Chatter Tool????

[John Terefenko]

For those of you that have used a chatter tool I have a few questions for I bought one and wanted to give it a try.

#1--- Are certain woods better to use than others to get the chatter effect???
#2--- When using such tool is there a certain amout of the blade that must be protruding???
#3--- When presenting the tool to the wood what is the proper way and what part of the cutter is in contact with the wood???
#4--- How hard do you push on said tool???
#5--- At what angle are you presenting the tool to the wood???

I am looking to embellish some spinning tops that I am trying to make. Does anyone do spinning tops??? If so do you have pictures??? Thanks for the responses.

[Bernie Weishapl]

John you beat me to it. I got one for Christmas and was just going to ask the same question with a addtional question of what speed is best for using a chatter tool.

[Gordon Seto]

The only thing that is predictable on chattering is applying on end grain of hard dense wood. The rest is trial and error. When you hear the squealling noise, you got it.

Gordon

[Gordon Seto]

Try to start around 1000. You will get different result with change of speed.

Gordon

[John Taylor]

HI

Check out the clips on the Sorby site http://www.robert-sorby.co.uk/ there are a couple of very good clips there.

john

[Ben Gastfriend]

I have to second the Sorby video. I built a homemade chatter tool out of a cut nail and it worked great on end grain. The things that will create the different patterns would be 1. Lathe Speed- the faster, the finer chatter. 2. Type of wood- the denser, the finer chatter w/ less tearout. 3. The legnth the chatter tip is extended out of the tool shaft- further extended, the coarser the chatter. Good luck.

[Dean Thomas]

#1 Hard woods, end grain. Maple works great.

#2 The longer the blade, the more likely the tool is to chatter.

#3 It is essentially a scraper. The fat part of the tool (NOT THE BLADE) rests on the tool rest. The blade has to be able to flap in order to give you what you're looking for. Tip aims down.

#4 Hard enough to ensure contact with the wood as the chattering takes wood away from the top or compresses it so that there is air between the old surface and the new bottom of the chattering area

#5 Different angles and different speeds create different patterns. To start with, present the tip of the tool at about 7:30 on the piece and move the tool away from center on the 7:30 angle.

Get yourself a chunk of maple turning stock about 2" square and 12" long. Bring your gouge or skew of choice along to clean up as you go, and a parting tool. [sidebar: A brush-tipped marker is a handy thing as well, but any marker will do including Sharpies. The brush tip is cool because you can be gentler and just paint the tops of the chatter work.]

Chuck that puppy up. Clean up the end with your tool of choice. Set speed to 2000rpm or so. Put the top of your tool rest at the center of your work, about 2" from the endgrain and parallel to that endgrain. Add chatter tool at 7:30 about 1/4" from the center and stroke down and to the left. Pick up marker and ever so lightly touch your chatter work and swipe the marker quickly across. Stop lathe. Examine your work. Mental notes are "like it" or "hate it". Use your parting tool and cut it off 1/8" behind the chatter so you have a chattered disk. Write what you did on it and set it aside. Clean up and repeat. Faster or slower rpm, faster or slower swipe. Shorten or lengthen the chatter tip. Make notes. The wood will cost you whatever you pay for 2" maple turning stock. Cheap learning curve. Go to the extremes and take notes.

Bonnie Klein's videos also do a nice little section on chatterwork basics. And I think that Dick Sing had a segment on one of the DVDs that he made with Woodworking at Home as well. I think that it shows occasionally on "thewoodworkingchannel.com" if they're still in business.

Hope it helps.

[John Terefenko]

I have tried to download the movies on the Sorby site but after it gets done it causes some kind of error so I can not see it. When you say the tool rest must be parrallel to the end grain, are you saying that it must be in front as if I were doing a bowl???? Also when you say the tip, are you saying the point of the tip or the side of the blade.???? I have Bonnie Kliens book but too much money for her video. I have not seen any examples of people that have used a chatter tool. Was hoping to get examples. I ordered some maple but am playing around with purpleheart but to no avail. Not getting much chatter and have tried different speeds and different lengths of the blade. I have a Stewart chatter tool.

[Dean Thomas]

John, it's only the tip that will cause the patterning. Use of one of the two planes off the point will only end up with ugly. If the tip is V shapes, you want the teeny tiny bottom of the V, not the arms \ / uplifted

Yes, for practice purposes, move the tool rest so that it is perpendicular to the ways and parallel with the end of the wood, where your live center or dead center would normally reside.

On the videos: did you save them to your disk or try to run them from their site? Whatever you did, try it the other way.

[John Terefenko]

Dean

Thanks for the explanation. I was presenting the tip from about a 30 degree angle from parallel. And was using the side thinking the tip would dig in. Will have to give your method a try. As far as the videos go I downloaded to a temp file. I have done that before and then play them back. If I like it I save it either on the computer or to a disc. But this time it did not allow me to do anything. Will try again tomorrow. and maybe put it right on a disc.

[Mitchell Cholewinski]

Bernie
I been using a rather soft hard wood to practice with my chatter tool and have found out that 500 rpm's is about the best for me. I tried 1000 rpm's and the results aren't so good. another thing I found out is on the v shaped cutter with the burr, I asked customer service if they used the grinder to get the burr and he said no, just use the diamond stone. I was thinking the grinder would take too much metal off at one time. I tried the diamond stone but didn't get much burr. Used the grinder and barely touched the revolving wheel and the burr was much better and steel removal was minimal. need to turn the cutter upside down though to grind, then again to replace. Good Luck. Mitch

[Reed Gray]

I just did a 3 day workshop with Bonnie, and we did a lot of chatter work. Main points I picked up were that the tool has to angle down as it vibrates better than if it is pointing straight into the wood.

She hones the top of the tool. If you have a burr, it will cut the wood leaving it rough. You want the tool to dent the wood, but not cut/tear it.

Draw the tool across the wood in a downward motion, starting from the center and down at the 7:30 angle, so you start with the tool fairly level, and angle it down more as you move out.

Faster speeds work better, especially if you are close to the center. You will get almost no marks in the center until you get speeds around 3,000. Less speed is needed at the rim.

It was a fun workshop, only cost me $360, plus a mini lathe, threading jig, a bunch of waste blocks on 1 by 8 tpi lock nuts with the plastic cut out, some different finish supplies, colored markers, calipers. Fortunatly, I do have all the turning tools I needed though.

robo hippy

[Jim Underwood]

Wow! I was enjoying my "new" chatter tool that a friend had made me, but after watching the Sorby video, I'm absolutely hooked! Who needs a Rose Engine? It all makes a lot of sense, and I have a measure of control over the designs now.
I went out to the shop tonight and made several tops, and a few practice pieces, and seeing it act as expected was really neat!

Whooo Hoo!

Thanks for that info guys!