Friends,
I have been making some bowls by hand, and would like a way to hog out the big part of the center of the bowl before I grab the Adze. I have heard about and seen the Lancelot, made by King Arthur Tools.
Does anyone out there have any experience with these chain saw cutters for angle grinders? Are they safe if used carefully? Which cutters do you recommend? Which angle grinder? Why? Any suggestions will be appreciated.
Thank you.
Mel
Measure your output in smiles per board foot.
Replies
Mel;
It's been a couple years since I sold the Lancelot cutters but if I remember right they had changed them so that the chainsaw part is not solidly affixed to the wheel. It rides in a slot on the rim and is free to slip, this greatly reduced the chance of a grab and an unexpected change in direction of the grinder. I had heard horror stories about the older fixed chain models but none first hand.
We sold quite a few of the later models to chainsaw carvers for doing the "detail" work on their carvings and many of them said they were quite controllable and safe.
Have you considered using your plunge router to waste the center? I have done this to make deep depressions for various projects and it worked rather quickly and was very controllable.
------------------------------------
It would indeed be a tragedy if the history of the human race proved to be nothing more than the story of an ape playing with a box of matches on a petrol dump. ~David Ormsby Gore
Don,
"Have you considered using your plunge router to waste the center?"I did consider it. But the dimensions of a breadbowl can be larger than 12" x 18" by 4" deep. Some bowlmakers use a fullsized chainsaw. I thought the Lancelot might be easier to control than the chainsaw.MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
I'm sure the Lancelot would be more controllable than the chainsaw. The deepest depression I did with the router was 3".
When we lived in Hawaii in the 60's there were guys making monkeypod bowls, they used what I would describe as a horizontal shaper to hog out the centers, they did it freehand and had scars up and down their arms. They were very fast.
I still think a 3+ hp plunge router would make short work of the bowls you are describing.------------------------------------
It would indeed be a tragedy if the history of the human race proved to be nothing more than the story of an ape playing with a box of matches on a petrol dump. ~David Ormsby Gore
Mel,
Congrats on your retirement!
I use the Industrial Wood-Shaping Cutter by Arbortech, sold by LV
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&cat=1,42524,42527,33255&p=33255View Image
It may be expensive, but it cuts very cleanly if you are cutting in the right direction and wastes away material very fast. I find that I have complete control over the tool and am able to take a very light cut just as easily as a heavy cut. When I started using the tool, I used both the metal guard that comes with the angle grinder and the plastic shield that comes with the cutter. I found the plastic guard very limiting and saw little added safety value, so I quickly removed it. Now I just use the stock metal guard.
In regards to which angle grinder, I bought the smallest, lightest unit I could find. It has plenty of power. The only time I feel it starting to bog down is when I plunge it into hardwood as fast as I can to it's maximum depth of about 1-1/2" - 1-3/4". Even so, the motor still keeps up.
Chris @ flairwoodworks
- Success is not the key to happines. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
Chris,
Thank you for the information on the Arbortech cutter, and on your experience with it. I work part time at a Woodcraft store, and the store stocks it. It has three carbide cutters on a steel disk. The Lancelots have a slightly larger disk with a chain saw around it. I wonder how the two differ in capability and safety and ease of use. It would be great is someone on Knots has used both and could post their opinions on both. The theory of the two seems nearly identical. They both spin and cut away the wood. I visited your website and saw the photos of your dogwood table, and read the story of your bowl making adventure. VERY COOL!!! And a very nice description of what you went through to get to a blank and then to a bowl. A great adventure.Have you noticed any grabbing or kicking or kickback or anything with your arbortech that needs to be watched for?Thanks, MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
While I've used a chainsaw, I haven't used either the Lancelot or the Arbortech cutter. And I didn't even sleep in a Holiday Inn Express last night. The Arbortech uses depth-limiting carbide cutters, and because they're carbide the cutting angle is much steeper (think high-angle frog in a handplane). I would think that those two features by themselves would make it less likely to remove a chunk out of your leg, should you forget to put on the chaps (I have a pair of those, too, although I have never had to test their ability to stop a chain, fortunately).
