouge, Lathe Chisel Set https://amzn.to/2YiAacO

In my opinion this PSI set PSI Woodworking LCHSS8 HSS Wood Lathe Chisel Set, 8-Piece is a step below the Hurricane but it is half the price….around $70 but still, a good set to practice with and many turners use these as their all around turning tools, you get a nice selection and can always add to it latter https://amzn.to/2SDe9nA

#8 I found as I started turning that I had 100 catches a minute.

I thought of changing my name to “Catch” although I still get catches I have learned how to use the tools properly. But there are times when I am turning an odd shaped piece or difficult piece and I just can’t get my bowl gouge in correctly …or I’m just ripping up the fibers of the piece or I’m just uncomfortable using a gouge.

I discovered Hurricane’s big scrapers. They are 1-1/2″ wide and almost 1/2″ thick so they can take some abuse and you can control it. A scraper takes a bit to learn also, it all depends on how you hold the tool. If its 90 degrees or more to the work you are guaranteed a catch. But if you go 90 degrees to your work and pick up on your handle slightly you will get good cuts and you can easily spill any catches that might come up. I would highly recommend this set of scrapers if you are doing bowls. https://amzn.to/2JNQ9f2 you get a right side, left side and round nose scraper. They are easy to sharpen and they are pretty easy to learn how to use. The robo hippy (Reed Gray) https://www.robohippy.net/ does almost all his turning with scrapers and you can learn how to do shear scrapes and other cutting scrapes that make mirror finishes. Make sure you check out his YouTube channel

I might add for you or anyone else if they wanted to get into the “best” quality of wood turning tools Robert Sorby Woodturning Tools has a great selection and you’ll find Carter and Son with some of the best turning tools there is also D-way Tools I heard the owner sold the business so I cannot confirm the quality and Thompson lathe tools these are high end tools and the only ones I have experience with are the Robert Sorby turning tools. You can learn a lot from the other 2 sites, they have a lot of sharpening videos and how to use their tools.

#9 I would be remiss if I did
not mention carbide cutters.

I didn’t buy a complete carbide woodturning tool but made a couple for myself. I had no knowledge of how to do that, just followed some directions …YouTube again. You can buy a bar of steel, tap it and screw on a carbide cutter and of course turn a handle for it. It will service you well and you just might want to make a few for yourself. I purchased the carbide cutters in packs of 10 https://amzn.to/2yb4coa these round carbide cutters (inserts) are my go to for hollowing. I also picked up a pack of 10 square cutters (inserts) https://amzn.to/2LImmpV

The nice part of carbide cutters (inserts) is they take abuse and last forever. Also you can sharpen them with a diamond hone and they will be just like new.

When I get a little scared working a piece of wood that is odd shaped, I will go to my carbide tools ….the round cutter. It takes a beating and I’m comfortable with it. It basically is a scraper so the finish isn’t going to be great until you learn how to shear cut with it.

Also, the carbide tool (round insert) is one of the best for tough hollowing situations. The smaller the size the less you bite off and the easier it is to hollow and not gouge out, catch out the interior of whatever it is that you are hollowing.

I tried to hollow a cup with those Chinese tools I told you about. That pretty much scared the crap out of me and I almost walked away from wood turning. I had a small round edge scraper extended 4″ or more off the tool rest, the thing was catching every 10 seconds. I tried other tools to no avail, I got it done but then I had to try to sand it …..it was scary. A carbide tool with the round insert would have saved the day and gave me some confidence. I recommend anyone who is starting to turn wood to have a round and square carbide. That doesn’t mean you should not learn tradition tools! But in some cases, carbide tools keep a new woodturner turning wood ….and there is nothing wrong with that 🙂

So, if you don’t want to make your own carbide tools, pick one up. It will last you forever. Don’t go cheap, that is, don’t get the smaller size. If you are doing bowls, cups, vases and other bigger items you will want the large size carbide tool, of course if you are doing pens and small stuff the small carbides work fine. They are categorized as full size, mid size and small of mini size. Here’s a list of tools I would chose from:

Wood Turning tool Finisher YUFUTOL Carbide Tipped Wood Lathe Full Size Bar and Handle set With 18mm Round Carbide Insert，Screw，Star Key Wrench,for wood hobbyist or DIY or carpenter,Type R-18 https://amzn.to/2Yh040t

Here is about the cheapest set of carbide turning tools:
Simple Woodturning Tools – Pack of 3 Full Size Carbide Tools (Rougher, Detailer, Finisher) with Interchangeable Foam Grip Lathe Tool Handle, USA Made, Stainless Steel https://amzn.to/2LCNuqF

Understanding a Starter
Set of Lathe Chisels

This is a basic video on how to use basic woodturning tools for spindle turning. That is, a piece of wood between centers of the headstock and tailstock.

Basic Woodturning Tools
Needed for Spindle Turning

This is undoubtedly one of the best:
Easy Wood Tools Full Size Easy Finisher Replaceable Carbide Insert Cutter Lathe Wood Turning Tool Gouge Scraper with Maple Hardwood Easy Grip Handle Model #4200 https://amzn.to/2Yjn8eU

Well, I hope I haven’t confused you but you find this info helpful. Just remember to have fun with it, be safe, ask questions. There are many guys/gals in this group that know much more than I do and I would hope they would be willing to help you along the way ….so, never be afraid to ask 🙂

Good luck, let us know how things progress and what tools you get. I always get excited when someone posts pics of their new tools and equipment …I truly am happy for them ….and a little jealous 🙂

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