Beginners tools for hollow form

[Jay Jolliffe]

What would you suggest for beginners tools to do easy hollow form....From reading & looking at some of the work I see on here looks like something I may want to try. I can only make so many bowls so I want to try something else.

[Richard Coers]

Your idea of easy hollow form doesn't help us much. How deep will be the main question. If it's over 6" deep, I suggest a captured system like the Jamieson or Monster. Less than 6", use hand held tools like John Jordans. If you start with Jordans, you can then use them in some captured systems latter.

[Dennis Ford]

Some hand held tools (swan neck style) can get you started with small hollow forms. Hollow forms range from Christmas ornament size to huge. I strongly suggest starting with the small ones. If you decide to go bigger; expect to buy (or make) bigger tools.

[John Keeton]

Most forms I did early on were less than 6" in depth. I used a hand held hollowing tool. It was not kind to my elbows and the process was laborious. I watched others on SMC go thru a series of hand held tools, looking for the perfect answer. It is easy to spend $150 here, $150 there, and still have the labor and abuse from using a hand held tool. In the end, it seemed the right answer was to just get the right tool to begin with!

I ended up with the Monster articulated system, and later acquired the additional parts to add the captive system. Life has been much more enjoyable since! There are other good systems, as well, and a multitude of threads on SMC as to why folks prefer one of the other. The only way you will know what is right for you is to actually try a few. You can do that with other turners, or attend a symposium somewhere.

There are those that simply enjoy the hollowing process, and particularly the challenge of doing it blind with a hand held tool. My hat is off to them!
For me, hollowing is simply a necessary process to create the turnings I do. If you are one of the former, then IMO, one of the better tools is the one sold by Dave Schweitzer of D-Way Tools. I watched him hollow a form in about 30 minutes at the AAW symposium, leaving the inside like it had been sanded. Of course, it wasn't the first he had done! The outrigger and wall thickness gauge on his tool is a real plus.

Or, you can take my approach - research the various systems, try some, and buy a good hollowing system with a laser. Your elbows will thank you, and your enjoyment of turning will improve substantially. As an added plus, you will not have gone thru several hundred dollars trying the various handheld tools.

[Jim Burr]

I'd suggest the "search" function and find stuff like; http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?179564-Hollowing-tools, or http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?201459-Hollowing-tools, or http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?154849-Hollowing-Tools and http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?126649-Hollowing-tools for starters.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

I have a Monster rig, and a Don Derry rig. For smaller forms, the Don Derry setup is very nice and fast to set up. There are lots of systems to choose from, and I think they all work.
I started with hand held, and as John says, get a captured system to start. I could only hollow for a short time and got very tired. Using either captured system, I can hollow all day.

Good luck!

[Bill Bukovec]

Cap'n Eddie Castelin has a make your own system.

A google search will find his site and you tube videos.

You may end up buying one, but at least you can see what's out there.

I'm working on a home made one using an articulated arm that was used for a computer monitor support.

Yes, I know I should take a picture of it. (too busy making a fairy door for the neighbor)

Bill

[Jay Jolliffe]

Where's the fairy door going?...Where we used to live & it was off the beaten path there was this wonderful older woman that lived a few houses up. She called one night & asked about the bright colored lights & fairies dancing on our roof. So what did my wife & I do ......we went out to see the fairies.....she was a sweet lady.

[Jon Lanier]

Most forms I did early on were less than 6" in depth. I used a hand held hollowing tool. It was not kind to my elbows and the process was laborious. I watched others on SMC go thru a series of hand held tools, looking for the perfect answer. It is easy to spend $150 here, $150 there, and still have the labor and abuse from using a hand held tool. In the end, it seemed the right answer was to just get the right tool to begin with!

I ended up with the Monster articulated system, and later acquired the additional parts to add the captive system. Life has been much more enjoyable since! There are other good systems, as well, and a multitude of threads on SMC as to why folks prefer one of the other. The only way you will know what is right for you is to actually try a few. You can do that with other turners, or attend a symposium somewhere.

There are those that simply enjoy the hollowing process, and particularly the challenge of doing it blind with a hand held tool. My hat is off to them!
For me, hollowing is simply a necessary process to create the turnings I do. If you are one of the former, then IMO, one of the better tools is the one sold by Dave Schweitzer of D-Way Tools. I watched him hollow a form in about 30 minutes at the AAW symposium, leaving the inside like it had been sanded. Of course, it wasn't the first he had done! The outrigger and wall thickness gauge on his tool is a real plus.

Or, you can take my approach - research the various systems, try some, and buy a good hollowing system with a laser. Your elbows will thank you, and your enjoyment of turning will improve substantially. As an added plus, you will not have gone thru several hundred dollars trying the various handheld tools.

Good advice!

[Scott Hackler]

Where's the fairy door going?...Where we used to live & it was off the beaten path there was this wonderful older woman that lived a few houses up. She called one night & asked about the bright colored lights & fairies dancing on our roof. So what did my wife & I do ......we went out to see the fairies.....she was a sweet lady.


huh????


I have a Carter Hollow Roller with a laser and systems like it (captured) and articulated are sure nice. No torc on the arms and the addition of the laser makes it really easy to get consistant wall thicknesses. That being said, I have several hend held tools (Ben Best and Trent Bosch and a few home made) and I still hollow a lot of things by hand. I find that when I want or need to get real thin (for piercing purposes) I just need the feedback from a hand tool to do it right. That and a lot of my HFs are under 4" wide and I am not breaking out any contraption to hollow those!

[Curt Fuller]

Hollowforms are something that most of us turners do in kind of a reverse evolution. We start out doing it the hard way using hand held hollowing tools of all kinds. After we've fought our way through that learning process we tend to graduate to the easier captured type tools. Must be something in human nature that makes us think we can get by with as little as possible. But looking back on my own experience I wish I would have switched to the captured system much sooner, maybe even never used a hand held hollowing tool. For what it's worth, I've converted my Sorby hollowmaster and all my home made hand held hollowers to fit in my captured rig. So I guess that's a pretty good indication that I have no plans to go back to hand held hollowing. Beyond that it becomes a Ford, Chevy, Dodge, Toyota argument over which is best. Pick one that looks good to you and learn how to use it.

[Pat Scott]

Or another way to look at this is to start out with hand tools (cheaper) and make sure you like making hollow forms before spending $500 or more on an articulating system with lasers.

I like the Mike Jackosfsky Hollow-Pro tools that use carbide cutters (hint - get the small #1 cutter even if you get the large tool).
Mike Mahoney uses the Kelton hollowing tools and can make a small hollow form in 30 minutes also. I don't know how the inside smoothness compares to Dave Schweitzer's tools.
Trent Bosch makes (and sells) his own hollowing tools as well. The Kelton and Bosch tools are fairly inexpensive.