Benjamen's Best roughing gouges *LINK*

Re: Benjamen's Best roughing gouges

Wally Dickerman at Green Valley, Az.

>Andy, one roughing gouge is all you'll ever need. I suggest that you buy either a 3/4 or a 1 1/4 inch. My preference is the 1 1/4. Buying turning tools in sets is usually a bad idea. You'll usually end up with tools that you'll seldom use. I suggest that you buy them one at a time as you find a need for them.

Wally

Re: Benjamen's Best roughing gouges *LINK*

Mark Kauder, Phenix City, AL

>For the same price you can buy one of the hefty-est roughing gouges on the market (un-handled). The P&N does not have the weak tang like most of them.

Mark


http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.asp?page=49138&category=1%2C330&SID=&ccurrency=2

your math is a bit off...

Andy in Raleigh

>At that link I see one unhandled 1.25" gouge for more double what the 2" with a handle is at PSI and almost 4 times as much as the handled 5/8". I would not call that "the same price". I don't doubt that the P&N is high quality, but your link makes my point rather than dismissing it.

Re: your math is a bit off...

Wally Dickerman at Green Valley, Az.

>Andy, I know nothing about the quality of the tools that you're looking at, but a 2 inch roughing gouge is way too big unless you plan to do large spindle turnings. The smaller sizes you've mentioned are too small for roughing gouges. Regular spindle gouges or a bowl gouge would work better for small spindle turnings.

Wally

Re: your math is a bit off...

Andy in Raleigh

>I wonder why they have such oddball sized roughing gouges. The 2" has some appeal as all I am thinking about is rounding square stock. Once I have spindle stock round, I am pretty much a skew guy. I was looking at around 1" ones (.75 - 1.25) and happened to see this at such a savings I had to throw it into the mix. Would a 2" gouge round a 4"x4" quickly and reasonably cleanly?

Re: your math is a bit off...

Mark Kauder, Phenix City, AL

>Andy,

1) I should have said that you can get a single better quality roughing gouge for the price of the set (I had no Idea that these were available in anything other than a set - since that is what you posted). 2) Don't get me wrong, I bought my first turning tools from PSI, but they are not a "Go to" place for turning tools - the fact that they list a 3/8" and 5/8" spindle gouges as "Roughing Gouges" make me question their knowledge. 3) I have a 1.25" Roughing Gouge, and it is all I can imagine needing for "Normal" roughing. 2" might work if you are roughing telephone poles ;) but it might be alittle over kill for normal spindle turning.

4) If you also need the the smaller spindle gouges, then it might be a good deal for you, but if you are only looking for a roughing gouge, you might look elsewhere. (P.S. Don't let the Handled or Unhandled issue through you - handles are a $5 part of the equation - as a skew man, you can turn one out to your liking in 20 minutes.

Hope this helps.

Mark

Re: your math is a bit off...

Tom Mullane, Hagerstown, MD

>The big thing I see is the old adage, you get what you pay for... I have been using a couple of the Lee Valley gouges and have never been happier... I would venture to say that at the price PSI is charging you are looking at a gouge made in the orient and the steel is probably not of the same quality of the Lee Valley gouges...

I also agree that a 1.25" roughing gouge will get you through just about any cutting you need...

The extra money spent now will be saved in the amount of stock you remove by constantly having to resharpen an inexpensive tool of lesser quality steel...

I have the following Lee Valley gouges and they really hold an edge...

3/8 & 5/8 bowl gouge

3/8 detail gouge

1.25" roughing gouge

1.125" skew

If you don't want to make your own handles you can buy them for $4.99 from CSU.. but I like to make my own so they fit my short stubby hands better...

Re: your math is a bit off...

Fog Tanner

>If all you are using it for is square stock and you use a skew after that, then just stick with a skew the whole way. If its square stock, I always use a skew to get it round. Either a 1" or 3/4" works fine for that and saves having to pick up another tool since I am going to use a skew to true it into a cylinder.

Fog

Re: your math is a bit off...

John Lucas

>Personally I use a 1" rough out gouge to round up all spindle stock. It's faster for me than the skew and I'm not dulling the skew's edge. By using the wings of the rough out gouge I can get almost the entire spindle to shape with this one tool. Then I take the skew and clean everything up and to any final shaping. It goes much faster for me doing it this way.

I bought a Henry taylor rough out gouge that's even larger, maybe 1 1/2" but so far I don't find that it works any faster than the smaller one. I haven't done any large spindle with it yet. I bought it because I thought it would vibrate less on spinles 3 or 4 inches but just haven't had the time to find out.

Re: your math is a bit off...

Andy in Raleigh

>Mark,

Actually, in my original post I mentioned that they could be bought individually and listed the prices. I wondered about the smaller sizes really being "rough outs" as well.

I have some carbon steel spindle gouges. In HSS I have a couple of skews (which are my primary tools), a bowl gouge and a parting tool. So the set would just replace some carbon steel, which may be a good thing.

