Great tooling!

Don't listen to the nay-sayer "machinist", he obviously doesn't understand what lathe tooling is all about. I have tools from many big names, and stuff from PSI, and it ALL works very well. In my experience, PSI tools hold an excellent edge. I can literally turn for 20 minutes doing aggressive roughing and hollowing with my PSI bowl gouges before they need a quick touch-up grind. And I'm talking shavings flying over my head and in a 2-foot deep pile around the lathe aggressive! I have 2 of these gouges, and 2 of the 1/4" and 3/8" spindle gouges as well, one of each with a finger-nail grind and one standard. All six are great tools and are used every day. One thing I find beneficial is to turn a pine dowel on the lathe to fit the flute, coat it in diamond paste and lap the flute in really nice. Not necessary, but does help get the edge just a touch smoother and sharper. And remember, the flute IS your cutting edge, NOT the bevel! Also, do not "hone" anything but your skew. Sharpen everything else on an 8" grinder with an 80grit wheel. You will have great results! You do not want a polished edge on anything but a skew, as you will have trouble cutting. Trust me on this, or ask a pro turner. They'll say the same! These truly are the best "bang for the buck" you'll find!

If this is Benjamin's best I'd hate to get his worst!

I thought that the price was too good for this to be worth getting. I ordered this one and a 1/2 Bowl Gouge and they came in yesterday. Couldn't wait to try them out, till I got them out of the box and saw that fatal marking, "MADE IN CHINA". They were dull as a butter knife to start with. And once I got all the creosote cleaned off the shank it looks like crap. It still has rough forage marks on over half the shank because they didn't finish grind it enough to clean it up. the part that was ground, and would be polished on a quality tool, looked like it had been done by hand with file and nothing like the one in the picture. I'm kinda new to wood turning but I was a machinist for over 20 years and I know what it takes to make good tooling, and this ain't it. After touching up the edge on it I tried this one out on some simple soft pine. The edge didn't last as long as it took to get one on it. I didn't think it would hold an edge because when I took my diamond hone to it the metal seemed pretty soft for HSS. I think its just plain mild steel bar stock with a grove cut in it and a handle put on it to make it LOOK like a tool. Don't waist your money on this! Put some more with it and get some quality tools that are worth getting. And not made in China! If I had known this was made in China I never would have bought it.

spindle gouge

Very good tool for home workshop. Keeps its edge, good size and feel. It is well worth the price.

The best

I tried another brand of tool from someone else and I have now discovered the Benjamin brand was a much better tool. For reasons I don't know I don't have to sharpen these as often as the other tool I purchased. Did I mention the other tool was almost three times as much to buy. Stick with Penn State and you can't go wrong.

gouge

tool too short