Round carbide tip tools

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Texatdurango

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I have become more and more interested in bowls, platters and hollow vessels lately and obviouosly will need more tools, especially for hollowing out vessels and the round carbide cutters seem to be the most favored.

A popular tool is the "Hunter" tool which uses a round carbide insert.

I started looking around to see if I could find some inserts reasonably priced and make my own tool and Google brought this page up... http://www.thingswestern.com/3.html

Looks like he makes some pretty decently priced cutting tools, all of which are $47 apiece. That's about half the price of the Hunter round cutter so I'm thinking of just buying a few rather than making my own.

Has anyone done business with this individual that could say anything about his tools?
 
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I have the whole set. Bought them several years ago from them direct. Love them. Feel real nice in the hand and cut really well on a wide variety of materials once you hit the sweet spot.
 
One lesson that I learned: I made my own shaft from round stock. Round shafts need a little larger diameter handles for better grip - because the round stock will twist and catch much quicker than square shafts.
 
I've never used the tools you mentioned but have used the Hunter.
I made my own tool holder and handle and bought the Hunter cutter.
The Hunter has a "cupped" cutter, is very sharp and lasts a long time. It does an excellent job on end grain and cross grain.
Total cost of the whole project $20.
Dave
 
George...I purchased this tool about six months ago specifically for turning the trustone blanks. They do an excellent job of turning down the blank. The only negative for me is that the tool is heavy and my arms tire with prolonged use. On wood I can achieve the same result with a normal roughing gouge. Darrell Eisner
 
leehljp said:
One lesson that I learned: I made my own shaft from round stock. Round shafts need a little larger diameter handles for better grip - because the round stock will twist and catch much quicker than square shafts.
Click to expand...
Lee, I want to make sure I understand what you are saying. Do you mean the round tool stock will have a tendancy to cause a "catch" when using the round cutter because it's harder to maintain the proper tip angle while turning?
 
Texatdurango said:
Lee, I want to make sure I understand what you are saying. Do you mean the round tool stock will have a tendancy to cause a "catch" when using the round cutter because it's harder to maintain the proper tip angle while turning?
Click to expand...

It is not the round or square "cutter, but from inexperience in using a round shaft. Without experience, the shaft twists easily in the hands when one is used to flat or square shafts. Round shafts took getting used to - at least it did for me. I practiced on several 3 X 3 X 6 pine, fir and cedar blocks and it is a good thing I did. I would have hated to mess up some good wood like I did those cheap construction site left-over blocks - when I was learning how to control that round shaft in light, medium and aggressive cuts. It took a while to get the "Feel" and I still will not use the round shaft on delicate cuts.
 
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