A couple of time, I have spent considerable time reading and trying to decide what to purchase. Effectively, I've ended up with "analysis-paralysis" and never actually clicked the Buy button.
Wow, does that ever resonate with me! In my case "considerable time" was several years.
I kept reading how wonderful and how efficient carbide inserts are. Then some machinist would talk about advice he got from the manufacturer, and my eyes would glaze over. No way some expert would waste his time educating some hobbiest like me who might buy 2 inserts per year.... Not gunna happen.
Surface treatment, target metallurgy, nose size, anvil application, tool holder specific, etc etc all just complicated the rat shit out of buying, Then I hit the rhomboid vs Trigon vs triangle vs round debacle. Everyone had their favorites. They were ALL the very best shape. At $$$ per insert, I kept chickening out.
In desperation, I bought a kit of 7 tools and a kit of replacement inserts for them for different metals. What a waste of money that was! I tried them all but almost always ended up going back to HSS to get the real work done.
On the plus side, I did come to believe (rightly or wrongly) that Trigon inserts were a reasonable compromise of life expectancy and range of application, and that a round insert left a decent finish more often than other insert shapes.
A few years later I felt comfy enough to buy a few dedicated holders that came with a box of inserts for each insert holder for steel. One rhomboid, one triangle, and one Trigon. If I had to do it over, I'd only get a left and a right Trigon tool. The others gather dust. All they really did was confirm my earlier thinking on why Trigon was better for ME.
For now, I'm still loving HSS, using the Trigon carbide insert tool for roughing, and bought a few packages of inserts for aluminium for better finishes and finer cuts.
After 8 years I've only just now developed the confidence to buy some carbide threading inserts and tools. (They are the ones I brought to the meetup to ask
@thestelster about.)
Ya, I resonate with your comments Craig. So very true.