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spear point chisel

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Almost every set of turning tools comes with a spear point chisel. If I go on You tube, there are hundreds of videos about use and sharpening of gouges, nearly as many about use and sharpening of skew chisels, probably dozens of videos about use and sharpening of scrapers. But not a darn thing about a spear point. Two friends just re ground their spear points to be scrapers. Are they really as worthless as that?
 

Bill Boehme

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Does the tool that you are asking about look like this?

B833103_833H_Beading_Parting_Tool_Handled.jpg


That is a beading and parting tool. For beading it is laid flat and for parting it is on edge.

If the tool looks like the following, it is a diamond parting tool. It is used on edge and the diamond shape provides some relief from binding.

B831052_831H_Diamond_Parting_Tool_Handled.jpg


I don't use either of those very much anymore. For parting I generally use one of my thin kerf parting tools.

If the tool looks like the one below, that is a detail point tool and would be used for fine detailing work.

B822102_822H_Detail_Point_Tool_Handled.jpg


Hope this helps.
 

hockenbery

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This tool is a diamond point.1FBC0E89-BCE6-462F-BD17-0A1E5A86CE92.jpeg

They are not used much. It is a scraping tool that makes a groove and can be used to make beads.

For spindle turning with most woods the skew or spindle gouge will both make better surfaces.

On bowls they have some use for making grooves.
However most folks today are using the point tool that Bill shows last above.
Does a finer groove and is fine for shaping beads.
 
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Bill Boehme

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I saw the question also posted on Sawmill Creek and someone mentioned one of the Benjamin's Best tools that comes in a set and I think that might be what Perry is asking about. It is the second from the left, possibly the most useless tool ever. :D

LCHSS8.jpg

As far as I can determine, that tool is only available in a set and not as an individual tool.
 
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The technical name for that tool is the "Sodbuster" used for cutting deep furrows in virgin ground. :eek:
Used for removing bark from a green log that contains a fair amount of soil. :D
I have had a couple of those tools over the years and have reground them into a tool for special projects.
 

hockenbery

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Another tool with some current popularity is the “easywood detailer”.
It is basically a diamond point scraper. Saw one use in a demo. It did an ok job making beads.

Not as good as a skew or a spindle gouge. However Some folks with limited motion will do better with scrapers than they will with skews or gouges.
 
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That it is. I got one in my original 40 yr old set of Craftsman turning chisels. And I still see them in sets. the shaft is rectangular the top is flat and the under side is sharpened like the bevel of a skew chisel, but on both sides so it forms a point in the middle. From the top, it looks almost like a parting tool laying on it's side, but only the under side is sharpened. I have both Keith Rowley's book Wood Turning and Raffan's Book Turning, and neither makes reference to this chisel. It is sharpened to an acute angle like a wood chisel, flat on one side and bevel on the other. Certainly not like a scraper. The under side looks like this: https://www.metmusic.com/tools/knives/hock-knives/28506-spear-point-marking-knife-332x34x7
 
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Bill Boehme

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The technical name for that tool is the "Sodbuster" used for cutting deep furrows in virgin ground.

Well, it's so obvious now that you point it out, Mike. It's one of the most useful implements around for the blackland stepped plains of central Texas to bust through the tough roots of buffalo grass. :D

Perry, despite the angle of the grind, it would have to be used as a scraper because it isn't possible to use it in a bevel rubbing manner unless you use like two narrow skews stuck together ... not sure that I even want to think about that one. :D

The one in the picture above looks like it is beveled top and bottom sort of like a weird NRS.

I think that I need one of those tools to add to my collection of underappreciated unusual and unused implements.
 
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Well, it's so obvious now that you point it out. It's one of the most useful implements around for the blackland stepped plains of central Texas to bust through the tough roots of buffalo grass. :D

Perry, despite the angle of the grind, it would have to be used as a scraper because it isn't possible to use it in a bevel rubbing manner unless you use like two narrow skews stuck together ... not sure that I even want to think about that one. :D

The one in the picture above looks like it is beveled top and bottom sort of like a weird NRS.

I think that I need one of those tools to add to my collection of underappreciated unusual and unused implements.


It seems I have been blessed with one, that I could part with for your collection. I would hate for your collection be incomplete for want of such a tool.

BTW, the angle of the bevel and top is very sharp, only about 30 degrees. If it were truly a scraper, I would expect the angle to be just under 90 degrees. Which may be what I do with one of the three in my eclectic collection of spurious utility items.
 

Bill Boehme

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I should mention that I'm accident prone so it might be best if I weren't allowed to handle such a tool. :D

I actually have a couple scrapers with rather aggressive grinds. I think that one of them is around 45°. It can give you one heck of a catch if not paying attention, but just don't ask me how I came to know this bit of wisdom. :rolleyes: :eek:

Of course, a skew laid flat also makes a nice light duty scraper for detail work or shaping the dovetail side of a tenon.
 
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I have ( at least ) one, but have never used it.
One demonstrator I have seen used it as a shear scraper. On the outside of a curving shape. Not safe on the inside, it will dig in.
It is an advanced technique as the tool is held at an upward angle without a lot of tool rest support.
It can be used right or left.
 

john lucas

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I have a good friend who used to be a production turning in Pidgeon forge TN. He used a spear point a lot but not like anyone else. He used it like a skew. To do goblet bottoms he used the flat side as the bevel. For other projects he used the short bevel as a skew just like we would. He would also sometimes use in as a scraper to fine tune beads. It's really not a huge amount different than Keith Thompkins V skew except Keiths tool has a more rounded bevel on the bottom.
 
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thanks everyone for the replies. After searching several old wood turning text books, I found the following from :"A Course in Wood Turning" by Archie S. Milton and Otto K. Wohlers (1915)

Scraping Tools The round nose, square nose, spear point, right skew and left skew are scraping tools, used chiefly in pattern work and sometimes in face-plate work. They are sharpened on one side only, and the bevel is about twice the thickness of the chisel at the point where sharpened. These tools should be slightly hollow ground to facilitate the whetting. Scraping tools become dull quite easily as their edges are in contact with the wood almost at right angles. After sharpening, the edges of these tools may be turned with a burnisher or the broad side of a skew chisel in the same manner that the edge of a cabinet scraper is turned though not nearly to so great a degree. This will help to keep the tool sharp for, as the edge wears off, the tool sharpens itself to a certain extent. The chisel is of harder material than a cabinet scraper so that it will not stand a great amount of turning over on the edge.
 
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