Читать книгу Ellsworth on Woodturning - David Ellsworth - Страница 31

Today, making tools—especially hollowing tools—approaches maximum coolness. You know exactly what you need and how to get there. You quickly learn about the physical dynamics of how a tool works or does not work. You discover new applications for tools and new shapes upon which to use them. You sometimes need to invent jigs to make the tools, not knowing that someone, somewhere, has already made that jig for another purpose, but that doesn’t matter. You can become so totally engrossed in creating the tool that you often forget about the object you’re trying to make. Frequently, the tools are made so late at night there’s no one around to notice. Often, homemade tools are ugly as hell, but when you first put them to the wood, it’s like walking through cheesecake with a hot chainsaw. I’ve been using ugly tools for so long that they’ve become beautiful to me. What could possibly be more satisfying than that?

With the aid of a propane torch and a vise, you can make your own bent hollowing tools.

Making tools comes from having a need. If you look at the history of tool design in woodturning since around the late 1970s, it’s pretty clear we are a needy group. What a joy! With the exception of the standard gouges, skews, and a few parting tools, all of the specialty tools you see today have been designed by living makers, and most are made and marketed by those individuals.

I love making tools because it gives me a particular satisfaction to know that when I have a problem, I can create something to solve it. Often the problem involves reaching an area inside a hollow form that cannot be reached by an existing tool without sacrificing some design element... like enlarging the opening hole to get a bigger tool inside. I did that once, and it ended up such a lousy piece that I heated my studio with it for the better part of about five minutes.

Most turners haven’t a clue how to make a tool. New turners don’t yet have the background or experience to know what they actually want in a tool. Besides, it’s easier to pick up a credit card, make a few keystrokes on the computer, and buy something, assuming the seller has the tool you need. Some do; some don’t.

When it comes to making hollowing tools, logic and simplicity are the secrets to success. When I came up with the recessed-opening design in my Homage Pot series, I wasn’t going to sacrifice a good idea because I didn’t have the right tool. I made seven tools from Allen wrenches, some drill rod, and a screwdriver (that’s the one with the duct-tape wrap in the photo at top right). My philosophy is don’t make the piece to fit the tool; make the tool to fit the piece. Trust me, it grows on you!

I make J-shaped tools from screwdrivers (the tool with the duct tape wrap), Allen wrenches (the rest of the small-handled tools), and 0-1 drill rod (the three on the top) to cut recessed openings in my Homage Pots.