-Steve
Steve,So for hogging out the bowl from a piece of wood that is 12" by 18" by 4" deep, would you recommend the arbortech or the Lancelot?
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Since I'm spending your money....
If it were me, I would try the Arbortech first, as it seems the safer of the two.
-Steve
SAVE YOUR FINGERS!!! Forget about these type tools! They are extremely dangerous and a lot less fun too! Learn controlled splitting techniques instead. I had this epiphany while perusing photos of large oak tree stubs (taller than stumps they were up to ten or twelve feet tall) which had been carved into detailed sculptures by an English carver who used only large carving gouges and mallets. NO CHAIN SAWS AT ALL!!! In comparison your dough bowls are miniature projects. Keep in mind that this guy was FAST. Just knowing that this was possible freed me from the dust and noise of nasty power tools almost immediately. I have recently fallen in love with my Pfeil carving axe. I use it both in the traditional ways and also as a sort of giant handled slick. When using as a chisel I do some slicing/paring cuts with a two handed grip and then make powerful but very controlled cuts by using one hand to maneuver the handle and the other to power it with taps against the blunt side from my "Big Orange" rubbery plastic hammer. Between the axe and gouges I can easily produce more work than with a chain saw and I will be safer (both from injury and errors that would ruin the work). Further I am happier and more fulfilled at the end of the day!!
For your dough bowl work you'll likely find that a narrower carving axe is more useful than the wider one that I have (especially on the inside of the bowls). They are available.
Check these out:
http://www.djarv.se/djarvenglish/yxor.asp
Edited 1/6/2008 12:23 am ET by bigfootnampa
BFM,
Thanks for your ideas. You open up the possibilities. I will look at the axes. Would you give me a little more info on your orange plastic mallet, and on the size of your carving axe. I take it that you use it both as an axe, but a bit gently, and as a giant chisel, by hitting it with the mallet.
Thank you.
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Mel
I have experience with the Lancelot. DO NOT free hand this. You are retired now and you need all 10 fingers.
If you want to use the chainsaw discs on an angle grinder you have to make a jig to hold the spinning disc and lower it a bit at a time. A guy gave me a bunch of them to try to speed up carving windsor chair seats. By the time I built a safe holding device, turned on the angle grinder, put on my respirator, stuffed sponge ear plugs in underneath my ear muffs... I realized that this is a big headache. I went back to the adze and I am feeling relaxed, no fine dust to breath, and the noise level is like... I was retired and having fun in my shop.
Be careful with that thing ... its a man eater Mel. Its not all its cracked up to be.
go to http://www.windsorchairresources.com and look at their tools. they have some great adze tools to hog out wood for bowls and chair seats. Also look at Drew Langsners stuff .. a bit pricey but really nice Swedish stuff for bowl makers.. you'll end the day with all your parts and a little exercise to boot.
dan
Edited 1/5/2008 8:59 pm ET by danmart
Dan,
Thank you for the specific references to alternatives to the Lancelots. I will look them up right now. I have been using a large gouge and mallet to hollow out bowls, It works, but I am checking to see if there are any useful alternatives.
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Your assumptions are correct although I also use it as a hewing axe/scraper/distressing tool, for interestingly textured surfaces. I also use it like a giant carving knife/freehand plane/slick. I also use it in a manner similar to the bench knives that are used by wooden clog makers. I am sorry that I originally misspelled the axe mfrs name (Pfeil... now corrected). Woodcraft carries their tools and my carving axe is listed on this page link. Carving Hatchet has a 5" cutting edge with an overall tool length of 18".
