# Mini or Midi Carbide Cutter for Pens??



## alaskagypsy (Jan 31, 2009)

I am a disaster at sharpening anything. I can take a new knife, never used and sharpen it to a dull state. So here I am a new wood lathe and looking at the carbide cutters. I can’t see wasting my time sharpening so I think I will go with carbide even though I have a set of regular HSS. I am down to deciding if I should get a Mini or Midi sized cutter. I plan on doing mostly pens and small projects. Pen competition in my area (360 miles to the next biggest city), the guy does all wood pens so am thinking I will go acrylic when I get wood down right. The shorter Mini looks good, but thinking I would get a bit more range with the Midi and still be able to do the pens with no trouble. Or would I be better off with the shorter Mini?? Your thoughts?? Thank you in advance.


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## jeff.fredrick (May 20, 2010)

As far as I'm concerned you can use any size for pens. I use a 1 inch HSS roughing gouge for wood pens with very good results. Even with difficult grain and hard wood as long as you have a burr on the cutting edge you will get good results.

I have used a full sized carbide cutter on 5 acrylic pens with good results. I use the Robert Sorby range. You need to really rough up the brass with a file and use a foaming waterproof glue. Allow 24 hours to dry. Use a very light touch until the blank is round and then shape.

If the acrylic is see through I colour the brass black with a permanent whiteboard marker.

Good luck Jeff


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

I too use a roughing gouge, 1.25" for wood and Acrylic's, finishing with a skew chisel. I'm sure that when, like me you become proficient at pens, you will almost certainly want to try bowls and vases, so the bigger of the two chisels is my recommendation. These days I finish all my wood pens with CA glue and this video shows me being taught how to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEaTjqMlTHc


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## Roy Drake (Feb 10, 2014)

Ron: I use HSS tools, but I also have a Tormek sharpener. It's pricey, and the learning curve is high. If you are certain that you won't work on big stuff, small is fine. I even have a Nano cutting set. I tend to use the bigger tools; but, you can use any size in most circumstances. Carbide tipped tools are nice, but I have invested about all I want to right now. Good luck.

Roy.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Ron what are using to sharpen with?


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## alaskagypsy (Jan 31, 2009)

*Sharpening*

I have a great grinder with good stones for sharpening. But I can't sharpen a knife or plain chisel - I've tried since I was a kid. Finally bought an electric sharpener for my wife's kitchen knives. If you give me a dull knife I guarantee I can get it duller and I'm an avid outdoors man. The angles for lathe tools is just as tricky and I don't want to ruin a good set of cutters and as I find out the tools have to be sharpened often - I would have little time to actually work on the lathe as I'd be sharpening and resharpening and not getting it sharp. Maybe a jig would help, but even then I've read where a person will still have problems. I have a lot of patience with many things, sharpening is not one of them - probably due to all the failures down the road. I am 63, so a lot of years of failures sharpening.:fie: 



Cherryville Chuck said:


> Ron what are using to sharpen with?


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## alaskagypsy (Jan 31, 2009)

*Thanks*

Thanks to the guy from down under. I nearly moved to Australia back in the early 80's but found out about all the poisonous snakes and spiders (I passionately hate snakes and spiders) and decided not to. No snakes in Alaska. Always a great level of help from the people on this forum.



harrysin said:


> I too use a roughing gouge, 1.25" for wood and Acrylic's, finishing with a skew chisel. I'm sure that when, like me you become proficient at pens, you will almost certainly want to try bowls and vases, so the bigger of the two chisels is my recommendation. These days I finish all my wood pens with CA glue and this video shows me being taught how to.


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## RMIGHTY1 (Nov 5, 2014)

Gee Harry, thanks for sharing your "Turning a Pen" video. I thoroughly enjoyed watching it. I watched it twice. That is so neat that you took the time to video tape it. Thank you so very much Harry!!!


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## Gaffboat (Mar 11, 2012)

Great video, Harry! Thanks.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Ron carbide cutters stay sharp for a long time but the grain in carbon steel is finer and will take a better edge so there is a trade off. I enjoy sharpening and can get an average chisel sharp enough to shave the hair off the back of my arm. I hate to see you give up on it since I believe that everyone is capable of doing it well.I'm just not sure if it is your method, your sharpening tools, or both. Leonard Lee of Lee Valley tools wrote a book on sharpening which can also be had as a pdf download which might get you on the road to being able to put a fine edge on a tool.


