On Feb 21, 10:05 am, John wrote:
I have a question and think I already know the answer and that's $$$

I took a section of green log and decided to turn it so the heart was in
middle of the sides of the pot. Most of the hollowing was done with a
scraper.

Now the issue I had is that a couple of times the scraper caught and dug
in and then bounced off the sides. One third of the tool including
handle was past the rest.

Am I correct in assuming that if the tool had a longer handle, and it
had caught I would have had more ability to stabilise it and hence
reduced the chances of it digging in and bouncing off the walls.

Or could there be another reason before I go and buy / or make a longer
tool for the job
--
John


Hello John,

About 15 years ago, when I had fewer tools as you likely do and wanted
to do a hollow vessel, I made myself a hollowing tool using a three
foot length of 3/4" round steel rod. I drilled a hole in the end of it
to accept a 3/16" square machinist cutting tool. It seems like that
was about a 1/4" hole. I then filed off an angle space, 45 degrees to
the the shaft and drilled another hole that intersected the hole in
the end of the shaft. At the intersection of the two holes, I drilled
and tapped a hole for a 1/4 inch set screw. This allowed me to put the
tool in the end for straight in cutting or at an angle for expanded
cutting. I ground the cutter to have a semicircular cutting edge with
about a 70 degree bevel. I haven't used this tool in several years,
but it worked quite well.

I think this is probably similar to Darrell's Oland tool, but I had
never heard of the Oland tool when I made it up. This is probably the
leaset expensive solution to your problem. I never did put a handle on
the tool, but simply gripped the shaft. One thing that I never thought
of at the time was putting a second handle on the tool at right angles
to give me more control of the tool when it wanted to rotate when
using the cutter in the 45 degree hole. That trick I've learned about
since making up that tool.

As others mentioned, there are many fine tools on the market to do
hollowing and today, I own many of them. The best are the stabalized
boring bars with the laser guidance system to keep one from turning
through the side or bottom of the vessel.

However, as George says, with experience, you can do much of the
hollowing with a sharp pointed bowl gouges with swept back wings. For
less experience people, something as I just described or one of the
hollowing tools on the market will serve you better.

Fred Holder
http://www.fholder.com