Hand-made Woodturning chisels & Marking Knives

A few pics of some of my hand-made wood-turning chisels. They are all made with an extremely strong & hard Cobalt steel capable of taking and retaining a much sharper edge than the steel normally used by manafacturers. This metal is really designed for cutting ultra tough metals (titanium, stainless steel, Inox etc.) and so hardly notice when they are cutting wood. They stay sharp up to 15 times longer than normal HSS (high-speed-steel) and stay sharp for weeks when used on only wood (my regular chisels require re-grinding every couple of hours at best). They are very easily capable of turning stone on a wood lathe!

The very best thing about them is that the steel is designed to work at red-heat. Normally the grinding of a chisel is a very precarious process as any over heating of the tip will destroy it's temper (requiring a complete regrind to remove the affected portion) - these chisels aren't affected by it.

The first two were made from Yew wood, very unusual but extremely good looking. Most hardwoods can be used but there are some much better suited than others. The properties of Yew make it ideal but the rarity of good timber makes it rather luxurious.

The Yew handles polished up beautifully and definately have the nicest shape and feel of all the handles I've made. 

                                  Even the Sapwood is strong and resilient enough to be left as part of the handle.

All the others have been made with more traditional Ash handles, not as decorative as the last but ideal qualities to the wood.

The first is a strangely named 'Skewchigouge' (skew chisel & gouge in one) - copied straight from the Axminster catalogue.
      Made with an M42 grade HSS. A very versatile chisel it also makes one hell of a scraper and is the chisel best used for turning stone.

The next is a shorty, yet to be ground for use in the picture. The steel requires re-grinding so little that this 4" blade chisel will still give years of service

Next one is a square ended scraper, very useful for narrow openings - bottom of narrow bowls, egg cups etc.

The next is another copied straight from Crown tools in the Axminster catalogue - a 'splay tool'.The diagonally ground diamond tip allows it to be used like 5 different tools in 1. Only problem is that it's so sharp that if you have an accident (a 'dig') it'll go straight through the work before you can flinch - I have literally cut work in half by mistake. A special 'Hot-Working' steel was used for this as I also use it for trimming the metal ferrule flush on other chisel handles.

The last chisel for now is this very thin parting tool - this 1 is actually design ed for cutting work in half)....

 Finally; Japanese style marking knives - again made with much harder steel than usual, also chosen for it's ability to cut through Titanium, wrapped in waxed leather thong for comfort & durability. Matching left & right sided pair.