My version, CiL

[Mitchell Cholewinski]

This is a picture of my version of the popular CiL roughing tool. I bought the roughing tool six months ago and liked it and bought four of the carbide tipped cutters offered at the time. The tool sold was made from stainless but I made my body from steel. Actually, the only thing I made was the body and the handle. This spare tool will be a welcome to my cache of tools. It cuts great just like the original because it has the same carbide cutters. Most turners hate to sharpen but I always loved sharpening but hate changing cutting tips on turning tools. This is what led me to make this extra tool, and besides it is fun in my opinion. I want to make a Hunter turning tool but never saw any except the small tip I have on my Elbow hollowing system. I know John Lucas made one once and posted on a forum. I think it would be a great finishing tool and should be a piece of cake to make. Anyone have a link for round Hunter carbide cutting tools? I think the number 5 is the one I would want. Thanks. Mitch

[Bill Bolen]

Mitch, Hunter will sell the cutting tip and screw at his site...Bill... http://www.hunterwoodturningtool.com/accessories.html

[Mitchell Cholewinski]

William Bolen
Thanks a bunch Bill for the response and the info how to get in touch with Hunter. I will be ordering a few of his cutters right now. I have never used one of his cutters except the very small one he has, but I hear they cut very aggressively, and I like that. Mitch

[Bob Haverstock]

Mitchell,

I bought a #4 Hunter insert from Woodcraft. Made my own shank out of .5" hot rolled square. It works pretty good, I"m not sure about the inset life.

Today I silver soldered a 3/8" sqaure insert onto a shank and gave it about a & degree positive grind on my diamond wheel. I got it epoxied into a wooden handle. I hope to try it later in the week.

Some guys were borned handsome, I was borned cheap.

Bob

[Don Carter]

Mitch:
I have wanting to make one of these. Yours looks great and sounds like it works great too! Where did you get the screw to hold the insert in place? I have seen some inserts for helix head planer at Grizzly that I wanted to try, but I wasn't sure how to attach them to the tool.
Thanks for showing it.

All the best.

Don

[Mitchell Cholewinski]

Bob Haverstock
Thanks for the response Bob, it's appreciated. By inset do you mean the cutter? Maybe I misunderstand what you mean you silver soldered a cutter onto the body and ground at a 8 degree angle. You mean you soldered it instead of drilling and tapping for the cutter? Will that hold up under the stress of turning? I am anxious to know because this my first time hearing this. The 8 degree angle should cut ok though since I heard Hunter cutters are ground at 7 degrees.Let us know here on this thread how your tool works after you try it. Mitch

[Mitchell Cholewinski]

Don Carter
Thanks for your response Don.If you are wanting to make one of these tools Don, do it, you won't regret it. I am being 100 percent truthful with you in saying this tool cuts every bit as as good as the one I paid for and it costs me just under $14. It should too because the carbide cutters were bought from the same guy who makes the CiL tool, Craig Jackson. After I made the tool I took a branch from a cherry tree, approx 5" in diameter and 16"long, still had bark on it put in in my lathe end to end and was going to turn it round mostly to see how it cut then later make a handle for the tool. I started cutting did so lightly and it cleaned the bark off almost immediately, then I wanted to give a little forward pressure to see how quickly it could hog and it devoured that wood where it was almost too small to make a handle. If it wasn't for that shield the debris would of covered me up, I swear. Your question about the screw is a good one and something I neglected to mention in my post. When I bought the carbide cutter you get a cutter and a screw with option to buy an extra screw so I did. So now I decide to make this tool and I have the screw but don't know what size tap I need to use to turn the threads. I take a guess and decide to buy a 5/32" tap. I did and it worked when I cut the threads , snug but it fit. I drill the hole in my bar, then tap the threads , put the cutter on and put the screw in and tightened it down. Threaded in perfect but the darn thing went all the way down and wouldn't tighten up. I drill another hole and try again and the same problem, you can see the second hole I drilled on the tool. By now I'm getting ticked off. I took out another tap and the proper drill bit for a 1/4" drill bit and redrill and tap with this screw. I put the cutter back on and screwed the screw down and it was tight as can be. Screw was a bit longer than I wanted but I didn't want to grind it down because it goes with a set of screws for my chuck extra jaws. Use hardened screws if you can get them but buy a size you think you need and drill a practice hole and tap then you won't have a problem. When you buy a tap you also get the proper drill size come with it. It's really easy if you get the right dril bit size and tap. Let me know how you make out if you make one Don, don't be afraid to fail and if you start don't give up, just like in every day life. Mitch

[Bob Haverstock]

Mitch,

The insert that I used is what is called "negitive rake" all the faces are perpendicular to each other. To get a positive rake I ground the face that is presented to the wood at about 8 degrees. The insert that I used was for a metal turning application. The grade was C5.

Yes, I believe the joint will hold. Perhaps I should have brazed it instead of just silver soldering it. Carpenter grade carbide saw blades have the carbide teeth joined to the blade in a similar manner.

Bob