How The ToolPost’s CompacTool Set Answers an Increasingly Pressing Need

Here at The ToolPost (http://www.toolpost.co.uk), we would like to think that it is a given that woodturners want to achieve their potential and get the very best results from their efforts. As much as one might say that “the poor workman blames his tools”, the right tools really do make a big difference to the ultimate outcome, given the requisite amounts of skill and experience – as any enlightened woodturning enthusiast knows. That’s why we have introduced the CompacTool set of six short turning tools to our range.

Why is it so important that these are short tools, and why has The ToolPost gone to the trouble of having Sheffield-based Hamlet Craft Tools manufacture them exclusively for its store? Well, we believe that the current trend for ever-longer “standard” woodturning tools  Is an impediment to the performance of many turners.  This situation has arisen from the widespread subscription to the ethos of “bigger is always better” in some important tool markets. The problem is that at the same time, compact lathes have become increasingly popular, particularly “bench-top” lathes like those that Jet, Axminster, Record Power and Charnwood – among other companies – produce in great numbers.

However, it is vital not only to use the right tools for the task in hand but those tools must be capable of being presented to the timber correctly when using any particualr woodturning lathe. For that to happen, tools and lathe need to be in the correct proportion to each other. The popular “bench-top” lathes typically have a fixed headstock and a 10 to 12 inch diameter swing over the bed. However, tools need to be of a size that allows them to be manoeuvred over the bed of the lathe and in the restricted space that separates the workpiece from the tailstock. The tools created by the mainstream manufacturers are simply too large to enable this to happen, which is why we have intervened here at The ToolPost.

The result is a set of woodturning tools that really does answer an ever-present, specific and vital problem which is impairing the performance of very many woodturners. Such a recurrent mismatch between the most common tools and the most common lathes is only going to result in more and more woodturners never achieving their full potential. These tools are the no-compromise solution, having been specifically designed for easier and more successful turning on a smaller lathe. They are not miniature tools: they are simply smaller versions of the full-size tools with which many woodturners will be familiar, with appropriately proportioned handles to suit the situation in which they are designed to be used

This unique set consists of a 1/2" roughing gouge, 3/8" spindle gouge, 3/8" bowl gouge, 1/16"  narrow parting tool with modified tip geometry, 1/2" rolled edge skew chisel and 1" x 1/4" bowl scraper. In short, unlike so many sets out there, this one really is the complete package, with every tool being made to the very highest of standards. We’d like to think that it only affirms our reputation, here at The ToolPost (http://www.toolpost.co.uk), for truly caring about ensuring that your own woodturning is as good as it can possibly be!