Chatter can be a GOOD thing.

[Russell Neyman]

I'd like to learn more about creating chatter, and it seems to me there's more to it than buying a tool. In fact, I don't own one of those store bought ones, yet I've gotten/encountered/stumbled upon wonderful designs using a long, thin flexible gouge or parting tool and pulling the tool rest away from the wood. Truth is, I can't always achieve that.

Some woods seem to chatter better than others. I suspect grain orientation and lathe speed also come into play.

Comments?

[Thom Sturgill]

I just made a chatter tool and have barely begun experimenting with it. Basically, drill a hole (3/8" - 1/2") from the end into a section of soft rolled steel about 3/4" deep. Drill another hole about 1/4" from the end (from the side) and thread that for a set screw or thumb screw. Turn a dowel to fil the first hole and cut it in half lengthwise and then cut off a section to fit in the first hole. Now grind down part of a used saws-all blade (seems to work best), or heavy hacksaw blade to fit in the bar and grind a pointed or rounded end on it.

Since I already had the materials, cost was about an hour of labor.

End grain seems to chatter the best, so works well for box tops, spinning tops, and on endgrain HFs. 500 rpm or so and harder woods seems to work for me. Try different angles of attack for different patterns too.

I think I see one of the Sorby wheeled tools in my future.

Good luck and keep experimenting. And post pictures!

[Russell Neyman]

I've toyed with old saw blades. Anyone have luck with that?

[Bob Mezzatesta]

Sawsall blades work great. Never had any luck other than end grain. Makes a screaming racket.

[Hayes Rutherford]

If you are in a hurry try this. A Bosh or similar jig saw blade in vise grips. About 800 rpm, downward angle, sharpen blade like a scraper. Either a radius, pointy, no rules here.

[Lloyd Butler]

You can get chatter on end and side grain, but to get a consistent pattern, then end grain works better. Chatter is a compressive detail, so if your wood has a consistent grain structure then you can get a better pattern, otherwise the pattern will be deeper in some places and shallower in others.

The harder the wood, the less distinct the pattern, but but these can be enhanced with a contrasting finish of some sort. With a softer wood the pattern can be quite deep and that can lead to a very "sloppy" pattern.

I have not played with different shaped tools (pointed or rounded) yet to see what the differences in pattern might be. I have just used the "pointy" blade and as was pointed out it is very noisy.