CARP Ring tool 16 mm (no handle)
CARP ring tool 16 mm (without handle)
Every woodturner has a ring tool hanging in his or her tool rack. A ring tool is an excellent hollowing tool in end grain wood. If you can keep the bevel on the wood and don't open the tool open too far, they will cut through the end grain like butter.
When the CARP ring tool is taken out of the box, you can immediately start using it. Both sides are sharp.
The tool is made of HSS M2. They are secured with an Allen screw in a hardened steel holder of no less than 36 cm. At the end is a 12 mm pin for insertion into a handle. The ring is grinded on 2 sides. There is a large opening and a small one. With the large opening you do most of the work, you go into the depths with it. You use the small opening to finish the wall. That way you can always work cutting.
The ring tool is a popular tool, especially in France. This is mainly because Jean-François Escoulen uses the tool at his woodturning school.
Keep it sharp!
A ring tool must be sharp. If necessary, maintain the ring tool on the outside with a diamond file and/or on the inside with a pointed sharpening stone that you can put in a drill. I myself am a proponent of sharpening before a tool becomes blunt.
spare
Extra rings for the CARP ring tool are of course also available! a 12 mm version for when it really has to be small and a 16 mm, the replacement of the standard cutting ring. Click here for the extra rings.
Handle
We have made a quick release handle for the Carp S Series. In 2 lengths. Super handy! You can find them here. A handle for a woodturning chisel is sometimes long and sometimes short. Depending on the function of the chisel. A bowl gouge or roughing gouge needs a long handle, a spindle gouge needs to be manoeuvrable and so a short handle is useful. Furthermore, it is useful to easily recognise the handles when they are hanging in the rack. For a parting tool, you don't need a long handle. A big scraper needs a long handle...Here you will also find handles.
CARP chisels
The Carp chisels are made of hardened HSS M2 steel. They are forged and/or milled, then hardened to 63-64 HRC, then ground and polished.
Harden
How good a chisel is depends mainly on the hardness and toughness of the steel. So a lot of attention is given to hardening chisels. This is a lengthy process. It starts with heating the steel. This is done in absolute vacuum. Then the chisels are hardened in 3 steps, before undergoing another process of heating and cooling. Here, temperatures of up to -185 degrees are reached (in liquid nitrogen). Quality is strictly monitored. Between 5 and 10% of each batch of chisels is tested for hardness and toughness.