Making a ring tool

Your idea of using a wrench sounds interesting. Have a look at

Denis Rothesay, New Brunswick

The hook tool is my next project. The ring tool I made uses a 7/16" box end wrench with the inner surfaces drilled out. I ground the outside flat and used a cone shaped stone on the inside to create the bevel. I then ground part of the shaft down to about 1/4" and inserted that into a handled shaft I drilled out. I used 2 setscrews to hold the cutter in place.

In green wood, the cut is excellent. You can start the cut in the centre and the curls fly right out through the hole. In dry wood, it's not as clean and that is where I would appreciate some input. Perhaps a different cutting angle?

I enjoy making my own tools and experimenting with different shapes. I know I can buy the cutter from OneWay but for those of you who know first hand the pleasure of using a tool you've made yourself, you'll know why I don't go that route. For those of you who haven't made you own tools, you might be missing out on a lot of fun! I also find that as a bonus, I get a much better understanding of why a certain tool is designed a particular way. Once I understand the why, I get a better understanding of the how (to use the tool).

Mike Ottawa, Canada snipped-for-privacy@canada.com

Cut from below center from edge to base, into the face, skewing the trailing part a bit. Works great, seen it done by the bodger re-enactors, and do something similar with the left wing of a bowl gouge.

Caution, shavings roll up in the "opposite" reaction.

Thanks George. I've been going from the center out. I'll try it your way and see what happens.

Mike

George wrote:

I have made hook tools from Allen wrenches, heated hot and hammered flat, ground sharp, heated again to make the hook, then quenched & tempered, and they work well, especially these

for hogging out large amounts of material and the one on the right here for getting up into the top of small holed, wide, hollow vases. I have had better luck with store bought things like the Sorby 1" ring tool but even better the hamlet Big Brother and Goliath. (even in CA, USA, I can get them cheapest from England, go figure) Despite Fred Holder's disdain for them, I have solved the problem he mentions on his site by using Belleville washers to hold the ring and cover in place as I tighten. I use them on the end of my Sorby Texan multi tip tool, which works just fine. Regarding the cut, here I am hollowing with the big brother in dry walnut. the tool tip is above CL. On really wide topped vases, I may have the tip quite a bit higher, and handle rotated on its axis about 45 degrees to the left, perhaps less, sometimes more. I find this works well especially in a pull cut, but I do the final smoothing with a teardrop scraper tip with a freshly ground bevel on the wet grinder, makes a super fine surface. The ring tool just can't approach it for fairness of the final cut due to its tighter radius. For 'push' cuts with the ring tool, I bring the handle more or less level to CL, adjusting up a bit if it feels right for the wood and the particular ring, also the angle of the approaching surface to be cut affects this greatly. Slightly above CL seems to prevent the big scary catches. for big stuff when catches might get out of my control, I put the tool handle under my armpit (using my other lathe wich is above waist level).

Takes practice. You'll find that to get the best cut, you need to have a ledge of some sort to cut into and another surface to rub bevel against, and the angles of these things will be different for different tools, and may work optimally only at very specific angles for any one hook.

Mike R. Courteau wrote:

Sorry, my mistake: it was Lyn Mangiameli who wrote about the Hamlet Big Brother, Fred Holder just has the article on his website. Anyway, the solution is still: Belleville Washer.