Which hollowing tool do you recommend

[TopCat 32]

hi all, been turning for a couple of months now, and now want to purchase a hollowing tool , i have looked about and am a bit confused , not sure what would be best for me. i do bowls to a max of about 4 inches and i enjoy turning goblets at the moment , but keep getting catches and was thinking a hollowing tool may help me. i am thinking about the Crown mini revolution hollowing tool , but am also looking at the Simon hope hollowing tool. i was thinking the crown may be better as the link head may come in useful at a later date when i gain more experience as i would like to try hollow forms in the future. any help and recommendations on these or any others that you think may suit my needs would be greatly revived

Tim

 

[Fire_frogs]

I use the Simon hope hollowing system with mounted arm. It is fantastic. I'm now a big fan of the Simon hope tools. Other then that I mainly use crown cryogenic tools, so I would say both are good but I'm on the hope side for hollowing tools.

Hope this helps a little ?

 

[Rhossydd]

hi all, been turning for a couple of months now,...... but keep getting catches and was thinking a hollowing tool may help me.

It may not.
As a novice it may be better to get some tuition to resolve the issues you're having rather than spending money on kit that might be even harder to use.
Catches are usually down to improper tool presentation, wrong choice of tool or blunt tools.

The Hope 8mm carbide tool is probably a good choice for you. If you want to spend money on the issue. The 45° cutter angle isn't very prone to catching and carbide tools will arrive sharp and stay so for quite a while.
The full Hope hollowing rig is almost certainly not the answer for a novice working on small pieces.

The Crown revolution is likely to be a poor choice. Ring tools can be very 'grabby' and prone to catches, tricky to present well and awkward to sharpen. It all looks simple in the videos made by experienced turners with nice green wood, but you may(will) not find it so easy. They're also very much an end grain tool, so not much use on face plate bowl work.

 

[CHJ]

Fully go along with Rhossydd and the above comments, no amount of fancy new tools will provide a magic bullet for your situation, in fact many of them could lead to even more frustration due the fact that they are designed to solve particular problems or are used by or promoted by folks with their own personal methods of working.

What works on soft compliant or green wood is often useless on dried tough woods, conventional presentation of standard tools may not be appropriate for certain situations and their use in other modes is more effective, and as mentioned a rigid carbide tipped tool used in boring or scraper mode can remove wood with very little risk of catches.

See this crude approach that I used back in 2009 to reach deep in a vase, still do for a lot of my type of pieces.

__________Now comes the dilemma if you don't have any specialist hollowing tools.
__________I use narrow but thick (stiff) scraper or for the deeper items a home made tool with a Ci1 tip.

__________ ___



__________Set the tool rest height (flat is good) so that the cutting corner is above centre and giving clearance for lower edge.
__________Plung cut, small cuts at a time, angling tool to follow outer shape as necessary.

_________ ___ ___

__________Using a split stick or taped abrasives sand inside bore.
__________ ___

 

[Walnut Les]

For someone who has only been turning for a couple of months I would say to get the Robert Sorby rs 200 kt and learn the basics of hollowing first.
Gaining depth and under cutting the rim and removing the nipple from the bottom of your hollow form are all part of a learning curve that will take time to learn and one that we all have to go threw.
You can make egg cups, goblets and potpourri bowls with this tool whilst having fun learning to hollow and you can also do some shear scrapping with it.
I'm not saying that this tool is better than the other tools mentioned as it is clearly is not.
I am and will say that if you learn to use this tool first you will have a better understanding of hollowing and will find the other tools mentioned easier to use.
The two potpourri bowls were turned using the rs 200 kt , I hope that this helps. Les

 

[Dalboy]

Like Les I also started with the Robert Sorby RS 200KT and found it great. I now still use that as well as the Crown revolution tool which for my purposes suits what I make

 

[TopCat 32]

Thanks to you all, plenty of info there to help me make a decision, don't think i will rush into anything to quick, like Rhossydd said maybe more practice and experimenting with different grinds on my bowl gouges may help.

Thanks again Tim

 

[minilathe22]

Do you have a curved tool rest? If you are getting catches on the inside of your bowls, but not on the outside then this can help. It is difficult to get a straight tool rest close to the workpiece on the inside. You want the toolrest as close as you can get it without touching the wood.

 

[Hornbeam]

I have been back turning about 5 months after a long break. I bought the Simon Hope 8mm and then the Crown revolution.
The Simon Hope tool is so easy to use but might be slightly limited. ( I bought the straight one)
The Crown tool takes a little more practice with the shielded ring tool but has so many options . It comes with a set of scraper tips and they now are also doing a carbide tip similar to the Hope which is really good.
For a low cost start I would go with the Hope or spend a bit more and get the larger revolution with the carbide tip
Ian

 

[TopCat 32]

Do you have a curved tool rest? If you are getting catches on the inside of your bowls, but not on the outside then this can help. It is difficult to get a straight tool rest close to the workpiece on the inside. You want the toolrest as close as you can get it without touching the wood.

no, no curved tool rest, i can see the logic less control over the tool, may well get 1 and try this our thanks for the heads up

regards Tim

 

[TopCat 32]

I have been back turning about 5 months after a long break. I bought the Simon Hope 8mm and then the Crown revolution.
The Simon Hope tool is so easy to use but might be slightly limited. ( I bought the straight one)
The Crown tool takes a little more practice with the shielded ring tool but has so many options . It comes with a set of scraper tips and they now are also doing a carbide tip similar to the Hope which is really good.
For a low cost start I would go with the Hope or spend a bit more and get the larger revolution with the carbide tip
Ian

Thanks Ian, just got back from our turning club and 1 of the members there has just bought the hope 8mm hollowing tool, and like you say it is limited in what it can do but as i am only doing small bowls and goblets he reckons this may be the tool for me, but i must admit i will also endeavour to master hollowing with my gouges as i am not going that deep and would like to master it 1st, i did have 2 days lessons about 2 years ago but must be getting old and forgetful as i was hollowing bowls ok then ,but can't seem to master it now, i have bought the same gouges i was using at my trainers workshop and ground them to the same as his, so it can only be my input that is causing the problem, maybe a day back in his workshop will iron out the problem

thanks to you all for your input

regards Tim

 

[Robbo3]

i did have 2 days lessons about 2 years ago but must be getting old and forgetful as i was hollowing bowls ok then ,but can't seem to master it now, i have bought the same gouges i was using at my trainers workshop and ground them to the same as his, so it can only be my input that is causing the problem, maybe a day back in his workshop will iron out the problem

Muscle memory plays a part. You have to relearn what you once new.
I had this problem every year as my workshop was so cold I didn't use it between the end of November & mid March (depending on the weather). It's a bit like not having ridden a bike for years. A bit wobbly at the start but soon in balance.
A good way is to practice is to grab a log from the firewood pile & just make shavings.
Mike Waldt has covered end grain hollowing seveal times on his YouTube channel
- https://www.youtube.com/user/TheCymruBoy/videos