http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=1655&mode=details#tabs
The Big Orange mallets are urethane hammers (much tougher than rubber) made by Bessey (the clamp company). I think that mine is their 30 oz. model (I have a couple of them). These hammers are just plain all-around handy for TONS of uses. I usually use them to power my froe (rather than the traditional club). Here is a link to them that shows all sizes (I don't know these suppliers but there are many sources if you google around and Rockler carries the 22 oz. I think):
http://www.cheyennesales.com/catalog/accmallet.htm
Take a quick look at this holiday project where I used my axe for shaping and texturing the mounting board for the pegs:
BFN,
Thank you for the excellent info on how you use your big orange and your Pfeil carving aze. I have a part time job at Woodcraft, and am an avid carver, so I have a number of Pfeil tools. They are excellent. I will check out the carving axe. Thank you for your info on how you use your tools to hollow out a bowl and for the photo of your bowl. The photo of your bowl really shows your style. I have made seven bowls in the past few months -- the hard way -- hollowing out with big gouges and a big mallet. Two of the bowls are bread bowls. They are quite small because they came from a tree in my yard and I made them as big as I could, given the size of the tree. Here is a photo of the two of them, which shows the sizes as well. My "style" is primitive. I now have some big wood to hew big bowls and that is where the axe comes in. I will post photos when I get one done.Again, thank you very much for your help.
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Sorry, one more point that I want to make. The controlled splitting process requires slightly stouter edges than usually used for carving because you are making relatively widely spaced plunge cuts and then prying slightly with the tools cutting edge to split off large amounts of material between the cuts... this is the reason you can remove material very fast, because mostly you are splitting rather than chopping. Adzes, axes and timber framing chisels and gouges are excellent tools. Large carving chisels are quite useful too but you must sharpen them with a slightly convex edge that is slightly steeper beveled than you would use for say... paring basswood.
BTW my axe is sharp enough to shave hair off the back of your hand... I sharpen it on a 2" belt sander held so that the edge rides above the backer plate (where the belt is unsupported and has slight flex). I use a 120 grit belt and very light pressure (otherwise the belt will flex too much and make the bevel too rounded). I follow up with some white diamond on a sewn buffing wheel or with a couple grits of hand stoning of which the final stone is a very hard polishing stone.
The relatively long and strong handles on the axes (versus carving chisels) are helpful for splitting as you get lots of leverage and can conserve your energy. Using the Big Orange instead of chopping allows for extreme accuracy even if your skill level is not finely honed.
You'll find the going easier if you hog out the interiors first as the excess waste wood helps to strengthen the exteriors against the stresses from the hollowing process. It also allows for some clamping options that will leave no tracks when the exterior is carved to shape.
Thanks for your comments on my website! Did you notice where I work?...
The only time I notice any lack of control is when the wheel contacts the wood and I am not expecting it to. This is very similar to pulling back the blade guard on a circular saw and dropping it on a board - the saw jumps backwards. Just as with a circular saw, if you introduce the cutter slowly enough to the material, you can control the cut. Infact, I would say that the Arbortech is very much like an extra thick, small diameter circular saw blade.
When deciding between the Arbortech and Lancelot, I spoke to a more experience power carver who had tried the Lancelot before buying the Arbortech. He found that he had less control and that it had more tendencies to catch.
If you are hesitant to invest in the Industrial cutter, there's also a lighter duty version that resembles a steel plate with bent edges that cut. I went for the Industrial because I knew that I would get a lot of use from it and didn't want to mess around sharpening it.Chris @ flairwoodworks
- Success is not the key to happines. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
Chris,
I did notice where you work. VERY NICE. You guys make great tools. I am jealous. I have a part time job at the local Woodcraft, but for some reason, Woodcraft doesn't stock your tools. Too bad.I appreciate your info on the use of the Arbortech and on the comparison with the Lancelot. Knots is a great place to get good info from people with experience. That's why I use it daily. Have fun.
