Termite hollowing tool

[Rich]

Has anyone out there had any experience with the termite hollowing tool? I am thinking of getting one. Have heard it is a tricky tool to use. It looks to me like a common ring tool. What kind of problems to expect? Should I be looking for something else?
Thanks everyone in advance and Merry Christmas.

Rich

 

[GeorgeH]

My experience with this tool has been mixed. When it's sharp and the proper angle of attack is maintained it's a wonderful friend. Twist it just a little bit off axis and it'll grab like a vise. I suppose that translates into you've got to focus your attention heavily on the work and not allow an instant of lost concentration. I still use it to hog out the bulk of my bowls but drop it back into its slot in favor of a good bowl gouge when the heavy work is done.

 

[Richard Baker]

Rich,
Consider also one of the Hunter tools. Not a recommendation exactly, just a suggestion. I use the Hunter inserts on a couple of home made tools. They can be a little tricky too, but am liking them so far.

 

[MichaelMouse]

Yep, it's a ring tool, which is to say a closed hook tool, and it's used like a gouge at 90 degrees to the handle. Most of us are fully aware of what happens if we turn the nose of our gouges up into the rotating work, so it stands to reason we don't want to do that with the Termite. Problem is, we use it down deep or underneath where we can't see it. Tactile feedback and a cautious A-B-C go a long way. As does tape on the handle to help visualize the ring orientation.

I think it's a fine tool for cutting end grain, and a reasonable tool for shaving along the grain as long as you keep the bite small. That way the shavings will go through the ring rather than clogging. Scrapers or tools like the Hunter, and other ring section tools which use a depth-of-cut limiter for the shavings have their own set of probems, but overfeeding, with catastrophic results isn't one of them.

 

[john lucas]

Rich I have a hook tool, termite tool and homemade round scraper and I have been using the Hunter tool for about 6 months. I love the Hunter hands down over the others. The hook tool and Termite tool are a pain to sharpen and the scraper simply doesn't leave a clean surface.
The hunter tool never needs sharpening. It is a highly polished carbide and comes almost razor sharp. It is round so if it ever gets dull you simply rotate the edge to a new section. It the whole thing gets dull you just replace the cutter. I've turned well over 20 items including some big hollow forms and lots of Ash boxes. I haven't dulled one side yet. I would think one cutter would last for years unless your a production turner. Even then the time saved by not sharpening would be well worth the price of the cutter.
They don't break like hook tools can and they don't clog like ring tools can. I can finish the inside of a box and really don't need to sand. I usually do anyway but I start with 220.
There is a learning curve to using this. It works best as an endgrain hollowing tool. You tilt the tool to the left at about 45 degrees and then move the handle to the right to rub the bevel and get the tool to cut. This is just like using the ring tool. I tilt mine much steeper than 45 degrees most of the time. You cut from the bottom to the lip on and endgrain box.
Don't use the tool flat like a scraper. it will catch.
http://www.hunterwoodturningtool.com/
I like the #4 tool for general use. I mounted the #3 in a 3/4" bar so I could use it in my captured bar system. I have several #1 cutters that I have mounted in different bars for both deep hollowing and hollowing ornaments and small boxes. The #1 cutters come mounted in different short mounts so they will fit the Lyle Jamieson and John Jordan boring bars as well as many others. Mike Hunter is a very friendly guy and will answer any questions you have concerning the tools.
I'm learning new things to do with these tools all the time so I'm trying to put together an article on how I use them. I'll let everyone know when I get it done.

 

[hockenbery]

Rich I've had a termite for close to 15 years.

It is a just a ring tool. I have good success using it to hollow fairly open end grain pieces like boxes. like a hook tool it cuts well from the bottom of the form up to the rim sort of like a gouge going backwards and it can produce a very clean cut. I get it to work best with the tool rest a bit above center. If you ever let the wood drive down onto the cutting edge it produces a catch just like every other tool when the wood drives onto the cutting edge. The covered ring tools like the hamlet and munro almost eliminate the catch.

It does not require a drilled hole to hollow. It will pick up the cut just a bit right of center and carry it cleanly across the bottom.

