Will you share?

[Peter Blair]

I wonder if any Creekers are willing to share photos of small home made hollowing tools.

I am especially interested in what the rest of you are using to hollow through small holes for small hollow forms like bird houses and Christmas tree ornaments.

I read about modified allen wrenches and other custom home built tools but can't seem to get my head around how small bent tools are sharpened, handled etc.

[Jim Burr]

Paging Tim Reinhart(spelling)!! I have a great little hollowing tool from him for just that purpose...since he made it, he can post the pic. One the other hand, if the objective is material removal in a fast manner on a symmetrical inner core...Forstner bit is a go to.

[Michael Stafford]

A few years back after seeing a Dick Sing demo where he used Allen wrenches to make hollowing tools for small objects such as ornaments I decided to make one for myself. I was unhappy with the results using an Allen wrench and dug out an old sash mortise chisel which I converted to a hollowing tool with a little grinding. Works great and gives a new life to a tool I would never have used.
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[Peter Blair]

Thanks for sharing Michael. Did you bend it as well as the grinding you mentioned? If so, did it have to be softened and then re-tempered?

[Curt Fuller]

I think mine are about as simple as the allen wrench variety get. Here are two, one with the full 90 degree bend of the allen wrench and one with most of it ground away.

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[Michael Mills]

I have made several with allen wrenches but you can just buy small steel rod also.
This site shows several. The way I was taught was to align the tip with the shaft. You would heat and bend the shaft about an inch down and then heat and bend the tip as necessary. There is also another link on the same page to heat treating…about like Roy Underhill showed years and years ago. Heat to red hot, cool, and reheat to wheat straw color.
http://hiltonhandcraft.com/Articles/TinyHollowing.asp (http://hiltonhandcraft.com/Articles/TinyHollowing.asp)
Unless you just like lots of handles you can use a ¼” drill chuck on a handle and quickly change out any number of bits for special jobs.

[Jim Underwood]

I've posted a picture of mine here, along with a word of caution to make a goose neck in the tool:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?170806-allen-key-orament-hollower&highlight=allen+wrench

[Michael Stafford]

Thanks for sharing Michael. Did you bend it as well as the grinding you mentioned? If so, did it have to be softened and then re-tempered?

No Peter, this was made from a sash mortise chisel which already had that bend in the tool shaft. I just took advantage of the bend for hollowing globe ornaments and such.

[Greg Ketell]

A slightly different take... A friend of mine made these for me a while ago. They are 3/16" carbon steel square stock with 1/8" hardened steel tips brazed onto the end. Work great!

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The one problem I had with using allen wrenches was that the angles of the hex would dig into my tool rest. Not a problem if you have one with a hardened steel top but mine are all soft steel.

GK

[Mike Peace]

Here are two views of a 1/2" HF scraper I re-purposed by regrinding to a Dale Nish style scraper. This works great for hollowing globe ornaments. Beats the
heck out of an Allen wrench in that it is stiffer so less chatter and stays sharper longer. I use a small rare earth magnet as a depth marker. I line up the line I marked with a felt tip pen with the front opening to help me understand where the tip is.

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[Michael Stafford]

Seeing how Mike Peace uses a magnet to help establish his depth reminded me of a way I use magnets. I don't have a picture but I imagine it will not be hard to visualize.

You know how when you are roughing out a piece of wood, particularly a dry piece of wood and the hot chips fly down the flute and burn your hand. I have tender hands :p. Rather than wearing a glove I just take one or two rare earth magnets of a diameter that fits the flute radius and place them in the flute. The hot chips are diverted and my tender skin is protected. :) Works great!

[Marc Himes]

I have tried some home made small diameter hollowing tools, but the Dale Nish scraper like Mike Peace shows has worked very well for me. I can comfortably hollow out of a 3/4" hole for my hollowed out globes and I haven't felt the need to go smaller yet.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

If you look at my ornament you can see that I made only a 1/4" opening to hollow through and the wall is about 2 mm to 2.5mm (1/10")

I made a bunch of small tools, both for turning real small pieces and for hollowing, the ornaments being the larger ones.

I use 6" long screw-driver bits, they are low cost and good steel, also long concrete nails and things like sewing machine parts and other arts and pieces from printers etc.

I made these pictures some years ago when asked about the tools I used for the mini turnings, I have made a few more, just whatever I need with the curves that fit the job.

The tip of the swan-neck tools should line up with the tool shaft to eliminate the twisting torque you would get otherwise, HTH :)

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[Peter Blair]

Thanks everyone. And Wow Leo.
I gotta try to make some of these.
I am interested in hollowing through 1/2" and smaller openings.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

You are very welcome Peter, just show the ones you make and the pieces you turn with it :D