Obviously, my new wood lathe wasn’t going to do me any good if I didn’t have the appropriate tools to use on the wood itself. So of course, I had to get some good tools for getting started. I could have gone with some nice, new, high-speed steel tools, but for the price of one good tool in HSS, I could get the “beginner” kit with carbide blades.

The carbide is nice and strong and generally keeps its edge longer than the HSS tools. It also allows me to rotate the blade around and have a sharp edge once more if I need it (especially when I don’t pay attention and drop the tool onto the ground blade first).

Carbide Blade	Ideal Use	Specs
Diamond	Use as a parting tool, and for tight profiles.	Overall length of the diamond cutter is 1-1/8”. Angle of diamond cutter is approximately 35 degrees.
Square	Flat or convex areas on spindles and pen turnings.	Square cutter is 3/8” square.
Round	Producing a smooth finish on curved, concave surfaces and for general turning applications.	Diameter of the circular cutter is just under 1/2”.

I’m still learning the best use for each of the blades, but I’m not too worried. My proficiency will only get better with more practice.

On a side note, one thing I really like is that if I have some major clearing out to do I can rotate my square blade back to the side that is still sharp but chipped (from that drop I mentioned earlier). It still clears the wood away just fine, and I don’t worry about dulling a “good” blade so quickly. I can then rotate it back to the non-chipped side to help smooth things out when I get closer to the shape I want.