Carbide Tools vs Traditional Woodturning Tools: What Should Beginners Buy?
- David Condon
- Jun 19
- 11 min read
If you are starting out in woodturning, one of the questions you may come across very quickly in online forums is whether you should buy carbide tools or traditional woodturning tools.
Carbide tools are often promoted as easier. No complicated sharpening, no bevel rubbing, no learning curve, just present the cutter to the wood and make shavings.
In videos, they can look very impressive. Long, wispy shavings come off the work, the cut seems simple, and it can look as if the tool is doing most of the work for you.
That is not always the full story.
I am not writing this to tell everyone what they must use. Plenty of turners use carbide tools and get on well with them. But if you are a beginner wondering whether to start with carbide or traditional tools, I think it is worth hearing a real experience from someone who bought one, tried it, had a few bad catches, and then never used it again.
I now teach woodturning myself, so this is not just an opinion based on one bad afternoon in the workshop. It is based on my own early mistakes, my later experience with traditional tools, and what I now see when beginners are learning tool control for the first time.
My Own Experience With a Carbide Woodturning Tool
Back in late 2015, when I was still starting out on my second stint as a more serious woodturner, I bought a Robert Sorby carbide tool with several shaped cutter heads included.
At the time, I think it cost me around €105. That was part of my reasoning. It seemed like a useful multi-purpose tool, the videos made carbide tools look easy, and compared with buying several traditional tools, it felt like decent value.
Not long afterwards, I went for a woodturning lesson with Glenn Lucas. He saw the carbide tool I'd brought along and asked me why I had bought it.
My answer was simple enough: it was only around €105, and I thought I would use it.
His reply was even simpler: “You’ll never use it.”
Of course, I disagreed. I was sure I would.
And true to my word, I did take it out one day.
I pulled the toolrest back from the workpiece, presented the carbide cutter to the wood and started making shavings. For a minute or so, it seemed to be doing exactly what the videos had shown.
Then I got a bad catch.
I carried on, thinking it was probably just a fluke. A few minutes later, I got another bad catch.
That was enough. I put the carbide tool back on the shelf, and it has stayed there ever since.
To be fair, I was only starting out at the time. I may not have been using the tool correctly. I may have been presenting it badly. I may have had the toolrest in the wrong position. But the lesson stuck with me.
The videos made it look simple.
In practice, it was not. I did not have the same negative results from my traditional tools.
More Tools Did Not Make Me a Better Woodturner
Looking back, that carbide tool was part of a bigger beginner mistake I made. I thought another tool might solve a problem for me, or make me a better woodturner more quickly. I have written more about that wider lesson in Why More Tools Didn’t Make Me a Better Woodturner.
But buying more tools was not how it worked.
More tools did not make me a better woodturner. Better practice, better sharpening, better control and better understanding did.
That is one of the reasons I now encourage beginners to start with a small number of good traditional tools and learn how to use them properly, rather than chasing every tool that looks useful online.
This is also why I often point beginners towards a few basic spindle tools first. A spindle roughing gouge, spindle gouge and parting tool can teach you a huge amount when they are used properly.
Why Carbide Tools Look Easier Than They Are
One of the biggest problems with learning from online videos is that you are often watching experienced turners using tools confidently in short, controlled segments or edits.
You see the shavings, the smooth movements and the finished piece. What you do not usually see are the early mistakes, the catches, the uncertainty, the poor tool presentation or the learning curve that happened in the years before the camera was switched on.
That applies to traditional tools as well, but I think it is especially misleading with carbide tools.
A carbide tool can look like a very simple tool. In theory, you place the flat underside of the tool on the toolrest and move it slowly into the wood until the cutter engages. For a beginner, that can sound far easier than learning bevel-supported cutting with a spindle gouge, roughing gouge or skew chisel.
But simple does not always mean safer, better or more useful in the long run. With many carbide tools, the toolrest often ends up further back from the work than it would with a traditional bevel-supported tool. That means the cutter is less directly supported at the point of contact, and if a catch happens, the tool can have far more leverage against you.
The Physics Feel Wrong to Me
For me, the issue with carbide tools starts with the way they cut.
With many carbide tools, the cutter is presented at or around centre height, and only the cutting edge or very tip of the insert is doing the work. As long as that edge is sharp, the tool can cut.
But what happens when the edge starts to dull?
Now the tool may need more pressure, which is rarely a good thing in woodturning. More of the cutter can begin to engage. Instead of a clean cut, you may get scraping, pushing, tearing or a much less controlled action.
With a traditional bevel-supported tool, the bevel is making controlled contact with the wood. The cut is supported. The tool is guided by the bevel, and the woodturner has far more feedback through the handle.
When a traditional tool starts to lose its edge, you can usually feel it straight away. The cut becomes less clean, the tool begins to feel different, and you have the chance to stop and sharpen before you damage the work or lose control.
That does not mean traditional tools cannot catch. They absolutely can, especially if used incorrectly. But when you learn proper bevel support, toolrest distance, body movement and cutting angle, you are learning a system that gives you control.
With carbide, especially as a beginner, I felt I had less of that control.
The Lever and Fulcrum Problem
Another thing that worries me about carbide tools for beginners is the toolrest position.
When I used mine, I had to move the toolrest further back from the workpiece than I normally would with traditional tools. That immediately changed the feel of the tool and made the whole setup feel less safe to me. Even as a beginner, I felt uncomfortable and knew something was off.
The further the cutting edge is from the toolrest support, the more leverage the wood has against you. The toolrest becomes the fulcrum, and the tool handle becomes part of a lever system.
If the cutter catches, the force can be much more dramatic because the tool is not supported as closely to the work.
