Hamlet hollowing tools

Paul, I understand what you are trying to achieve and I might give it a try on mine - when I next have time! It would be good to stop all that clogging especially on some of the "stringier" timbers that I have tried.

However, one thing that concerns me is subsequent sharpening or honing. You state that it is easier as there is less material to remove (which I can understand) but my concern is that with an effectively narrow bevel, it will be difficult to maintain the cutter upright on the stone. Is this not the case, or have you made a small jig?

-- Richard Hatton Hertfordshire, UK

(remove "nojunk" from address if responding by email)

Apart from the regrinding of the cutter to the shape I described, all the sharpening I do is with a small (credit card sized) flat hand held diamond hone. You are correct in saying that with a narrower bevel it is a little more difficult to maintain the correct angle between the cutter and the hone when sharpening but with care it isn't a problem. If at some point in time you did want to regrind the cutter on a wheel, I would suggest using a flat, adjustable table on the grinder to maintain the correct angle.

The resharpening process is pretty much the same as for a ring tool. I have a couple of those I have hand sharpened with a diamond hone since I bought them and they still work as well as they did when they were new. Although with those I do hone both the inside and the outside bevels on each side. I believe Hamlet recommend you don't hone the inside bevel of the cutter (I think its because its slightly curved and you would destroy the curve) but there's no reason why the 'new' cutting edge on the opposite side couldn't be honed inside and out.

It would be an interesting experiment to be able to compare the modified cutter alongside the original on the same piece of wood, just to make things a little more scientific ! If anyone has two cutters, maybe they would like to try it ?

Cheers

Paul