It will also clog if you try to pass more wood through the hole than will fit by letting the cut go too deep.
Usually you can just turn it over and take a smaller cut and it pushed the clog out.

I often turn 4-6" high green wood goblets at general public demos like the state fair. I give these away un-finished and un-sanded. I like using the termite to hollow the goblets since it give a nice finish. It also is tool most of the crowd hasn't seen.

All that said, if I didn't already own a termite, I'd probably make a hook tool. Alan Lacer does a terrific demo. He makes a hook tool in less than 15 minutes.
see: http://www.alanlacer.com/
click on articles and scroll down to the one on hook tools.



happy turning,
Al

 

[dkulze]

I've personally always had a hard time with termite hollowing tools. First of all, those little buggers are SMALL!!. Second, I've never quite figured out what to do with the termites once their hollowed. Guess I never quite got the point of it.

dk

 

[john lucas]

DK I once told a lady that I hollowed my Christmas ornaments by coating the outside with a special chemical and then I put termites inside and they eat away all but the areas soaked by the chemicals. I was out of my booth later and overheard her telling someone else that it was how I hollowed them. I don't remember if she was blond.

 

[jffink]

gullible

John Lucas wrote: "I once told a lady that I hollowed my Christmas ornaments by coating the outside with a special chemical and then I put termites inside and they eat away all but the areas soaked by the chemicals. I was out of my booth later and overheard her telling someone else that it was how I hollowed them."

Did you know that the word "gullible" is no longer in the Oxford English Dictionary?

 

[GeorgeH]

Did you know that the word "gullible" is no longer in the Oxford English Dictionary?

I think it's still in there, some place between "naive" and "stupid":cool2:

 

[gary webb]

termite

I bought one when they came out a copel of years back with in a few min had some of the bigest dig on the inside of a butiful funeral urn cuoldn't save put it and the tool in the trash

 

[Gretch Flo]

embellishments

I've personally always had a hard time with termite hollowing tools. First of all, those little buggers are SMALL!!. Second, I've never quite figured out what to do with the termites once their hollowed. Guess I never quite got the point of it.

dk

Dietrich-somewhere I saw some artist use ants or some critters painted on their work. Now you can use the real thing, made lighter by hollowing, and charge alot more for the piece. Not sure the urethane oil will "Pop" the 3 dimensions like you once stated it would on curly or burl wood. Gretch

 

[waltben]

I used a Termite for several years with fairly good success once I figured that the opening MUST start to the side. I marked the handle and shaft with a Sharpie so I could tell where it was when deep into something. I moved to the Woodcut Performe tool (hold it in a Jamison captive rig) about three or four years back to get a smoother finish. One of my club members made a new handle for his Termite last year out of an auto axle and custom handle that I tried - the heavier and longer handle really made a positive difference. Made me wonder why Oneway sells it with that little stick instead.

 

[Dave Roller]

John Lucas wrote: "I once told a lady that I hollowed my Christmas ornaments by coating the outside with a special chemical and then I put termites inside and they eat away all but the areas soaked by the chemicals. I was out of my booth later and overheard her telling someone else that it was how I hollowed them."

Did you know that the word "gullible" is no longer in the Oxford English
Dictionary?

gullible (__________), a.
[f. gull v.3 + -ible; historically it seems to have been a back-formation from prec. Cf. gullable.]
Capable of being gulled or duped; easily cheated, befooled. Also absol.
1825 Carlyle Schiller ii. 104 The king of quacks, the renowned Cagliostro,..harrowing up the souls of the curious and gullible of all ranks..by various thaumaturgic feats.
1831 — Sart. Res. (1858) 68 Gullible, however, by fit apparatus, all Publics are; and gulled, with the most surprising profit.
1860 Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. III. cxli. 121 Another fallacy..by which the gullible among the English are to be kept in awe.
1879 Geo. Eliot Theo. Such xvii. 305 The very fishes of our rivers, gullible as they look.
Hence
'gullibly adv.
1877 Tinsley’s Mag. XXXI. 657 Mrs. Tittle was gullibly open to flattery.

 

[john lucas]

Most of the words I use when working on my car aren't in the dictionary either.