Carbide Turning Tools Advantages The razor-sharp edge of a carbide tool stays sharp for a very long time and requires no sharpening station, unlike a traditional bowl gouge. Bowl blank material can be removed quickly with a carbide turning tool, and catches are less frequent than HSS tools.

With a conventional gouge, you roll the handle so the tool's flute faces the work, then drag the lower cutting edge along the work. To make this cut with the round carbide insert, you angle the cutting shaft and lightly touch the edge to the workpiece to shear off shavings.

Cutting Ability - Carbide tools, regardless of shape, are still scrapers. They are designed primarily for scraping the wood's surface away, even if they will perform in other functions such as hollowing or shearing.