Hello,
I have seen a lot of talk of the Hunter tool lately, I was recently talking with Mike Jacofsky, and from what I learned from him I will give my opinion. The Hunter tool is not for beginners just because they can't sharpen too well. It is too expensive for most beginners I know. The best use for the Hunter tool to me would be for cutting very hard dry, or abrasive wood that dulls you hss tools almost instantly.
well that's my opinion,
Wyatt
I'm relatively new to the Hunter tool, myself......
But, I've been doing quite a bit of experimenting with it lately, and have a few observations of my own......
I hope I can explain this in a way that's understandable, but I've noticed a couple things that are distinctly different with the Hunter over a standard bowl gouge.....even when comparing to a bowl gouge with a double bevel grind.
The purpose of the double bevel bowl gouge is to allow access into places (inside concave curves, corners, etc.) where the standard bevel will not work. The double bevel works, but the grind angle is much bigger as a matter of necessity, because of the thickness of the gouge between the bottom of the flute and the bottom of the shaft.
A much thinner, or acute angle of grind is what works better, and for the reason described above, just isn't possible with a bowl gouge...........but with the Hunter, it is! If you'll notice the grind angle of the cutting edge is acute.....a very small angle. If a regular bowl gouge were ground to this small of an angle, the bevel itself would be very long.......unrealistically long, when considering the needs of a lathe turner.....again, this is because of the thickness between the bottom of the flute, and the bottom of the gouge shaft itself.
Because of the way the Hunter cutter is ground, and it's placement in relation to the bevel of the shaft on the cutter holder, it's almost like having a standard bowl gouge that's extremely thin between flute and bottom of the shaft......a virtual impossibility with a standard bowl gouge, because there would be no strength of the gouge shaft with a flute to bottom of shaft thickness that is that thin.
Yes, the Hunter does give the turner possibilities that are not possible through the usual methods..........but, like I said.......I'm still experimenting with it, and only have touched the surface of just what ultimate possibilities it is capable of........... !!!!!
edit: The cutting edges of my gouges are all honed on a 200gt slow speed wet grinder......as I see it, the Hunter will not cut any cleaner than my regular gouges will cut......but, I sharpen less. That's a plus in the Hunter's favor, but not reason enough for a turner who can grind a very
SHARP tool, to spend his money. For the reasons I described above, I have realized the Hunter can do something that regular bowl gouges can't, and never will be capable of.......this is good enough reason to buy one, and play around with it!
I haven't been able to understand why the Hunter instructions specifically discount the use of the bevel. Until John Lucas (in an earlier thread, and prior to the release of his Hunter video) convinced me to try it with the bevel rubbing, I didn't give it much thought.......now, I can see Hunter Manufacturing has missed the boat with their incomplete recommendations! (Thanks, John!) Sooooo, now we can understand there are actually
two very useful cutting methods that can be utilized with the Hunter tool.....SHEAR SCRAPING, and GOUGE-LIKE. As was mentioned in John Lucas' video, there is not much use for using the Hunter tool in a standard scraper fashion (perpendicular to the rotation of the surface being cut) and will likely precipitate a "catch".......but the angled shear scrap, along with using it in a gouge-like fashion, is a real boon to the Hunter tool's versatility.
(I hope I've described these personal observations in terms that make what I was attempting to point out, understandable and useful information.)
otis of cologne
