Turning Closed forms

You could spend your next year's paycheck buying one of each of the hollowing tools which are out there. If you want to buy/build a trapped system (recommended) take a look at

you have metal-working tools and skills (welding helps) you can make a system pretty easily along these lines. I'd suggest that you get some time under your belt with scraping tools

-- either the Jamieson or the Ellsworth. Also look at Kelton and John Jordan has introduced a new line of tools which are ready to hit the market.

Then, you get into the ring tools, the shielded ring tools, the hook tools... Or, you may find that one of the scraping system works so well for you that you don't want to deal with the clogging problems of the shielded ring tools.

As to judging wall thickness -- you can do it the old way with a selection of commercial and home-made wall thickness measuring tools -- bent coat hangers can be made to work pretty well.

Then, for the next step (assuming you are using a trapped system) is a laser system. There have been a number of articles about such subjects in the AAW Journal during the last few years -- if you are not a member you should be.

Others, when turning very thin, use an automotive light bulb taped to the tool and overdriven to 20 volts or so. It won't last long but it is bright and you can get pretty good at judging wall thickness this way.

If the bulb seems too big and fragile, you can graduate to a fiber optic light guide illuminated by a 150 watt bulb. This is very bright, is much smaller and generates no heat inside the vessel which can be a problem. This requires specialized, pretty expensive equipment, though.

Also remember that usually (not always) when doing hollow forms you will orient the blank on the lathe so that the grain is parallel to the bed, not perpendicular as for bowls. That changes the technique you should be using for shaping the outside of the form.

What do I use? I have a home-made boring bar system -- much like the Jamieson but made from 1" mild steel. It can take my Ellsworth, Kelton or Jordan tools. I also use a home-made laser system and the fiber optic light guide which I bought last week.

Bill

Dear woodturner your best bet is get the jornan video and jaimeson video with that you are pretty much on the way happy turning ED