Woody wrote:
I'm attempting my first hollow vessel. I've completed the outside to my
satisfaction and am in the process of hollowing it out. I drilled out
the center and used a bowl gouge to get the initial hollowing complete.

I'm now trying to hollow the sides out with a smaller Sorby swan neck
tool, but am getting what seems to be excessive chatter. I'm keeping the
straight part of the tool on the toolrest.

I'm convinced the tool is sharp enough and I'm hollowing from the bottom
of the vessel to the side and from the top to the side (all downhill) so
I don't believe the chatter is from going in the wrong direction. My
impression is that with light passes, the chatter goes away, but it will
take me *forever* to get the bulk of the walls thinned.

What is/are your preferred tool(s) for hollowing vessels and, in
particular, for the "bulk hollowing" after you've set the vessel depth
and done any initial bowl gouge work.

~Mark.
I bought some curved 1/4" tool steel cutters (I believe from
Packard). Drilled a hole in the end of a 3/4" steel bar (from Lowe's)
to accept the cutter and placed a couple of setscrews in the side to
hold it. I slipped the other end of the steel bar into a piece of
galvanized pipe, again held with set screws with a "T" on the pipe for
a hand hold to prevent twisting. Altogether cost about 15-20 dollars
and works for me. As you can see, I'm on a budget.

Darrel Feltmate has a similar tool on his web site,
aroundthewoods.com, except his is swan necked and uses a straight tool
and his handle has two elbows instead of a "T".

If this is too confusing from the description I can send you a couple
of pictures if you leave your email address.

--
Gerald Ross
Cochran, GA

Social Security: World's biggest Ponzi Scheme.