hi, alan strattton, from as wood turns (www.aswoodturns.com)in an upcoming video, i plan to do a small hollow form turning. however, as i examined my tools, at leastthe ones that i have found so far, my tools are all too big for a small hollow form. they are for larger hollow forms.
old woodworking tools bought, so, in order to rectify this situation, i’mgoing to make my own set of small hollow form tools. this one will be for straight cutting andfor a little bit off axis. this will be for reaching around the cornerof a neck.
i hope i don’t need one that is in between. if so, i’ll have to make it. for now, let’s make these two small hollowform tools. to begin with, i’m not an experienced metalworker nor a tool maker. i am a woodworker and woodturner. this is a new experience for me. my raw material consists of two allen wrenches. i picked the largest ones i have. i’m starting with the bent tool.
the allen wrench is already bent but is toolong. i’m using the corner of the coarse grindingwheel to cut off the excess length. i’m using a vise grip clamp to extend mygrip. with the bent length about right, i’m continuingto shape the wrench into a typical round nose scraper. an occasional dip into water keeps the tooltemperature down. this is my original 6 inch grinder with theoriginal coarse and fine grinding wheels. i don’t recall the exact grit. i’m switching now to a finer grinding wheelfor a little more refinement to the shape.
i’m switching now to the straight tool. again this is an allen wrench. the difference is that i will cut off thebent end entirely before grinding it to a round nose scraper. i once was talking with another turner whohad made his bent hollowing tool from an allen wrench. he complained about having to heat the steelto straighten it. he had then bent the steel to the side atthe length he wanted. when i suggested simply grinding off the extralength and using the factory bend, he had
one of those aha moments. after cussing for a minute, he did calm down. now i’m refining the straight tool on thefine wheel. that should be good enough for both tools. however, i also have a new 8 inch grinderwith a fine cbn wheel. i’m dressing both tools a little bit morewith this very fine wheel. no tool is complete without a handle. this is a piece of fig wood. i’m roughing the wood and cutting a mountingtenon.
i’m roughing with a bowl gouge then refiningwith a small skew. now, i’m mounting the handle in my chuckfitted with long nose jaws that will hold a smaller tenon. next to drill a hole for the tool steel. after cutting a small recess where i’m startthe drill, i’m drilling with a hand held jacobs chuck. thank you steve for this. it’s not hard to drill the fig because woodhad a center pithy area. i’m just reaming out the pith.
now for the final shaping. i’ll do with work with a skew. i like a simple shape. the handle is thicker at front, then thinner,then a little swelling for the palm area, then thinner again just in front of the end. i’m not putting a ferrule on this handle. we’ll see if that is a good decision. i’ll sand with mineral oil and beeswax. that will also be the finish.
next the second handle. this handle is a piece of elm. previously i had turned it round for anotherproject. but, it has some cracks on one side. i’m offsetting the blank to use solid wood. turning this handle is the same process asthe first one. with both handles finished, i’m mixing someepoxy and gluing the tools into the handles. this epoxy has to harden overnight so i’lltake a break until tomorrow before turning a small hollow form.
with the length of these tools, they’regood for hollow forms up to about 3 inches in height. my tools are ready. my investment consists of two old large allenwrenches and a couple of scraps for handles. next i’ll test them. with that, we’ll see you again next weekwith another woodturning video. please give this video a thumbs up, subscribeand tell your friends. always wear your full face shield –gogglesare not enough. then keep on turning.
until next week, this is alan stratton fromas wood turns dot com.