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
I have a Lancelot, AKA "Scariest Tool in the Shop". While it does have the potential to inflict horirfic damage to the operator, if carefully used, it is fairly tame. Mine is pretty old (over 15 yrs, I suppose) and the chain is not affixed, but rides in a slot between discs.
There are a few things you need to do to work with this tool in relative safety: You need to make sure the work is securly mounted and will stay put; you need to use a guard on the grinder and position it properly; you need to work the tool so the cutting force pulls the tool away from you -- i.e., no cutting with the front of the blade, just the bottom; you need to wear eye/face protection since these things throw copious quantities of chips; you need to use two hands to hold the grinder securely at all times -- the side handle should be attached and used.
It is mandatory to use the tool in such a fashion that, if it does grab, it moves away from you, not up, down or towards you.
I don't use this tool often, but when I need it, it's great, albeit messy. I haven't made bowls, but I did use it to hollow out some model sailboats I made years ago and it worked fine for that. I also use it in construction to perform rough cutting operations against, and perpendicular to, an edge like demo cutting flooring right up against a wall.
While I don't hesitate to use this tool when I need to, every time I do, I am 5X as careful with it as I am with any other tool. Like I said, Scariest Tool in the Shop.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
Mike,
Thank you for your answer. Although I haven't bought one yet, your answer was the one that I had felt to be reasonable. I have had a good deal of experience with a chain saw for cutting firewood. What you said about safety with the lancelot also holds for the chainsaw. No video on the King Arthur website, but there is a lot of video on the Arbortech website. Arbortech has a one hour video of people from all over the world using their version of the Lancelot. You can see them using it in a gentle side to side manner to fashion some beautiful wavy wood surfaces, such as on a big bowl. I appreciate your advice. I still would like to proceed with just hand tools, but even the carving axe and the adze are dangerous. I am going to try to hollow a large bowl with only a 60mm #7 gouge and a heavy mallet. If that it too much "unsatisfying" work, I'll try a larger adze and use it like chairmakers do (two handed, standing up, with the work on the floor.) I might also try a carvers axe. It looks interesting, but the Granfors and the Pfeil are really rather large for a 12" by 18" bowl. I understand that using a carving axe involves acquiring some new techniques and the skill to use them.If all of that doesn't work, then it is either the Lancelot or the Arbortech. Everyone that I have talked to that has seen both, recommends the Arbortech, but that may be based on looks rather than actual use. As you said, "the scariest tool in the shop".Thank you,
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
No problem. Also consider wasting a large portion of the wood with a big, honkin' spade bit in the drill press. Also lots of chips and relatively safe and quiet to boot!
Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PA
Mike,
"consider wasting a large portion of the wood with a big, honkin' spade bit in the drill press. Also lots of chips and relatively safe and quiet to boot!"I have thought of that. I have a bunch of big Forstner bits. I am using hardwood for the bowls. Any difference between Forstner bits and spade bits when it comes to wasting wood?MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Only that spade bits cost about 1/10 of a similar size forstner. And they go a bit faster with less pressure. Of course, the hole they leave behind ain't quite as perty, but for wasting, that's no big deal. But, if forstners is what you have, forstners is what you use!
Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PA
Mike,
Since I get a good discount at Woodcraft, I'll pick up some spade bits and use em. Thank you for the advice.
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Mel,
Have you decided not to use that Retiree killer of a Lancelot or Arbortech?
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Bob,
Have not decided yet. I have a number of alternatives in mind, and plan to try them. I am in NO hurry. This is fun. No sense making fun go too quickly. I'll keep you informed. This is relevant to something I just wrote to Pedro in the BIG thread, about my upcoming "The Last Word On Learning the Art of Fine Woodworking". My guess is that you will be excited about it, but you get excited about lots of things, just like me. I really would like to do this even though it is fraught with problems. Let me know what path is most likely to succeed.
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Forstner bits (actually, sawtooth bits in those sizes) also have less vibration.
-Steve
Hi
Get come carving chisels to use with a carving mallet Thet are a lot safer.
