Two tool reviews

[TurningDog]

Too often I think we get all excited bothered about name brand tools, in the same way women do about shoes. It seems to me that we forget about the little guys who do a fine job making tools in small batches many of them professional machinists and woodworkers. I have recently purchased two tools that were very noteworthy.

First a swan neck hollower from ebayer Davewood217 I paid $28.50 including shipping. I showed up before my check ever cleared the bank which says something about the trust of the seller. The shank is a sturdy 3/8 steel with a nicely turned hardwood handle. The cutter is a little snaller than I like but the same size as a the sorby bullet cutter. I gave the cutter a quick once over with my diamond file and went to work. The tool cuts works as well as my much more expensive (and borrowed) sorby swan neck tool. I replaced the bullet cutter with a sorby teardrop cutter which I had to grind the flat of the shank back a little bit for optimal use but all in all this was a good tool at a great price. The only other improvement I can think of for this would be a stabelizer bar or side handle, but those are things I can do myself. I am confident that with his feedback and the quality of this tool the next time he puts something new up I am going to take a chance on it.

The second tool of note is just a fabulous piece of work. To replace my teardrop cutter off my recently canibalized straight hollower (a homemade copy of the sorby tool) I bought a new HSS teardrop cutter from Monster Tools. A friend told me this was a good cutter so for the same price of ordering another sorby cutter for $20 and change delivered I bought this one. When It arived I was surprised that not only was it bigger it is a 1/4" thick. I honed it up and went to work with it. this is a phenominal cutter and for this price it needs to be mentioned so more people know. The cutter is not listed for sale on the website separately which means you will have to shoot off an email but it is well worth it. If the rest of his hollowing tools are as good as this piece I am certainly going to be spending some more money. the only improvement I could think of for this cutter would be if I could get it in a harder steel so i could make good use of a negative rake on it.

Give them a look and remember that Jerry Glaser was just and average joe woodturner who knew something about engineering and made tools out of his garage for a long time, and I don't think there is a person on this forum that would say no to a glaser bowl gouge.

 

[dkulze]

Thanks for the review, Dog.

If you're looking for carbide, just track down the local supplier of carbide cutting tips for machine tools(yellow pages under machine tools). They'll have single flute milling tips, flat tip stock, round stock, etc. If they don't have what you want, they'll know who does.

Dietrich

 

[cweddig]

Thanks for the info.

"The only other improvement I can think of for this would be a stabelizer bar or side handle, but those are things I can do myself."

I haven't done much hollowing, but is this similar to a side handle on an angle grinder/hammer drill? The hollowing I have done is tedious because the tool seems to wants to roll sometimes. Is that normal? Will a side handle help with this problem?

-Chris

 

[Bill Grumbine]

I'll second the comments about Randy at Superior Design - www.monster-wood-tool.com. I have his laser guided torque arrested hollowing rig as well as a couple of rests for my Vega lathe, and all of them are very nice pieces. I think his stuff is at least as good as anything else out there, and better than a lot.

Bill

 

[TurningDog]

Thanks for the info.

"The only other improvement I can think of for this would be a stabelizer bar or side handle, but those are things I can do myself."

I haven't done much hollowing, but is this similar to a side handle on an angle grinder/hammer drill? The hollowing I have done is tedious because the tool seems to wants to roll sometimes. Is that normal? Will a side handle help with this problem?

-Chris

A side handle is pretty much the same as as it is for a grinder or hammer drill in that it is attached to the handle giving you better control, in fact i have one hollowing tool that uses the side handle off my old hammer drill. A stableizer bar is a bit different in that it is attached to the tool shaft and rests along the tool rest and use that to prevent it from rolling. I would suggest you have a look at the monster tool link that both Bill and I have provided.