Bill Bolen
11-08-2008, 7:06 PM
I originally posted pics of my homemade Steel Snake (thanks again Capt. Eddie!) but I have added so much to it. I had to make the additions so as to have a “complete” hollowing system. There is so much more to hollowing than making the snake or any kind of bit holder. The first time I used the snake on a larger HF I had to stop because the work was vibrating when cutting. I knew I needed some sort of steady rest. After looking around on the web I cobbled together the 4-wheel rest pictured. Using a 4 wheel I can retract the arm at the 11:00 position to give clearance for the laser arm. What a difference the steady makes for larger forms. Really don’t need it on the shorter forms but anything over a dept of 6” or so it really helps. Second big addition to the snake was a laser. I went through the side on 2 or 3 pieces and figured enough wasted effort. I stared getting prices for the parts to make my own but after hitting $50 for just the parts I discovered Stan’s laser mount for his Elbo tool. I bought the laser system from him and couldn’t be happier with it. Since I had used 1” solid square steel bar stock to make the snake Stan’s Elbo mount screwed right on. The only thing I needed to modify was the horizontal arm that holds the laser light. The Elbo was a bit to short so a trip to Home Depot and the purchase of a 3/8” steed rod fixed it right up. I also needed a larger bar on a cranked neck with a scraper to smooth out the ridges left when cutting. I had never had much luck with my Sorby goose neck tool when hand-held so I removed it from the handle and mounted it to the snake. My goodness how nice this works. Lucky for me the shaft on the Sorby was turned down to 5/8” where it went into the handle. With this “tennon” on the shaft it slid right into my snake. I can put it back on then handle when needed but so far it has remained set for the snake. Yes, it is not as pretty as the custom made systems but us old retired guys on a pension need to save $$ whenever we can. Besides, I love making my own tools! The 7"X6" spalted maple HF is the piece mounted in the pic's….Thanks for looking!…Bill…