I attend wood carving semenars a lot I remember one instructor stating that the Lanclot and other power carvers do not care if they cut wood or flesh.
I got gouged in my leg with a chainsaw once. Belive me they are fast
Have a nice day lee
I have a number of hard wood stumps salvaged off a sand bar in some South American River. They set outside, unprotected, for some 10 years and acquired too much interior rot to be cut for lumber or veneers. Nonetheless, I found that carving out the rot yields some free forms that imagination could incorporate into interesting furniture, sculptures, etc. My tool preference continues to be sharp gauges and adzes, but an Arbortech comes in a close second. I work it pretty hard and have cooked a couple of Porter Cable 4 1/2' angle grinders. Now use a pneumatic angle grinder and can carve forever without worry. And yes, I do remove the guards, but this tool is definitely a two-hand operation and doesn't feel so aggressive that it scares me.
Troost,
Thanks for the advice. You have some great experience with gouges, adzes and a power carver (the arbortech). Let me ask you a few specific questions.If you had a bowl blank that is 4" deep and is 12" by 18", and you wanted to make a simple doughbowl, would you prefer to waste the inside of the bowl with
- an adze,
- gouges and mallet
- an arbortech.It seems from my meager experience, for this size bowl, it is a lot of work to waste the entire inside of the bowl with a bowl adze. I can do it faster with some big gouges and a big mallet. It seems to me that the real value of the bowl adze is in thinning the sides after you have wasted most of the center. Does this sound right to you? or not?Finally, you have experience with the arbortech, which has those three cutters, as opposed to the chain saw approach of the Lancelot. Do you have experience with the Lancelot? Do you have any ideas on the real working difference between the two?Thank you very much.
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
The arbortech with three cutters cuts a lot smoother than the chaisaw type. I've got all three types. The least aggressive and most controllable are the Karbide Kutzall. A rotary rasp.
http://woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=926
I'd use the arbortech on the bowl. Faster than an adze or gouges. I'd use a gouge or an adze to give the surface that kind of texture if I wanted that look. Just buy some cutters and try it. If you don't like it or are too intimidated by them sell them on the classifieds. You will be the best judge of what you like. The arbortech and chainsaw type are not forgiving in the slightest.
Rick,
I'm just curious but I would think that a chainsaw would offer you more control and be safer. At least the blade is further away from you. If you had some kind of holddown mechanism I would think by taking slices with the chainsaw and then hogging out the slices would work quite well.
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
The problem with a chainsaw is that you have to cut with the tip, which is a good way to send the chain bar into your forehead.
-Steve
Steve,
I have operated a chainsaw for over 30 years and have performed I don't know how many plunge cuts with the tip and never a scarey moment.
Perhaps with a dull chain you could experience a kickback but with the wood on the ground how in the rath of Gawd could you possibly hit yourself in the head with the chainbar!?
You're not holding it over your head are ya? That's a real badd no, no with chainsaws.
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
It's in all the chainsaw safety information. The upper quadrant of the tip of the bar, from the end of the straight section to the point at the very tip of the bar, is the "danger zone." If you have a mostly-hollowed-out bowl on the ground in front of you, and you've got the tip of the saw positioned inside the hollow (but not touching any wood), and you move the tip away from you, so the "danger zone" contacts the wood at the far side of the hollow, that's when the kickback can occur, and the force causes the saw to pivot backwards (i.e., towards you), with the pivot point being your hands and the tip of the bar tracing the arc.
-Steve
http://www.turfparts.com/replacement_parts_bars_chain_saw_chain_carving_bars.htm
http://www.baileysonline.com/search.asp?SKW=KW118&catID=67
Whatever works is fair game. They make special chainsaw bars for carving with a reduced tip. Those small trimming saws saws like the Echo with a short bar work nice. Indoors an electric is best. You can also get ripping chain for going with the grain.
