Ornament and Mini Hollower

[Kathy Marshall]

I had a nice sized cutoff from some mesquite and I wanted to turn a hollow ornament (my 1st) but I didn't have anything to hollow it out with, so I decided to make a hollower based on some of the postings on another forum.
The ornament is 4 3/4" from the top of the button to the tip of the finial, the ball is about 1 1/2". Mesquite and maple with a couple coats of spray lacquer. I hollowed it out through the 3/8" hole I drilled for the button tenon.

The hollower handle is 6" long, made from ash (that ash was sure nice to turn) and fits my hand just right. The cutter is a 5/32 allen wrench and about 1 1/2" of it is in the handle. The ferule is a 1/2" id copper bushing. I'm going to take it to work tomorrow and see if the shop foreman can bend the tip out just a bit and then I think I'll grind the tip just a bit shorter.

I didn't have the handle made when I turned the ornament so I just held the tool in some vise grips http://www.woodturnersresource.com/yabb2files/Templates/Forum/woody/shocked.gif
Can't wait to do another ornament to see how it works with the handle.
Thanks for looking!

[Andrew Arndts]

Very nice, Verrrry Verrrrry nice:D

[John Keeton]

Kathy, very nice work on the ornament, and an excellent job on the "personalized" handle!!

[Josh Bowman]

We've got Jeff with tool rests and steady rests, Randy and the Monster Hollowing, Doug making gouges.........now Kathy making us mini hollowing hand tools.
The vortex is not only strong, it's self feeding!!!:eek:

[Jim Underwood]

Kathy,

Nice job on the ornament!

And the hollowing tool is nice too! Those allen wrenches work pretty well.

One word of caution with it's current configuration. That right angle has a lot of mechanical advantage, and if you have a catch with it, it will spin right around in your hands. I had a pretty bad catch with mine, and it pinched the fool out of me. I still have a scar... :o

You'll want to bend it about an inch or two back so that the tip comes in line with the axis of the handle. That way you don't have to grind the end off so much... I can't find a picture of mine or I'd post it.

Looking forward to seeing more ornaments!

[Tim Rinehart]

And that applies to both the ornament and the tool. I agree with Jim's comments about the angle...either get it more in line (similar to how a swan neck tool does) or just shorten the section near the cutting tip to reduce the torque in a catch.
Again, nicely done on you ornament.

[Rick Robbins]

you should be very:) proud nice going and a Great turn. Rick

[Paul Douglass]

I agree they are both great work. Beautiful ornament. Jim thanks for posting about the tool bending. I would not have thought of that until I had a hurt. Can you bend allen wrenches by heating?

[Scott Hackler]

That tool looks similar to the one I made and use on my ornaments. But yours looks like it could have been bought in a store! I don't know if I would heat the allen wrenches to bend them unless your prepared to harden and temper them again. I bent mine by just holding in a vise and using sheer muscles. It didn't want to bend but I got the shape I wanted.

Your ornament looks nice and im sure this is one of many to come!

[Bernie Weishapl]

A great looking ornament Kathy. I agree with the bending the tool. I did mine after a pretty good catch.

[Baxter Smith]

Nice looking ornament and tool! I got a jar of masonry nails out of my nail drawer a month ago to try something similar. The jar is still just sitting on the shelf getting dusty. Someday....:)

[Mark Hubl]

Nice ornament Kathy. I really like the home made tools. They do seem to fit your hand "just right".

[Ron Stadler]

Just made an ornament similiar to yours while back, I like your tool you made and have a handle all ready to go, so I guess I might give this a go, thanks for the idea. By the way, nice looking ornament.

[Josh Bowman]

Nice looking ornament and tool! I got a jar of masonry nails out of my nail drawer a month ago to try something similar. The jar is still just sitting on the shelf getting dusty. Someday....:)
Baxter, I read an article over 20 years ago on making chisels and the like from large horse shoe or masonry nails. They mentioned how good the steel was, so I tried it. The results were wonderful. You take the wide end and grind a profile, keeping the metal cool with water. Then you can even buff them up. All of mine look like shiney as can be. They hold and edge well. I used them for years when I turned pens.

[George Morris]

Kathy that is a beauty! Very well done! G

[James Combs]

Kathy,

Nice job on the ornament!

And the hollowing tool is nice too! Those allen wrenches work pretty well.

One word of caution with it's current configuration. That right angle has a lot of mechanical advantage, and if you have a catch with it, it will spin right around in your hands. I had a pretty bad catch with mine, and it pinched the fool out of me. I still have a scar... :o

You'll want to bend it about an inch or two back so that the tip comes in line with the axis of the handle. That way you don't have to grind the end off so much... I can't find a picture of mine or I'd post it.

Looking forward to seeing more ornaments!


And that applies to both the ornament and the tool. I agree with Jim's comments about the angle...either get it more in line (similar to how a swan neck tool does) or just shorten the section near the cutting tip to reduce the torque in a catch.
Again, nicely done on you ornament.

Love the ornament and ditto Jim's and Tim's comments on adding another angle to the tool. You want to do something like this. It will keep the cutting edge in line with the handle but you can still get around corners.

[Ron Bontz]

Nice ornament. My complements.:)

[Jim Underwood]

I did heat mine up to bend it. If I remember correctly I even did it with a propane torch. That was before I got the mapp gas torch for brazing... Now I could do it twice as fast as before.

It's not necessary to retemper it after heating though. You don't need any much temper back where the bend is because you'll never grind the point back that far.

By the time you wear this tool out, you'll just get another allen wrench and make another... There are throwaway allen wrenches all over the place. I bought a handful at the local ReTool for a couple bucks..

But if you wanna just brute force bend it, that obviously works too...:D

[Steve Schlumpf]

Kathy - looks like I am a little late to this party....

Nice work on both the ornament and your hollowing tool! Nothing better than to be able to make your own tools! Have fun!

[Kathy Marshall]

Love the ornament and ditto Jim's and Tim's comments on adding another angle to the tool. You want to do something like this. It will keep the cutting edge in line with the handle but you can still get around corners.

Thanks James!
That picture is great and now I know just how to bend it! My shop foreman at work was able to bend it for me yesterday so instead of 90 deg it's more like 135 deg (about 1/2 way between the 90 and straight), but how you show it looks like it would work much better especially on the inside shoulder. I tried it today with the new bend and it worked much better that at the 90. The tool and handle were fun to make and I think I'll be making more in different sizes.