diy woodturning tools

[Moby Duck]

Should be fine to use ordinary chisels or to regrind them to the shape you want. If regrinding them be careful not to overheat the metal or they will need hardening and tempering again. That is not too hard to do if you need to. Many years ago as a boy I had a motor driven lathe with a bed made from part of a Model A Ford chassis, tail stock from two con rods and head stock was a block of wood with bearings and shaft. The chuck was simply a wing nut with sharpened tips that dug into the wood blank. The only chisel that I had was about 9" long and the tip was cut at about a 45 degree angle. Similar to what I now know as a skew chisel but sharpened on one side only. I made all sorts of things with this one chisel, table lamps, bowls, smokers stands etc, it wasn't difficult once I had mastered how to control the chisel. I now realise that I was totally wrong to use this chisel but it worked for me.
It is a long time since I was last in Thailand but they used to have have lots of blacksmiths/sword makers/farm tool makers etc that would be well capable of making you any type of carbon steel cutting tool. I would check out your local Thai wooden bowl makers as well, where do they get their tools etc. The bowls may all be hand carved but they will be using good steel tools to make them with.