I've hollowed out bowls on my table saw with a brackets above to hold the wood in place and gradually raise the blade while spinning the wood.
Nothing wrong with hogging out most of the waste with the Arbortech then finishing with a gouge or an adz, whichever you feel most comfortable with. With experience you'll find the Arbortech to be a pretty clean cutting and precision tool. I don't have experience with the Lancelot, but I do with chainsaws and they still scare me. I don't feel the need to try one. If you have access to an air compressor, try some of the pneumatic tools. Besides the angle grinders, there are some professional quality, heavy duty chisels, if you can afford them. I can't.
Troost,
Thanks for the advice. I can't afford the expensive stuff. But I enjoy doing as much as possible by hand. I have made seven small and medium sized bowls with gouges and a mallet. Now I have some wood for large bowls. I am going to try to do them with only large gouges and an adze. If it strikes me as too much grunt labor, I'll get the Arbortech, but I hope I don't need to. I'll post photos when I'm finished and I'll let folks know what I have learned about the tools that work best for me.
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
I personally have ALL of these types of tools (not in every brand though). I just would never risk my health by using the grinder types and I can work equally fast with far greater control with the hand tools. To say that the arbortech is faster is a personal reality only, not a fact. The hand tools require greater skill to work at speed and the grinder types require extreme skills (and luck too) to escape severe injury. IME chain saws ARE MUCH SAFER than the grinder type tools but neither safer nor faster than the hand tools. If you look around I think you'll find that craftsmen who regularly produce such things as dough bowls are using the traditional tools in the vast majority of cases. Skill and respect for their limbs have overwhelmed the amateur perceptions of speed offered by the little finger grinders and the chain saws are speedy enough and safe enough in EXPERT hands but also noisy and exhausting to operate so they tend to be used only in the roughest stages of the work.
BFN,
Your advice has not fallen on deaf ears. I have not bought a Lancelot or other type of grinder yet, and I may not. Today I went to Vienna Hardware, and bought:
- ####second really big slab of cherry
- a smaller slab of spalted maple,
- a nice cylindrical chunk of heartwood mapleall for making bowls. I am going to try to use my big gouges and my bowl adze, and see what it takes to do some BIG bowls. So far, all of my bowls have been small. Your advice and admonition are in front of my mind. I would rather use hand tools than make a lot of sawdust and a big mess. I will let you know what happens. Thank you very much for caring, and for letting me know what you have come to learn in you woodworking life.MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Here is an article from Outdoor magazine that might be helpful:
http://outdoors-magazine.com/spip.php?article333
This writer uses an adze in the traditional way (controlled splitting is faster and easier). He does present some good ideas about holding the work and using carving axes though. Note how his ends are left long and deep plus supported by the clamp blocks while the hollowing is done.
Here's a site with some very lovely tools and this page has suggestions for tool sets for various types of projects:
http://www.djarv.se/djarvenglish/toolhints.asp
Don't be too scared of their prices as they are in Swedish Krona and in American dollars they are more reasonable. Take note of the nice concave drawknives!
It makes me happy to think that you and Bob are going to be careful and hopefully safe. I was once a firefighter/EMT and I have seen too many heart rending instances of the consequences of carelessness. I've had the enlightening experience of living through a few injuries and some really scary close calls of my own too.
Edited 1/10/2008 3:05 am ET by bigfootnampa
Hi big,
One of the reasons I have managed to keep all my body parts for 61½ years is by staying safe, at least I'd like to think that. I just had visions of Mel trying to hold a relatively small workpiece whilst standing over it and whacking it with a razor sharp adze betwixt his feet. Shudder, had to cover my eyes!
Clearly those tools for bowls & troughs that you pointed us to are much safer, or at least they look to be.