This is one of the reasons I am always careful with beginners. I want the toolrest close to the work where possible. I want the tool supported. I want the cutting action controlled. I want them to feel what is happening rather than simply pushing a cutter into spinning wood.
The Shoulder Catch Problem
This is where things can get more serious.
A round carbide cutter can be more forgiving in some situations, but diamond, square or pointed cutters can create problems if they contact the wood in the wrong way.
If a diamond or square cutter meets a shoulder and catches on two sides at once, you can get a major catch event. That risk increases if you are already applying pressure from behind as you push the tool into the cut.
The tool is no longer just cutting on one clean edge. It can suddenly engage more cutter than intended. If the toolrest is further back at the same time, the lever and fulcrum effect makes the whole thing feel much more violent.
This is one of the reasons I do not like recommending carbide tools to beginners as a first choice. Beginners are still learning tool control, grain direction, safe cutting, toolrest setup and body position. Adding a tool that can look simple but behave badly when misused does not feel like the best starting point to me.
What You Do Not Always See in Carbide Tool Videos
Another thing rarely shown clearly in videos is the maintenance side.
With carbide tools, the cutter heads are not magic. They still need attention.
The cutter may need to be rotated regularly. The grub screw has to be loosened and tightened with the sharp side facing in the direction where you will be cutting.
The edge may need to be refreshed on a diamond stone or sharpening card. Eventually, cutters need to be replaced.
That is not necessarily difficult, but beginners should not be misled into thinking carbide tools remove maintenance entirely.
They remove traditional sharpening, yes. But they do not remove the need to keep a sharp cutting edge.
And once the cutter is not sharp, the tool becomes less pleasant to use.
That uncertainty was another thing I didn’t like. I was never fully sure when the cutter needed to be refreshed, rotated or replaced. Even though I didn’t use the tool for very long, that doubt stayed with me.
With a traditional tool, a dull edge is usually easier to recognise. If in doubt, sharpen. With carbide, especially as a beginner, I found that much less obvious.
Traditional Tools Teach Better Habits
This is the main reason I still prefer beginners to learn with traditional tools.
A traditional spindle roughing gouge, spindle gouge and parting tool can teach you a huge amount about woodturning. You learn how the bevel supports the cut. You learn how close the toolrest should be. You learn how the tool reacts when the angle is right or wrong. You learn to read the sound, feel and surface of the wood.
Those lessons carry forward into almost everything else you do on the lathe.
That is why I often recommend beginners start with a small number of traditional spindle tools rather than buying a large chisel set or relying on carbide tools.
I have written more about this here:
Those three tools can do much of what beginners need when learning spindle work, and they do it in a safer, more controlled and more educational way.
Are Carbide Tools Useless?
No. I would not say that.
Carbide tools do have a place. Some turners use them very successfully. They may be useful for certain hollowing jobs, resin work, awkward grain, rough shaping or situations where a replaceable cutter is convenient.
They may also suit people who do not want to sharpen traditional tools, or who have physical limitations that make sharpening more difficult.
So this is not a claim that carbide tools are useless.
It is more a warning that carbide tools are not automatically the easiest or safest choice for beginners.
Should a Beginner Buy Carbide or Traditional Tools?
I cannot tell you what to buy. Every turner has to make their own decision.
But if you are asking my opinion, I would start with traditional tools.
Not a huge set. Not every tool in the catalogue. Just a small number of good traditional tools, properly sharpened and used correctly.
For spindle turning, a spindle roughing gouge, spindle gouge and parting tool will take you a long way. After that, you can add tools as you need them.
If you are still deciding what to buy first, I have also written a broader guide here:
That guide explains the basic tools I think are worth buying early, and which ones I would avoid until you have more experience.
What I Learned From My Carbide Tool
My own carbide tool taught me something, just not in the way I expected.
Instead of becoming a regularly used workshop tool, it became a teaching example. I now use it as a show-and-tell piece when teaching. I can show students the tool, explain my own experience with it, and then talk through the practical differences between carbide and traditional tools.
That does not make me an expert on carbide tools. It does not mean nobody should use them. But it did reinforce something I still believe today:
Beginners are usually better off learning proper tool control with traditional tools first.
Once you understand bevel support, toolrest position, sharpening and safe cutting, you can try carbide tools later and make up your own mind.
But if you start with carbide because it looks easier online, just remember that what looks simple in a video may not feel simple when the tool is in your own hands.
Final Thoughts
The carbide versus traditional tools debate will probably continue for as long as both types of tools exist.
Traditional turners, myself included, often prefer the control, finish and feedback of bevel-supported tools. Carbide users may prefer the convenience of replaceable cutters and the simplicity of the presentation.
There is room for both opinions.
But for beginners, I still believe traditional tools are the better foundation.
They teach you how wood cuts. They teach you control. They teach you to work with the bevel, not just push a cutter into the wood. And in the long run, that knowledge will make you a better and safer woodturner.
You can find more practical woodturning advice on my Woodturning Guides and Articles page, including beginner tool guides, sharpening advice and other pieces that may help you build your knowledge.
Thanks for Reading,
David
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About the Author
I’m David Condon, a woodturner and small business owner based in Tralee, Co. Kerry. I’ve been working with wood for most of my life at this stage — 11 years as a carpenter and over a decade running my own woodturning business.
Over the years, I’ve learned that woodturning is as much about patience and problem-solving as it is about tools and technique. I work mainly with Irish hardwoods, teach woodturning full-time, and spend most days learning something new in the workshop myself. On this site, I share the same practical knowledge I pass on to my students, shaped by experience, mistakes, and time spent at the lathe. If you’re interested in learning in person, I offer woodturning lessons in Tralee, with details available on my Woodturning Tuition page.
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