The handle issue is no big deal as far as making versus buying. I was just pointing out that for purposes of price comparison.

-Andy

Re: your math is a bit off...

Andy in Raleigh

>I agree that you often get what you pay for, but sometimes it isn't so clear whether you are paying for higher quality or just higher production, marketing and distribution costs with little impact on actual quality. I have some HSS lathe chisels from HF that hold an edge very well. Others who own these and more expensive ones have noted little difference. I wondered if the same might be true of the PSI ones.

Better deal...

W.C. Turner

>Here's a good set of "Benjamin's Best" you need to take a look at on their website. #LCSIXW

I've had a set for a couple of years, & since they're on sale now for $54.95, I ordered another set. You can't beat the price, they're M2 HSS,& included is a 7/8" roughing gouge, like you want, 1/2" spindle gouge, 1" oval skew, 3/8" bowl gouge, 3/16" parting, 3/4" Rd. nose scraper. Good long handles, & since there's not much cash outlay, you can learn to sharpen these, along with your HF tools, without worrying about screwing up a $100 gouge.

While it's true, they don't know a bowl gouge from a spindle gouge, I still think this is a good value. They call the 3/8" bowl gouge, a 1/2" spindle gouge, but, don't let that deter you. I don't think you can go wrong with these.

W.C.

Make that....

W.C. Turner

>On Penn State website, they list the sale priced #LCSIXW set, as #E-10184D, at $54.95. It's the same set, just a different # for the sale price.

Re: Make that....

Ben

>W.C.

Is the 5/8 roughing gouge #LX230 actually a 5/8 bowl gouge?

Ben

an informed answer! Thanks! *LINK*

Andy in Raleigh

>I was hoping to hear from someone who has actually seen and used the tools. I ordered the set. I would have liked the option of just getting the 7/8" roughing gouge alone, but with what I have already, this gives me a pretty complete set all in HSS. These are larger than the HF set I have so there isn't much redundancy.

Thanks again,

Andy


HSS lathe tool set

Re: Make that....

W.C. Turner

>I can't answer that one, since I haven't actually seen it in person, just in the picture.

Re: Benjamen's Best roughing gouges *LINK*

Don Orr

>Benjamin's Best tools are probably just as already described. Lower quality steel, etc. Remember, you get what you pay for, like the advice here. If you are looking for a good roughing gouge, one that has not been mentioned is the CleanTurn vacuum gouge from John O'Neill. It hooks up to a shopvac and pulls chips right in. I have one and love it. Easy to sharpen, very well made and fun to use and fast. Check out the link below. John's a real nice guy too. Usual disclaimer of no conection, just a pleased customer


Cleanturn Vacuum Gouge

Re: Benjamen's Best roughing gouges

Andy in Raleigh

>Huh? The one person who actually has them did not say "lower quality steel, etc". Those remarks were made by people like yourself with no knowledge of the specific tool I asked about. The person who has used them made remarks like "this is a good value" and "I don't think you can go wrong with these." He is ordering more since they are on sale right now.

All that aside, the vacuum gouge is an interesting concept. Though after all that tuning to get the lathe so quiet, I am not sure I want to turn on a shop vac the whole time I turn.

Suck them in ?

Fred in NC

>Interesting concept,yes. However, the vacuum gouge looks like it is for roughing only.

I have used a 3/8" clear vinyl hose taped to the gouge, with about 15 PSI in it. It blows the chips away from me, and a lot of them get sucked by the DC. Total investment about $2.

Fred in NC

yeah, that gouge sucks... ;->

Andy in Raleigh

>On their site there is a page showing different grinds people have done that look like they are for more than roughing. You can't change the radius, though.

Re: Benjamen's Best roughing gouges

Don Orr

>I think you may have misunderstood my statements regarding quality of steel. I was agreeing with the other posts above in that BB tolls may not be made of high quality steel like Sheffield and may be of Far Eastern origin. I don't really know and I don't really care. I did not mean to imply they are not a good value-they are! Good price for a good tool that should last a long time. I know several turners who like BB tools very much. I happen to own and use the cheapo HF 8pc set and they work OK as well. I also own and use several high quality Sheffield steel tools and there is a difference. By the way, I have recently seen BB tools on eBay. You might also check pricing on a website called "woodturningz.com". He sells PSI products at better prices most of the time. You may have to call him for actual pricing. Just give him the PSI catalog #.

Sorry if I offended, I did not mean to.

Re: Benjamen's Best roughing gouges

Andy in Raleigh

>I am probably a little over sensitive, but this is not the first time that I have seen something that looks like a good deal and posted a question about it, only to have the majority of responses suggest more expensive alternatives cautioning that "cheap tools are bad" without any knowledge of the specific tool. Some cheap tools are crap; I know that. But some aren't. I know that too. I post a query to get feedback from people who have actually bought and/or used a specific tool to figure out which it is. I often get specific feedback warning against the tool in question and don't buy it. This wasn't one of those times. The only specific review was positive, but I got a number of negative ones that were just unfounded opinion.