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Thread: choosing a hollowing tool

  1. #1
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    choosing a hollowing tool

    I've started looking at choices for a hollowing tool, and would appreciate some guidance/advice.

    There are two tools in particular that I'm looking at. One is the Sorby Multi Tip Hollowing Tool and the other is the Hollowmaster. The Sorby Catalog says of the former, "Recommended first hollowing tool" or some paraphrase of that, but it also touts the virtues of the Hollowmaster.

    Having watched the videos on the Sorby website, I have these questions.
    • The swan neck design of the Hollowmaster leads me to think that it is of limited usefulness if working with narrower vessels, while the straight design of the Multi Tip Hollowing Tool would allow such. Am I correct about this?
    • The most obvious advantage of the Hollowmaster is its length, and resultant capacity for increased cutting depth. Are there other virtues that would make the Hollowmaster the preferred tool?
    • Some Creekers have talked of difficulties with the Hollowmaster. IIRC, Lee DeRaud even used the phrase "taming the Hollowmaster" in a thread a few months ago. Is it THAT much more difficult of a tool to use than the Multi Tip Hollowing Tool?
    As always, your feedback is greatly appreciated.

    Mark
    rs200kt.jpghollowmaster.jpg

  2. #2
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    Mark, in a sense you need both a straight tool and a curved tool to effectively hollow "hollow" vessels of a variety of size and shape. You always want to work with the straight tool for boring and getting out the material where you can actually reach with it. (hollowing in steps is a good idea, too, so you leave plenty of material below where you are working to reduce vibration and so forth) You then switch to a curved tool to clean out where the straight tool cannot reach. This holds true when you are hollowing manually or with a captive system.

    I owned both of the Sorby tools you are considering and did a lot of my early hollowing work with them. They worked fine, but like any hand-held tool, they had/have limitations. What's good about them is that they are very flexible and versatile.

    That said, if you think you will be liking hollow forms, consider investing in the modular systems, such as the Kelton, etc., as they are beefier and the business end can later be used with most captive hollowing systems. The heavy/massive handles can often be used with other tooling, such as un-handled bowl gouges from P&N, OneWay, etc. I think these are a better long-term value for a serious turner if you can afford to jump in now. If not, the Sorbys or similar will do a nice job.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  3. #3
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    Mark
    Jim pretty much covered it. I bought both Sorbey tools your talking about and sometimes enjoyed them and other times not. Size of piece you can create is fairly limited. I never mastered sharpening as instructed.

    At the AAW Symposium I sat in the front row of the Trent Bosch demo and marched directly from the demo to his booth in the trade show to buy his 5/8" system. Much easier to use and sharpen and more capacity. And as Jim said I am now working to construct a homemade captured system. I'll add a shear scaper to the Bosch set and I'll be a hollow'in into the night.

    On the other hand I make an 'openform' which I can consistently make with the Sorbey set. Good time for a picture.

    Frank
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  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Pruitt
    IIRC, Lee DeRaud even used the phrase "taming the Hollowmaster" in a thread a few months ago. Is it THAT much more difficult of a tool to use than the Multi Tip Hollowing Tool?
    I don't know if it's harder to use than the MultiTip...because I've never used the MultiTip.

    But life with the HM got a lot easier once I bought one of the teardrop-shaped "bits" shown in your MultiTip picture. If nothing else, it gives you a lot of choices for profile and angle without having to swap it out: just rotate it to a different segment. And it's way easier to sharpen. (There's obviously a limit on how small an opening you can pass it through, but so it goes.)
    Yoga class makes me feel like a total stud, mostly because I'm about as flexible as a 2x4.
    "Design"? Possibly. "Intelligent"? Sure doesn't look like it from this angle.
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  5. #5
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    Jim covered the basics very well. Here's a link to part 1 of a 5 part review of hollowing tools, by a respected, published author. The rest of this site provides many hours of interesting reading as well.
    http://www.fholder.com/Woodturning/hollow-1.pdf


  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Becker
    Mark, in a sense you need both a straight tool and a curved tool....
    Jim,
    Heads up! My wife is looking for you and she ain't smilin'! Seriously, point taken. I see what you're saying.

    Lee, great idea about using the different tip. That never occurred to me.

    Gary, my eyes are hurting. Seriously, thanks. I'll give that a read.

    Frank, great picture! Is that texturing I see at the top near the rim?

    About purchasing a system; I'm not ready to put that kind of $$ into it just yet, given the lathe I currently own. I've kind of decided that I need to upgrade to a larger machine and after that begin looking at what's out there in terms of systems. If I could just find that rich relative out there I could probably make it happen a lot earlier....LOL

    Thanks for the help,
    Mark

  7. #7
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    Mark,
    The dark ring are burnt dots with my smallest tip. The burning texture skips over the strong grain lines of the ambrosia. Got the wood when I visited Crafts Supply for class and got the inspiration for the 'skip' from Lane Phillips. Diameter is about 14" and it stood about 3.5 tall. This piece also has brass tucked into the voids and bug holes. It is the highest priced piece I ever sold. Sold by the little gallery/wine shop that seems to like me. I am told it was given to a professional mountain climber in Colorado as a wedding present.

    If you want to try hollowing on the cheap make your own tools from allen wrenches and do small things. My wife has requested 50 Christmas ornaments to be gifts for her staff at school/parish. So I made tools last week and tested making some ornaments, which met with her approval and she started rattling off a list of more people I should make them for. I expect that by Christmas she'll need a 100. A lot of turners make tiny little urns and hollowforms 2 to 3 inches tall max with maybe a 3/8 hole in the top. Nobody is going to feel inside of those.

    Frank
    'Sawdust is better than Prozac'

  8. #8
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    Mark I got the Kelton system based on some advice from a couple of turners. I got to try them out and really liked them. You can hog a lot of wood and then shear cut with them. I got the 5/16" mini's and the 5/8" by 15" long units. You get three with each set. Pictures attached of the 5/8" ones.
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Bernie

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  9. #9
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    I borrowed a friend's Sorby Hollowmisfit, used it for two sessions, and returned it to him vowing to never ever refer to the tool by its given name, much less lay eyes on it again.

    I now have a captured hollowing rig and am pleased as punch with it.

    The D-Ring was a most welcome gift; and I have about $230 invested in the boring bar, cutters, laser setup, and homemade rear-rest.
    Only the Blue Roads

  10. #10
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    I just got the Oneway system delivered today. It sure is heavy and I can't wait to get started. It will probably have to wait a few weeks though.
    A few hours south of Steve Schlumpf

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Andy Hoyt
    I borrowed a friend's Sorby Hollowmisfit, used it for two sessions, and returned it to him vowing to never ever refer to the tool by its given name, much less lay eyes on it again.
    Wow. That sounds bad enough. Care to elaborate a bit? I'd like to hear more of what you observed, Andy.

  12. #12
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    Only the Blue Roads

  13. #13
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    small gloat

    I was in Richmond today at a day-long conference, and stopped by Woodcraft on my way out. Walked away with this:
    DSC01131.JPG

    It's not October yet, but they gave me the sale price anyway. I did take a look at the Hollowmaster but I figured I would just start with this one. Someday hopefully I can afford a hollowing rig. But for now this should at least help me wade into the shallow end.

    I had thought about both this tool and the Hollowmaster, but Andy done skeeeered me.

    M

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Andy Hoyt
    Wouldn't open for me. Couldn't find it in search.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Frank Fusco
    Wouldn't open for me. Couldn't find it in search.
    Worked for me Frank. You can also copy and paste the link in your web browser to see if that would work.
    Thanks & Happy Wood Chips,
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