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Where can I get this tool?

Odie

Odie

Panning for Montana gold, with Betsy, the mule!
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1/4" square M2 steel....usual sources appear to no longer carry this tool.

Or.....how can I do my own bending?

This one marked "Sheffield, England" doesn't have any other identifying markings as to maker. It appears to have been bent after initial hardening, and then possibly re-hardened.....?
 
Well, my first thought was to use a long very big handle and stick it into an uneven blank that is spinning at about 5,000 rpm, with the desired bend spot on the tool rest..... I have seen tools like that, but can't remember where. Packard maybe?

robo hippy
 
Odie......contact Chapell Hill Woodturners....they have web site......they can give info on where to get steel or make your tool for u.....for a price I am sure they will ship it.....usually they hold a toolmaking session once a month ......btw Frank Penta will be 1/4 demonstrators @ the Tennessee symposium .....I believe its at the end of JanuaryIMG_20160830_122711064 (2).jpg IMG_20160830_122848683 (2).jpg
 
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My question to Odie is how do you know it's M2 steel?

M2 cannot be bent in the maximum hardened condition, it's way too brittle. It could have been bent in the annealed condition then heat treated. Properly heat treating M2 is not something casually done like home shop blacksmiths do on high carbon steels though.

You could make a nice tool by silver soldering a piece of cobalt high speed steel, M42, onto an easily bent mild steel shank. M42 can stand the heat of silver soldering without appreciable loss of hardness. (I have several special shape metal cutting tools with M42 welded to mild steel shanks.)
 
Fadi Zeidan said:
I'm a newbie, so sorry if I'm off but it looks like the 45 degree hollower

http://www.packardwoodworks.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=tools-pkrd-sht
Click to expand...

Yes, thank you Fadi.....this is the one. Funny, because I browsed Packard before I inquired with this thread. Guess I didn't use the right key words......

Thanks also to Charlie. Something specially made up like that would be an alternative....if I wasn't able to find the ready made item.

Doug.....I thought it was M2 steel.....but, I could be mistaken about that.

Thanks to all for your input. :)

ko
 
"I thought it was M2 steel.....but, I could be mistaken about that."

Okay, probably a common mistake. M2 or common hss (high speed steel) is relatively expensive. I would think manufacturers would specifically label their tools as M2 or hss if they were because it's such a desirable feature.

There may be a little leeway in claiming "hss". Sears claimed their wood router bits were high speed steel, but they sure couldn't hold a candle to more expensive bits that were truly hss.

Carter and Sons make turning tools of M42, cobalt hss. Very hard and should hold cutting edges, but with a price to match.
 
Odie,
You can do as Doug suggested.....silver solder a hardened metal cutting tool bit to a piece of steel for the shank. It works well. Get the tool bit from MSC or someone like that. Inexpensive really. The fellow who first started making hollow ball Christmas ornaments did this many years ago. You can silver solder with a propane torch....maybe Mapp gas. Second choice is to get a piece of O-1 steel stock and heat it and bend to the shape you want and then harden and temper. Easy to do.
I make my hollowing tools the way David Ellsworth has for years.....drill rod drilled out to accept a rounded off tool bit (HSS or 8-10% cobalt) and using CA glue to hold the bit in place. Check out David's book. Instructions are there.
Hugh
 
I've done both. Silver soldering a HSS cutter to the shank of a piece of steel that you bend as you want. It's pretty easy but you need a MAPP gas torch to get enough heat to melt the silver solder. You'll also need some flux for the solder.
It's much easier to make that kind of tool from a piece of Drill rod. You can buy that at Fastenal or Enco and it's pretty cheap. You do have to heat treat it but that's easy. Heat it and bend it. Then rough grind the kind of edge you want. Then heat up the tip until it's red hot and non magnetic followed by quenching it. I buy water hardening drill rod so I can quench it in water. The metal is now too hard so just put the new tool in the oven at 350 degrees and let is sit for half hour. Let it cool down naturally and you have a tool that is hardened very near what our turning tools are. Now just finish sharpening the tip and your ready to go. The good thing about learning to do this is when the tool gets too short you can simply heat it and rebend it, regrind and harden the tip and your ready to go again. Here is a photo of few home made ornament hollowing tools. The top two are Hunter #1 cutters that I mounted in custom made shanks. The bottom one is a piece of HSS silver soldered to a shank.
 

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Or.....how can I do my own bending?
Click to expand...

DONT~!! Don't bother trying to bend hardened HSS or M2. That 'stuff is heat treated in molten salt baths at temperatures, hotter than cherry red, that can't be achieve in a wood shop,

Attach chunks of the harder steel to a mild steel bar from Home Depot. Use any weld / solder method you can to attach the a chunk of high speed or M2 Steel to the end of a piece of regular steel. You can weld high speed steel or solder it and worry not one but about dis-temperig it. You can get chunks of high speed steel from the Flea Bay by the bucket load because machinists will have worn tool bits down to nubs and will be selling them as scrap which are perfect for silver soldering to mild steel bar.

Bending the mild steel is easy peasy with any torch. Grinding an appropriate flat on it to nest the HSS chunk is either a few hours with a hand file or minutes on a grinder. The flat needn't be accurately flat, the solder or weld filler will take care of that.


If OTOH you already purchased a longer bar of pre heat treated HSS or M@ use a thin ( or thick) metal cutting disk to slice chunks of the size you need for tool tips off. Don't worry about over heating it - - - you can't.

All the steel sold at the Retail Stores is A6 Steel, it is weldable and machinable. A6 is the cheapest and most common of the steels being what the construction industry uses.
 
Similar to Raul's approach
Bend a rod. Drill a hole in the end.

Get a 1/4" or 3/8" square HSS cutter bit in 2.5" length.
Notch it on the corner of a grinding wheel on opposite sides at about 1" from an end.
Hold one end in a vice the other in vice grips bending will snap it in two.
Roll one end on the grinder until it fits in the drilled hole.
Use thick CA , no accelerator, glue it in the bent rod.
Give it 10-30 minutes. Sharpen and use it.
 
Enco is no longer around.......MSC bought them a couple of years ago and just recently did away with Enco. This just happened in August.
MSC will have any of the steel you would want. Tool bits too.
Hugh
 
charlie knighton said:
Odie......contact Chapell Hill Woodturners....they have web site......they can give info on where to get steel or make your tool for u.....for a price I am sure they will ship it.....usually they hold a toolmaking session once a month ......btw Tony Pena will be 1/4 demonstrators @ the Tennessee symposium .....I believe its at the end of JanuaryView attachment 20669 View attachment 20670
Click to expand...

The 2016 Virginia Woodturning Symposium features:
Jimmy Clewes Trent Bosch Bob Rosand
Frank Penta John Jordan Lyle Jamieson
Barry Gross JoHannes Michelsen
Martha & Ray Rountree
in November......quite the lineup....different emphasis than in years past
 
charlie knighton said:
The 2016 Virginia Woodturning Symposium features:
Jimmy Clewes Trent Bosch Bob Rosand
Frank Penta John Jordan Lyle Jamieson
Barry Gross JoHannes Michelsen
Martha & Ray Rountree
in November......quite the lineup....different emphasis than in years past
Click to expand...
That is a terrific lineup.
 
hockenbery said:
That is a terrific lineup.
Click to expand...

yes, Frank Penta is from Chapell Hill Woodturners......I got that name wrong before in post....he will be demo in both Tennessee and Virginia symposium.....not sure if all of these woodturners will be available for VT vs Tn match up at Bristol speepway weekend after next......maybe they will parachute in after the B2 bomber flies over.....please forgive my brain freeze Frank
 
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