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Thread: Custom Tool Steel lengths

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
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    Lima, Peru
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    34

    Question Custom Tool Steel lengths

    I've got a friend that has a machine shop that I've asked about making some gouges for me from pre hardened M-2 steel. I'm wanting to have them cut so they are double ended with a 1" center flat section for set-screws in aluminum handles.

    Question is, how long should they be on either side of the 1" center flat? What's the average length of a new gouge from the base of the handle to the tip of the cutting edge?
    Anything worth doing that requires cutting down a tree, deserves doing it right the first time.

  2. #2
    Depending on the maker, I think you will find the median flute length to be somewhere close to 7", with the range being 6-8". Most are probably closer to 6".

    The Oneway Mastercut is a double ended gouge and is 15.5" long.
    Last edited by John Keeton; 04-30-2016 at 5:16 AM.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Rochester, NY
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    365
    I've attended a couple of Stuart Batty's classes with my double ended gouge. He felt that the double ended gouges vibrated more than single ended gouges. When you put then in a handle and hit it on something solid, they did vibrate more. However, the question that I couldn't answer was whether this vibration impacted the cuts that I make.

    I've made some simple tools out of O1 steel and it was fun and they are useful. I'd think that buying the finished gouge would be cheaper and faster than grinding out pre hardened M-2 steel.

    Cheers,
    David

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Location
    Lima, Peru
    Posts
    34
    Quote Originally Posted by John Keeton View Post
    Depending on the maker, I think you will find the median flute length to be somewhere close to 7", with the range being 6-8". Most are probably closer to 6".

    The Oneway Mastercut is a double ended gouge and is 15.5" long.
    That’s almost ‘dead on’ the length that I had described to my friend.
    “ All tools made from Round Bar Stock need to be 15” long. In the center, there needs to be a 1” flat spot machined on the top surface, to allow two hex screws to secure it in a handle. The machined flute should run from the edge of the flat 1” center to the end of the bar on both sides. (7” +/-).”

    Quote Originally Posted by David Gilbert View Post
    I've made some simple tools out of O1 steel and it was fun and they are useful. I'd think that buying the finished gouge would be cheaper and faster than grinding out pre hardened M-2 steel.

    Cheers,
    David

    While it might be cheaper, it wouldn’t be faster. He’ll be using the shops CNC machine, so it’ll be doing the labor.

    The reason I got interested in having some tools made from pre hardened M-2 steel, is from a video I watched by Walter Sorrells. According to him, pre hardened M-2 steel will hold its edge in a way that is comparable to the high-end tool makers like Robert Sorby and Crown Tools. You also can’t grind the steel hot enough when sharpening to ‘blue’ it and take the hardening out of it… and if it does start to get hot, you can quench it in water with no affect to the hardening as well.

    I’m just learning to sharpen tools on the Wolverine Sharpening System with the used tools I purchased and I had to reshape all of them as the previous owner must have been doing them by hand and the grinds were completely un-even. (I was able to tape the handles off of the tool steel with a hammer and block of wood).

    Now, I can speak to the quality of the steel, as only a couple of them are named (Craftsmen) but it does seem really easy to blue the steel on the stones and I’m not sure how far back I’d have to grind again to grind off the soft steel…. Which presents the same problem all over, yet again.

    So, if he can make the tools for me at a decent price, I’ll be able to get 12” aluminum handles turned by a local machinist for about the same price of buying them there, but without having to get them shipped to Peru and all the mess of dealing with customs and import Tax’s.
    Anything worth doing that requires cutting down a tree, deserves doing it right the first time.

  5. #5
    Personally; I find nearly all bowl gouges come with longer steel than ideal, as they wear down they get more comfortable to use. That is much better than starting too short and getting shorter as they wear. If you are having them custom made, they should be made to suit you.

    If there is a heat-treatment facility near you, consider having the tools made from annealed M2 (or M42) and then heat treated.
    _______________________________________
    When failure is not an option
    Mediocre is assured.

  6. #6
    I am not sure of the need for a flat in the center section. None of my gouges have that and I have never experienced a problem with the set screws against the round shank. That way, as Dennis noted, should it be more comfortable for you to have less flute extended, you can tighten your screws against the back of the fluted section. The set screws are not as hard as the HSS.

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