And I learned something

 

OK so I'm  trying.

I put the other half of the log on the lathe and proceeded to turn it

 

This time I want a fancier shape.  I want a more dramatic  recurve lip.

This of course means I need a tool that has a cranked neck to get in and around.

I need a hollower.

 

I caught a post of George Watkin's over on  another forum  from 2009.  He's got some real fine  hollow form turnigns

 I  found him because I was looking for a hollowing tool &  thinking about the Sorby Sovereign   wondering if I should give the FlexiForm  a try even though I think the design of a 60Dollar hook tool tip is a tad spendy  for a disposable component.

 

So I see George's ( I'm impressed)  work and he posts images of his tools.

They are like something you'd expect to see in the trash.  No slick adjustable necks, No  fancy engineering.   He made 'em himself.

 

OK I've made lathe tools.

 

I got to thinking.   Watkin's turning tool tips are tiny.  They cut like scrapers.

There had to be a reason his tools are tiny; he doesn't do tiny work.

 

So I made one.

I got a bar of 5/8" drilled and tapped a hole in the end for a grub screw.  Then at a right angle on the bar near  the end with the tapped hole I drilled a .1875" hole into which  to shove an old broken end mill.

 

End mills are made of HSS so they are pretty good.  I have some carbide in that diameter too but I'll go with the end mill chunk.     So it sticks out a bout 1.75"  If I heated and bent the bar stock it'd stick out some more, 

This is what it looks like.

 

 

 

 

For the working end I ground it like a little scraper. You can see the ball mill on the other end.  

 

But I didn't make a wood handle for it.

 

Holding  the steel bar-stock it in my hand  it worked but If I leaned in it there was a bit of torque

 

So I attached a  very sophisticated  specialty handle

 

 

 

 

And you know, it works about exactly as well as I imagined  as those  EXPEND-O-LICIOUS commercial hollowers that   was drooling over

 

A hunk of bar stock and a chunk of busted end mill.

This is what I'm doing

 

 

 

 

Can you see the lip?

 

It's about as deep as my end mill sticks out

 

The piece has a hole going through the side from a carpenter ant nest.  It's been a struggle to turn cox the big cavity makes for an interrupted cut and imbalance.  But it looks cool.

 

some pics

 

Cliff,

That handle is the battery terminal clamp on my truck.

Might try to stabilize that "ant's nest" by saturating it with CA.

Larry, I hear ya, that handle is also the clamp that holds the throttle cable onto my lawn mower!

I swear I didn't get it offn' no truck 'n not no lawn mower

 

I mean to post this in Turners  But what the hey.

 

I was surprised at how well such a cheap solution worked.

I'm prolly not ever going to buy one of those expend-O-licious fancy pants hollowers

 

I  will  - for sure- end up  making a longer  version putting  handle on it and using carbide.

If it works as well as this appears to be working  I'll have a few of them with different cranks

I have a a hole drawer full of them universal handles.  

I come to find they fit a whole lot of different things.