Ron Brown’s Best
Supplier For
Woodturning Supplies and Tools
There are a handful of good suppliers of woodturning supplies. I’ve tried some orders on a few different online woodturning supply businesses but since I am sick and limited in budget I have to spend my dollars wisely. So…I end up ordering a lot from Amazon.
In my opinion Amazon provides good products, great pricing and quick delivery. It has to be almost impossible for other woodturning supply companies to compete with Amazon. That makes me sad, so I try to order and buy from small mom and pop type businesses, whether they be local or online.
As a community of woodturners I think we should be aware of our options when it comes to buying our woodturning supplies and tools online. Take the effort and try to order from some of the small websites and if there is a local guy….give him a shot.
If money were not an option I would love to get a set of tools from Doug Thompson or Dave Dave Schweitzer from D-waytools.com but once again, my illness has left me broke so I either make my own tools or I have to buy cheap but effective woodturning tools.
Recently I discovered a supplier I did not know much about, Ron Brown’s Best…, I checked out his site and it seems like he has some really unique and affordable woodturning tools. Seems to me I heard of him a while back but I simply forgot to check out his site, a member of our facebook group http://facebook.com/group/woodturningbasics mentioned the site and a purchase he made. He was extremely happy with his order and service. As a community of woodturners I find it helful to acknowledge and pass on good sources of woodturning suppies, tools and equipment. So, as I don’t have first hand experience now….I wanted to let you guys know of a good woodturning supply source on a second hand basis….hopefully I can picke something up soon and let you know how it goes.
Anyway, the guy from our group spoke to Ron about which product to buy ..which one would fit his needs based on his experience and he couldn’t say enough good things about Ron ….so I recommend you check out https://www.ronbrownsbest.com for your woodturning needs!
Let me know if you order and what your experience was like!
This Laguna Revo Wood Lathe wreaks of quality, gonn be my next purchase!
I think that’s the scenario that many of us go through. Maybe we don’t buy the lathe yet but we do the research and figure out which one we are ready to get ….in other words, you are ready to pull the trigger on a woodlathe.
My friend, you’re just starting out and you are going to learn that there is a lot more to woodturning. There are a lot of wood turning tools and supplies you are going to need. And, you are going to have to learn how to use these new tools.
Each new wood turning project will require different techniques, differnt tools and different wood. It will require a different plan of attack. Even if you decide to turn a couple of wood bowls, chances are you will need some different tools and each one ….and maybe even a different finish on each one. It all depends on the type of wood and style of bowl.
I’m not going to talk about all the different accessories in this article, but I do want to talke about what is probably one of the most important considerations when entering into the world of wood turning. I want to talk about your woodturning tools.
First you are going to find out that the same type of tool from one vendor is 10 times the cost with another vender or manufacturer. In this case, you usually get what you pay for, but should you buy expensive turning tools to start off with?
Expensive WoodTurning Tools
If you have the cash, go for it!
If you are like most wood turners, that is, always frugal and a good steward of your money you are going to want to purchase tools with the best value to start with.
After fighting through pages and pages, videos and videos about wood turning tools I have come to understand one of the most important things is the type of steel. A wood turning bowl gouge made with less expensive steel will not perform as good as the same woodturning tool made with the best steel. Not only that, it will not hold an edge and you will always be sharpening it.
This could be a double edge sword. It’s important to learn how to sharpen your wood turning gouges, skews and the like because ….number one, it will cost a fortune to pay someone to sharpen your tools and with a cheap tool you might have to sharpen it 2 or 3 times during the project …so you will have to learn how to use something like the Wolverine Oneway Sharpening Jig …you’ll need this regardless of the type of tool you have along with a decent 8″ grinder. So the lesson is, with a cheap tool you will learn sharpening faster and that’s a good thing because when you buy a good expensive Sorby Bowl gouge you don’t want to grind it away honing your sharpening skills with the grinder and oneway sharpening jig!
Don’t Buy A Set of Woodturning Tools
The other mistake most newbie wood turners make is that they buy a set of woodturning tools. A set might have 5 to 10 wood turning tools in it. You might find you only really use 2 or 3 of those tools and you really don’t need the rest at this point.
It’s better to purchase 2 or 3 seperate wood turning tools of better quality and learn how to use those tools and how to maintain and/or sharpen them. And then as you do more research and your scope of woodturning expands you can grab another medium to high quality tool and learn how to use it.
If we consider the last paragraph, then the question would be….. what tool should I start with? A very good question. I would suggest a spindle gouge, a bowl gouge and a scraper. I don’t hear too many woodturners talk about scrapers, but a good scraper has saved my butt on many occaision and it’s a tool that can build your confidence. Spindle gouges and Bowl Gouges come in many shapes and sizes along with different grinds on each …..unless you are a natural they require some effort to learn but with these three wood turning tools you can do just about anything. The only other one I would suggest to begin with is a parting tool.
Here’s a good video that talks about what type of woodturing tools to begin with….good stuff, excellent photography since you can actually see how the tools cut. For instance a bowl gouge with a fingernail grind can make 3 or 4 different cuts and it could do your entire project if used correctly.
As a community of woodturners I think we should be aware of our options when it comes to buying our woodturning supplies and tools online. Take the effort and try to order from some of the small websites and if there is a local guy….give him a shot.
