Chatter tool?

[admin]

I've been thinking hard on getting a chatter tool. There's a few ideas coursing through my mind about a vessel with chattering on the outside.

What I can't quite figure is how the tool works, and how to apply it. I'd rather like to know what is involved before I drop the money on one and end up just ruining a few good pieces of wood and tossing the tool in a drawer.

Thanks,
TJ.

[TDHofstetter]

The ones I've seen are a glorified / refined hacksaw blade (lots of 'em are made from hacksaw blades). The end is sharpened much the same way as a card scraper is sharpened, then it's presented to the wood similarly to a scraper - from the toolrest straight towards the centerline. The sharpened end catches (intentionally), the spinning wood deflects it, it releases from the wood & springs back (skipping over some of the spinning wood) to catch again. The marks it leaves are spaced according to the tool's resonance and the duration of its use - dwell a long time & you get a fully chattered surface with no "skips". Dwell only one or two revolutions & you get regularly spaced "skips".

[Ruffnek]

Chatter tools only work on end-grain. They can easily be shop-built, like Tim said with a hacksaw blade, a piece of bandsaw blade or any springy steel. I even made one once only I don't know where it is in the shop.

I haven't gotten one but the texturing tool from sorby looks interesting.

Here's a link that shows texturing, spiraling and chatter tools:
www.robert-sorby.co.uk/spiral_texture.htm

[triplefreak]

Bonny Klein has an excellent video on using this tool. See if YouTube has it.