Hollowing Tool

[Rusty Elam]

I have not yet tried any hollow forms but I want to. I am trying to find a basic tool to start without spending a fortune. I got a $50 gift card at Woodcraft around here somewhere and I noticed they have the Hunter Carbide tools 15% off.
Is this a good starting tool for hollowing?
And which one, they have several sizes but seem to only offer the #3 in full swan and shallow swan. Do I need the swan neck?
The #3 seems a little small but what do I know.
Is this the way to go to try hollowing or should I be looking at something else?
Rusty

[David E Keller]

There are lots of ways you can go to get into hollowing. I'm no expert, but I've taken an interest in hollowforms recently. I do think you need a swan neck tool to get to areas under the shoulder of a form. I've been using the sorby swan neck midi-hollower almost exclusively for smaller forms, and I think it's straight forward and easy to use. The cutting tip is adjustable which allows it to be a bit more versatile. It also allows for different shaped cutters/scrapers to be used.

As for the smaller cutting tips, I find that to be an asset rather than a fault. Smaller tips offer less resistance to the cut and allow you to work further off the tool rest without vibration. The larger cutters are useful for me when blending and smoothing, but I don't use them for hogging out the waste.

There are lots of online article about making homemade tools which would allow you to save some money.

[Terry Gerros]

You may want to take a look at the Rolly Munro tool. Works well for hollowing, has an articulated head to get under the shoulder. I tend to use a variety of tools to core out the inside.

Terry

[Roger Chandler]

The hunter tools are for finishing cuts, very light, not for hogging out the main part of the form. I have 3 of them.

A sorby "hollowmaster" is not a bad way to get started, but in all hollowing there is definitely a learning curve. Your gift certificate would pay about 2/3 the cost of the sorby tool.

If you do get the hollowmaster, you need the tool rest positioned just a hair above center, and your tool needs to cut above the center line to avoid catches. DAMHIKT [don't ask me how I know this :eek:]

One thing about the hollowmaster from sorby, it does have a flat side on the tool to make it stable on the tool rest, which is a great help, and you can buy replacement cutter tips of different configurations for it. This is a good entry level way to get into hollowing.

[Joe Kaufman]

I purchased a #3 cutter and modified a Harbor Freight pry bar for the handle/snaft. It works great for cleanup cuts and smoothing contours on hard wood, when held at a 30-45 deg angle. When held much less than 15 deg to the surface it tends to get aggressive and take you for a ride. I really don't do what I would consider hollow forms - openings less than 30-40% of the major inside diameter. For that you would need a swan neck tool.

You may be disappointed with the #3 for doing the major hollowing removal. It will get aggressive as you reduce the angle, but there are faster methods that don't require you to tense up and hold your breath the whole time.

I have a Sorby swan neck scraper and didn't really find it that usefull. Hey, I will put a Hunter cutter on it. Thanks.

Joe

[Rusty Elam]

Thanks guys, I ended up getting the Sorby Midi- hollower
Seemed like the least learning curve.
Got it home and tried it on a couple of toothpick holders and it seems pretty straightforward.
Now just practise...practise..practise
Thanks Again
Rusty

[Allen Neighbors]

I've used the little hunter tool to hollow out 30-40 little lidded boxes. It works like a dream!
I have made some swan-necked tools that hold 1/4 and 3/16 square cutting bits in the end, for hollowing under the shoulder of small hollow forms.
I made a captured rig for deep hollowing, and for larger hollowforms.
Check out: http://www.aroundthewoods.com for tool making instructions. Excellent Site.

[charlie knighton]

go to Bob Rosand web site

start small , like hollowing xmas ornaments, see and feel the forces involved

http://www.rrosand.com/tools.shtml

enjoy

[Bernie Weishapl]

As Charlie said Bob's tools are great for smaller turnings plus I like his 1/4" round skew.

[Art Kelly]

Thanks guys, I ended up getting the Sorby Midi- hollower.

The nice thing about this and the Hollow Master is that you can make your own cutters if you feel like doing a little metallurgy. By doing this you can sharpen with abandon, rather than pussy-footing around with the name-brand $$$ tips. It's sort of a sub-vortex some of us wander into from time to time.

YMMV, but I didn't start enjoying mine till I stopped with the Sorby sharpening method and started grinding my own with a nice burr:cool:.

I use O-1 steel. 1/4" drill rod for the Midi, IIRC, and 1/8" x 3/8" flat stock for the Hollow Master. Cut it, drill it and shape it, then harden it (it comes from the supplier soft, aka annealed) with a Propane torch and canola oil from the kitchen. Use a paint-remover heat gun to draw it to a straw color for toughness. Sharpen it with a 5-10 degree bevel (experiment) and leave the burr. One stick of drill rod and one stick of flat stock, and you're set for years.

You might want to glance through this: http://www.threeplanes.net/toolsteel.html

Most home shops don't have the programmable heaters to deal with M-2 High Speed Steel, but you can compensate by make a lot cutters out of O-1 at one time.

[David E Keller]

...YMMV, but I didn't start enjoying mine till I stopped with the Sorby sharpening method and started grinding my own with a nice burr:cool:.
...

I agree. I stopped honing the tops of my cutters and started sharpening them on the platform of my grinder. I do it just like I do scrapers... Upside down on the rest so that I'll drag a burr onto the top surface.

[Edward Bartimmo]

Rusty,

I am relatively new in hollowing and like you had a lot of questions. There is almost as many equipment options as there are opinions. There are two major categories/methods for hollowing, which are (1) hand held tools and (2) mechanically leveraged tools (captured systems and articulating systems. The costs increases in accordance with the degree of machining required to make it.

Hand held is the natural progression into hollowing and the least expensive starting point. These majority of these tools are sold without a handle so that you can use whatever handle that you are comfortable with as well as using the tools with a captured or articulated hollowing system. The cutter are either integrated into the tool steel or are integrated insert that are replaceable, such as a carbide cutter (straight or circular), scraper or hook/ring. For a basic intro set of tools David Ellsworth offers a set of tools (straight, angles, and bent shaft) that are around $80. Trent Bosch, John Jordan, and Kelton both offer a more advanced set of tools that range from $100-$200 depending upon shaft size, and are comparable with the primary difference being that the Bosch and Jordan tools use replaceable carbide cutters insert whereas Kelton's cutter is intergrated into the steel. Several different tool sets use the round carbide circle cutter, including Eliminator, Hunter, Munro, and Hollowing-Pro. Lastly, there are several different systems that feature multiple tips that are interchangeable covering the entire spectrum of cutters, most notable is the Sorby Hollowmaster.

Besides budget constraints, the primary decision is what size (depth) of hollow forms you plan to turner. The deeper/wider the turning the more unsupported the tool shaft that will be extended beyond the tool rest resulting in greater torque. As you do deeper or wider physics will require a thicker tool shaft to offset the increased torque. The torque can also be partially offset by reducing the amount of cutter surface that is in contact with the wood.

Good Luck.

For what it is worth I started with the Ellsworth set and quickly moved to the 5/8" Trent Bosch Tools ($135 for set of 3). All of the different tools are tried and proven...you can't go wrong.