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

My grinding station is attached to the side of my drill press bench, you can see the blue motor of my VL175SH peeking in at the back, sharpening begins with knowing how to grind a tool, don't get the steel too hot, you cannot grind blades and chisels without a proper rest and I have two, you cannot get a prefect bevel free hand so float the tool past the wheel and get the perfect bevel, the aluminum oxide wheel works fine for me but be gentle, once the bevel is perfect then I don't grind it that much, just a skim before I move on and put the tool on my oil stone. Don't learn to grind using expensive tools as there is no point in grinding away expensive steel so buy the cheap ones and grind them down to the handle until you can do it. Tormek! at the moment it is only in my dreams N


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## mark greenbaum (Sep 26, 2010)

Learn to sharpen even cheap HF HSS gouges, and you can turn pens easy enough. Carbides are only really scrapers and they wont impart a shiny surface unless they're skewed to act as cutters. I fell for the easy trap too, and have 3 differ Easy Wood and Harrison carbide gouges (I actually used the Easy Wood for a bottoming scraper yesterday in a 4: deep flat bottomed bowl). They do cut, but they also wear out against abrasive woods like walnut or oak. Learn to shape, sharpen and ride the bevels of traditional gouges, and you'll be better for it. I've turn a lot of pens with nothing more than a skew, and parting gouge.


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## BernieW (Sep 12, 2006)

Ron get yourself the wolverine sharpening jig. Learning curve is short and it will do a decent job. I have diamond wheels on my grinder. Like Harry I use a 3/4" roughing gouge on my wood or acrylic pens and finish with a skew. I get a finish on them with those tools that most time don't even need sanded although I do finish them starting at most times 320 grit going to 1000 grit.


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

mgdesigns said:


> Learn to sharpen even cheap HF HSS gouges, and you can turn pens easy enough. Carbides are only really scrapers and they wont impart a shiny surface unless they're skewed to act as cutters. I fell for the easy trap too, and have 3 differ Easy Wood and Harrison carbide gouges (I actually used the Easy Wood for a bottoming scraper yesterday in a 4: deep flat bottomed bowl). They do cut, but they also wear out against abrasive woods like walnut or oak. Learn to shape, sharpen and ride the bevels of traditional gouges, and you'll be better for it. I've turn a lot of pens with nothing more than a skew, and parting gouge.


All correct, the fact is that if you want to work with wood then you must learn how to sharpen tools as there is no other way, you have to learn how to do it. N


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## Toobs (Feb 4, 2009)

Get the bigger lathe. You'll be happy you did in the long run. As far as sharpening your tools, get one of the commercially available jigs for sharpening your turning tools. Or make your own. I have a cheap Vari-Grind. Once it is set up, it only takes seconds to sharpen. Consistency is the key to being more comfortable and efficient with your turnings. Look up Captain Eddie on youtube, he has a wealth of info.


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## Ricwoodturner (Jan 13, 2012)

If you intend to do a lot of turning you need to invest in a sharpening system. The least costly system I found is to find a low speed bench top grinder that turns at 1750 RPM (mine is a Delta) then go to OneWay online and get their sharpening jig. It fits on the grinder, they have instructions on how to set the jig to grind different angles. It takes me less than 30 seconds to put a new sharp edge on any of my turning gouges. Good luck


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## SDave (Feb 22, 2015)

Do a search on Youtube for "homemade lathe tool sharping jig" they have many videos of how to make a nice usable "Oneway" jig for about $2.00 and some scrap hardwood you probably have laying around. Then get a 1750 rpm grinder and at least one decent stone. For the price of a couple of carbide tools you will have a set-up you will be able to use. The only thing is, you have to use it, I will sometimes sharpen 2 or 3 times on one bowl, or every couple of pens. You will appreciate a sharp tool and know when its time to do a touch-up.
Dave


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## bwilling (Jul 14, 2015)

alaskagypsy said:


> I am a disaster at sharpening anything. I can take a new knife, never used and sharpen it to a dull state. So here I am a new wood lathe and looking at the carbide cutters. I can’t see wasting my time sharpening so I think I will go with carbide even though I have a set of regular HSS. I am down to deciding if I should get a Mini or Midi sized cutter. I plan on doing mostly pens and small projects. Pen competition in my area (360 miles to the next biggest city), the guy does all wood pens so am thinking I will go acrylic when I get wood down right. The shorter Mini looks good, but thinking I would get a bit more range with the Midi and still be able to do the pens with no trouble. Or would I be better off with the shorter Mini?? Your thoughts?? Thank you in advance.


I use both HSS and carbide. If you do buy carbide the best priced replacements can be purchased from "azcarbide" in Arizona. Their prices are about 60% of others and fast delivery, also good quality and they supply a replacement screw.


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