questions

Reyd The Martel hook tool is a very good hook tool. I made one a while ago to compare it to a regular hook and I was impressed. I prefer the regular hook but I think I would prefer the Martel style if I had started with it. By the way, this is primarily an end grain cutting tool.

Don't really know Reyd, but with any tools like this where the main body is the cutter, each time you sharpen, you effectively are getting rid of what yopu paid good money for. Also, buy the range of acessories, I would say it might not be that easy to sharpen correctly.

I have a Munro system, which uses "throw away cutters" which are only a few dollars each. It works really well, is easy to use and "friendly"

Try this link, to have a look at it.

Rex Auckland New Zealand

The tool looks fine but not much info on the web site (models, cost, etc). I wrote to him for info.

Rex Haslip wrote:

I too bought his tool (actually, I bought 2) while I was in NZ. price was 330 NZ$ (add the shipping cost or the plane ticket !). Rolly was nice enough to do a special demo for us. It was really impressive. I've just started to use it, but my first impressions are really good, and I find it much easier to use than the woodcut. btw Rex, your country is really very nice. too bad we only had 3 weeks there. Pascal

Hi Rex I recently bought one too and I have to say that its seems vastly superior to the Woodcut I previously had. Mind you, Rolly was on hand when I first used it which was extremely helpful. Nothing seems to be too much trouble for him.

The only criticism I have is that it uses three Allen keys and I seem to be constantly picking them up and dropping them in shavings. I noticed Rolly has a T-holder with an Allen key in each leg which seems a much better idea. I'm going to coerce a metal munching mate to make up something like that for me.

Graeme Campbell Sydney Woodturners Guild

Interesting you make that observation about the Allen keys as it matches my experience too. Overall, though, I like the tool a lot and wrote a fairly lengthy review on it for More Woodturning that Fred has been kind enought to post here: