Carving set on a budget.

[aussie4bonsai]

I started like most with 1/8 shaft grinder and then I saw 6mm die grinder with a Samurai bit ripping out the unwanted wood and thought that’s got to be the way to carve.
Die grinder $380 and with one cutting tool total cost over $500 to use 2or 3times a year.
I had at that time an Ozito router and some routing tools and wondered how they would work, I found that they cut all right but a bit scary to use and cutting tools not the right shape, I was cleaning up with the 1/8 grinder but that was time consuming.
The next step was a add for a 6mm circle cutter $45 with the handle down the side and I thought that’s got to give a lot more control with the leverage of one hand on the body of the C- cutter and one on the handle when caving and there was an aluminum box with 12 cutters under $20.
I was one of the first through the door at my local Aldi store, and the circle cutter worked like dream but the cutters where not the shape I required.
Now tungsten tip tools are not easy to grind and you should use a special silicon carbide or a diamond wheel and I only had a cheap 6 inch grinder that I use for sharpening drills and you can buy them any were for $60, to my surprise it worked good enough to carve wood.
( I remove aluminum with this tool before Xmas)
Warning :- If you can’t sharpen a drill or never tried Do not try this an eye or finger isn’t worth the risk.
If you no how to sharpen a drill try rounding of the square ends of the parallel cutting bits
First before trying the others.
The one thing I do not like about this type of machine is the lack of an On & Off trigger switch, if it jumps out of your hand or dropped it just keeps going.

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Circle cutter same as a router but it has a good handle for control

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Box of 12 cutters I bought 2

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Grinder

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Cutting tools modified for carving
Now I know you can’t run down to Aldi’s store and buy them now but they will be back, or they may be on special some were else.
Happy New Year
Barry

[ozzy]

Thats very interesting ... I have limited carving experience and no proper carving tools but have had good results just using a standard drill and drill bit to remove the bulk of material, a lot of these router bits were never intended to be used free hand and using them free hand is always interesting

[Mitchell]

Saw this earlier today, had to get back to work and could not comment.

Fascinating yet, absolutely terrifying!!

I whole heartedly appreciate the technique skill and ingenuity the finished bits show. Though thanks to this thing called the Internet ( ), I have been perpetually bombarded with excessive information about metals, their compositions and weaknesses, fracturing/air pocketing etc.

One half of me says, when you hear the twang- duck. The others says your a genius in the making.

Got the bits, got the grinder, got three days off work. I may have to spend some time checking this out myself.
Question, as it comes up often regards shaping on a grinder of pre-hardened bits. Were you at all concerned about de-hardened the tips whilst grinding to shape?

So have they been put to the test yet?


I am totally into, making tools at home, please update with 1. carving shots 2. You results on how your modified bits went after many hours of work... It helps us know what to expect..


Thankyou for you time.

[aussie4bonsai]

Hi Ozzy & Mitchell
It is always better to think on the side of caution.
I have used drills with rotary burrs and have been able to do small carving jobs but if you ever wanted to do a carving like Graham Potter dose you need tungsten cutters.
Hand router and circle cutters are made to be use by hand and so are the cutters.
The cutters are designed to take a cut that is able to be held by hand in all types of material.
The high speed of this type of tool is also a help 30,000 rpm with 6 different speed settings compared to 1500 rpm on a drill.
One of the things I learnt when I was apprentice: - The blunt tool will hurt the most.
The reasoning is that with a blunt tool or knife will cause you to use to much pressure and something breaks or you loose control.
Ozzy your Koala has a chainsaw, blunt or in the hands of some one without care is a disaster waiting to happen.

Mitchell Save you a bit of time you would not be able to temper (reduce hardness) of tungsten
If you tried you would more likely to fracture or have the tungsten blades drop of the body.
The main thing to remember about sharpening or grinding to shape tungsten is never quench in water if hotter than what you can hold in your hand.
I have not re-sharpened any of my tungsten cutters
Mitchell You live at Beecroft and I live at Narrabeen email if you would like to come down and I could show you how.
This is an Olive that I carved all old and hard dead wood mainly to find out how much was a live.

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Barry

[kcpoole]

I have one of Bretts special carving tools made from a Threading insert
the model number is 16ER AG55 (16 is the diameter and ER means Right handed), and if you search on ebay you will find heaps. they are sold in packs of 5 or 10 fro less than $100 so work out real cheap
all we need is to make a Decent mandrel for them ( any Metal machinists out there wanna little job?) ( currently using the Dremel one but not ideal)

Here is Bretts original thread on them and he has a link to a yootoobe vid of them in action

I have used on several trees now and they work real well and they are not being blunted at all so far. Great to rough out then finish with a rounded bit if needed.


Ken

[aussie4bonsai]

Hi Ken
I have used this type cutting tip for years but not for carving bonsai.
They are Tungsten carbide thread cutting inserts they are not designed to cut the way you and Brett are using them but I do not doubt that they would cut wood.
I will use the router cutters designed to cut wood and it is the metal behind the blade that limits the depth of cut and also stops the cutter from digging in.
The shaft for your insert that you want someone to machine, if it soft it will bend and if to hard will snap.
Take care.
Barry

[Taffy]

I have some tips similar to Kc and am at present getting some shafts machined up for them. The material being used is Grade 8 High Tensile steel (from bolts with the heads and threads cut off) so that they don't bend or snap.

[kcpoole]

cool Taffy. Let us know how you go
I have a metal lathe available at my dads, but buried under so much junk it it not funny. Will have to go and clean up his workshop and make some shafts

cool Barry
neither of us using the tools as they are originally designed but both work.
Gave mine a hiding today on an old privet and find the controllability of it is great. No more chance of digging in than anything else I have tried.

Ken

[aussie4bonsai]

Hi taffy & Ken
The high tensile bolts are good, I have used unbrako socket head cap screws to make special purpose cutting tools in my trade.
I am glad that they work well, how about showing us the results and the total cost for your caving set, so members can compare what they can get for there money.
I have this English Elm that I can carve, I had tried to thread graft and it die back around the graft.

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Any suggestion on the carving would be great, I would like the carving to end at the base on the third photo.

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this is my first idea.
Barry

[aussie4bonsai]

Started carving in the morning 10:23 and finished with the circle cutter at 11:38, this is the result.

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Before and after