Where can I buy hollowing cutters? Not carbide

[Alan Weinberg]

I want the HSS ones I can use they are less aggressive than carbide. Oval and rounded are what I’m looking for.

 

[Darryn Achall]

HSS I use these and grind the tip to a shape I like for rough hollowing. Trent Bosch and most other hollowing websites sell hss radius scrapers and radius negative rake scrapers for finishing.

 

[Tom McDonnell]

Az carbide has small John Jordan hss cutters.

 

[John K Jordan]

I think you can still get them from the late JohnJordan's web site, or at least you could not long ago.

Cutters

High speed steel tool cutters that fit into John Jordan's hollowing tools as well as a few other systems.

www.johnjordanwoodturning.com

I have a set of the tools and arm brace and bought extra cutters.
The little sharpening jig is useful, grind to suit.

Sharpening Jig

Use the sharpening jig to sharpen the hooktool and straight cutters, as you would the Vari-grind attachment with the Wolverine Grinding Jig.

www.johnjordanwoodturning.com

JKJ

 

[Kirk Amidon]

I've purchased the blanks from Amazon and as noted about, AZ carbide has them too.

 

[Alan Weinberg]

Az Carbide only has carbide and the John Jordan ones aren’t round. I ordered the steel bars Darren noted and some Bosch ones. Thanks all!

 

[robo hippy]

Maybe check sith Lyle Jamieson or Trent Bosch. They both sell hollowing systems.

robo hippy

 

[hughie]

I want the HSS ones I can use they are less aggressive than carbide. Oval and rounded are what I’m looking for.

Scrapers or actual cutters? Most of the shielded cutter available such as Sorby, Woodcut are HSS and can be bought separatly from the maker. As to the scraper type you can make your own out of flat or sheet HSS. The most common source and for the most part it will be free is old or broken Cold Saw blades. Broken blades are generally thrown out thickness ranges from around 2-3mm thick and are readily cut with the 1mm 4" inch cut offgrinder wheels. Punching a hole in them can be a challenge, I have seen a lot of comments on how the 'drill a hole' in them. But you can use an arc welder with eamp set high and blow a hole A bit rough but it will do the job. I use a Plasma Arc. cuts like a knife through butter.

See here if you are not familar

Cold Saw Blades | Cold Cut Saw Blade | Cold Saw Shop

Find the best value in cold saw blades for sale here. We carry industrial-quality blades in high-speed steel (HSS) and carbide-tipped for all machines.

coldsawshop.com

Virtually all my scrapers are DIY from cold saw blades. The Dutch or German blades have the superior HSS, I shy away from the Chinese, local USA blades are good. I just dont see many of them down in my part of the world.

 

[Neil S]

Virtually all my scrapers are DIY from cold saw blades. The Dutch or German blades have the superior HSS, I shigh away from the Chinese, local USA blades are good. I just dont see many of them down in my part of the world.

I can vouch for Hughie's cold saw blade scraper tips...

And, being so thin, they are resharpened very quickly at the lathe by hand with a diamond or CBN plate!

Also, readily re-shaped to different profiles.

 

[Wyatt Holm]

Here's some cutters, they may not be exactly what you are looking for, but there are several options. https://carterandsontoolworks.com/c...ey-tools/products/replacement-straight-cutter

 

[Hugh]

Look on the MSCdirect.com website.......look up "tool bits". You can purchase the square 3/16" x 2 1/2" bits and make two of the Ellsworth/jordan type of tool bit.
For the flat tear drop and oval shaped cutters......MSC again....will sell you some O-1 flat steel. Cut the shape you want, drill the hole and then heat them with a good torch to bright cherry red........cool in an oil bath. Sharpen them up again.
Cut out a number of them and heat treat them all at one time. They work really well.
Second option is to find some old planner blades and cut them out to the shape you want. Instead of drilling a hole through that hardened steel......just cut a slot.
Works great.

 

[Doug Freeman]

I want the HSS ones I can use they are less aggressive than carbide. Oval and rounded are what I’m looking for.

Through my research and use of hollowing tools over the past dozen years, hss tips are 3/16 or 1/4” square “fly cutter bits” or "lathe tool bits", typically 2-2-1/2” long, and sometimes the inserted end is round. Some are glued in and some are held by a set screw. These cut by scraping. The small edge size defines them as hollowing tool bits. I buy m2 or m42 either 4 or 5” long (can’t remember) on ebay in quantity and cut in 1/2. I insert a square end and hold with set screw.

These can be very aggressive and remove material very quickly. Difficult to leave a nice smooth surface. A small tool edge is what is needed for initial rough hollowing. These get out to near final shape the quickest.

The larger oval or teardrop shaped hss cutters are scraper inserts. They are intended to smooth out the surface left by the above tool bits (or smooth ID and OD of any form). The large edges can easily grab too much of a cut to be used for actual hollowing. These can be used as flat top scrapers or the edges ground for negative rake. I've purchased these from several outlets over the years. Todd Raines has 3 sizes in T1 tungsten that hold an edge much longer than the m2 inserts I have.

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A properly sharpened hss scraper is sharper and more aggressive than a carbide insert, flat top or cupped. For this reason, I use flat top carbide cutters (8.9mm round, purchased on ebay in ~qty 10) for most of my shop made hand held hollowing tools, which are used for smaller forms ~3-4" off the rest, or working the top of larger forms. Because they are less aggressive they are less likely to catch (especially if the surface is "furrowed" by the 3/16" hss cutter). These are the smallest flat top cutters I have found. They do pretty well at smoothing ID surfaces. I also use 6mm cupped carbide cutters, but only in my hollowing rig. These are very good for smoothing the ID, but can be "grabby" if too much of the edge gets into a cut, so I don't use them hand held.