Thanks for your inputs,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
BFN,
Great post. Thank you very much.I am very familiar with the first site you showed. I studied it months ago. I have used most of the tools that he discusses, except for the Granfors tools. Most of those tools are sold at Woodcraft, and I have a part time job at the local Woodcraft, which is a real boon when it comes to trying out tools. I tried the Woodcraft carving axe. It is much bigger than I expected from the photos. I believe the handle is 19" long. It would work well for the outside of the bowl, but is a bit massive for the inside. I also tried it in a "hollowing" fashion, in which I made a slicing cut and then pried up. This works. I probably need more practice at it. But I can hollow out a bowl much faster with a BIG gouge, say 2 and a half inches wide and a big mallet than I can with the axe. After handling the axe, and trying it out, I get the feeling it is optimal for larger projects, say a totem pole sized carving, or even a bowl that is two feet in diameter. That changes everything. I used the two adzes that he shows and found them to be small and very light. I could do some hollowing with the larger one, but I could hollow much much faster and easier and far more precisely with a few gouges. I have both large straight gouuges and gouges with long curves. Probably my 30 years of experience carving biases me toward the tools I know best - gouges and a mallet. The second site you provided is new to me. It is very interesting and has some tools that I am drooling over. Of course, I tend to start drooling every time a see a photo of tools that I haven't tried yet. I have learned with experience, that when I try tools, I "come back down to Earth" and see their limitations as well as their potential. I didn't see much on this site that I cant buy here in the US. There are a handful of forges in the US that make carving axes, adzes, scorps, curved knives, etc. I know four people who are very good with an adze but they live far away. I want to spend a day with a person who is good with an adze and an axe, and get some good coaching and feedback. I am sure that will happen in the coming months. MEANWHILE, yesterday I got some GREAT slabs of wood for carving bowls, and I am ready to start carving them up. from these slabs, I can make some medium, large, and gigantic bowls. I have ideas for making them interesting. For example, I want to carve one in the shape of a large shell (like a complex Newport shell - not a simple one). Big ideas. Let's see if I can make them come to be. Of course, I also like the very primitive dough bowls of the distant past, and will make a number of them. When each person in my family has a bowl, I will move on to the next adventure.Thank you.
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Mel;
Woodcraft has some of the Granfors tools available on their web site. I LOVE Woodcraft! I just don't shop there much now because I already bought most of their good stuff (:-) uuuummm... well I guess a lot of the rest too. I once knew everyone who worked at my local store here in Saint Louis. I taught a few classes for them here. Recently I had a senior moment and left my beloved Pfeil axe in the back of my pickup's utility bed. I didn't lock the door and it fell out while enroute to do Christmas shopping with my son. I was really happy when I found an identical model on the Woodcraft website!!!! The replacement arrived just 5 days later and has been sharpened and at work already!
Here is one project done already with the new axe as a key tool:
Thanks Man,
I had been looking at those little hand-held chainsaws and having a lot of experience operating a regular chainsaw I thought, man those things look more dangerous than the handheld tools typically used.
Seems like if your gonna use a motor driven tool, the chainsaw would be the safer one to use, epecially an electric chainsaw.
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Edited 1/9/2008 3:18 pm ET by KiddervilleAcres
Long be for the Lancelot type tool came on the market I made this fly cutter tool.
It's 3 7/8" dia. and about 1/4" thick the 3 cutters held in place with set screws. I can set the cutter to take a very small cut or a big one. It worked very good but made a big mess throwing chips all over the shop.
John
John,
Wow. You invented a prototype of the Arbortech tool. You can see a photo of it in one of the earlier posts to this thread.
Did you use yours on an angle grinder?
Did you find it to be fairly safe? (You are still alive :-))
Thanks,
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Yes an angel grinder. It's a two hander as it gyro a bit. and a faceshield is a must.
John
Mel, I believe David Marks used a chain saw type cutter on an angle grinder to make his sculpted turtle tool chest. The DIY show is here: http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/shows_wwk/episode/0,2046,DIY_14350_37617,00.html
Check it out. It will also be on DIY channel tonight at 10:00 PM. Very soon!!
Bruce
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