Thread chasing lubricant

[john lucas]

OK I went to the shop and played for about an hour or more with my various thread chasers and some different woods. I learned several things. First I haven't done any thread chasing for a couple of years now. I much prefer my Baxter threader. The topic of lubricant to make thread chasing easier came up and I thought it was worth a play since I had the necessary ingredients. First of all, good wood is king. If you have good wood it chases easily and cleanly. Other woods can be really challenging. Second of all. The commercially made chasers I have are thicker, have an 80 degree angle on the front. I have several homemade chasers that have a more acute angle on the front and they work well. I had one homemade chaser that was 90 degrees. It's harder to use. I'm going to regrind and file that one. I put a negative rake on the top of my chasers based on the recommendation from a very famous turner who I can't remember at the moment. That works. I had several of the older chasers that were flat on top. They worked but when I put a negative rake on the top it was easier to find the thread.
I tried thin CA, Johnsons paste wax, Dawn dishwashing liquid, and Kerosene. Best I can tell. Any of the lubricant seems to help. I think your skill with the chaser helps more (and wood choice far more). The CA was kind of hit or miss. If I applied some Ca made a pass or two and then applied more it did seem to help on the softer woods. Not much change on the harder woods probably because it doesn't penetrate. With my limited playing I think the paste wax and kerosene worked the best with the least hassle. Could not tell the Dawn did all that much. I did try all of them with the 36TPI chaser and all worked better than none at all but the poor woods just can't handle that fine of a chaser.
Below is my collection of Hand chasers. The ones with Blue tape are pairs, the ones without I'll have to build the mate some day when I have time. The ones with tip protectors are my homemade ones. So are the ones with Walnut handles. The one with a spalted handle is just a 16TPI bolt that I sawed in half. It works but difficult to cut the male threads.

 

[Doug Rasmussen]

Is the function of the "lubricant" to eliminate tool friction or to alter dry wood so it cuts more like green wood?

Do any of you use dies off metal threading die heads as a chasing tool? Used ones should be easy to find at machine shops. Weld or clamp to a handle. They usually come in matched sets of four, when one is chipped beyond repair the remainder of the four are scrap. The're made of high speed steel which might be better than old hand chasers made of carbon steel. For that matter, you could also use a tap to chase threads.

 

[hockenbery]

They will work but not well in my opinion because of the curvature of the die threads.
A friend who is an excellent welder made chasers from a bolt cut in half welded to a rod.
They worked sort of. I was able to cut some threads with them by tilting them.
The curvature of the bolt tends to block the horizontal presentation requiring lots of force against the wood
My philosophy is the tools and lathe do the work not me.

Thread chasers have threads cut in an angled plane that give clearance so that only the cutting edge is contacting the wood. Once the lead threads are struck the thread chasers become self feeding and all the turner has to do is change the angle to cut more threads and pull it out at the right moment.

The bolt made chasers never self fed well. Tilting and working below center provides clearance but reduces the thread depth.

 

[Dennis J Gooding]

Interesting collection Al. Where is your Bill Jones arm rest?

 

[Doug Rasmussen]

They will work but not well in my opinion because of the curvature of the die threads.
A friend who is an excellent welder made chasers from a bolt cut in half welded to a rod.
They worked sort of. I was able to cut some threads with them by tilting them.
The curvature of the bolt tends to block the horizontal presentation requiring lots of force against the wood
My philosophy is the tools and lathe do the work not me.

Thread chasers have threads cut in an angled plane that give clearance so that only the cutting edge is contacting the wood. Once the lead threads are struck the thread chasers become self feeding and all the turner has to do is change the angle to cut more threads and pull it out at the right moment.

The bolt made chasers never self fed well. Tilting and working below center provides clearance but reduces the thread depth.

Hmmmmm....the tap idea worked well in one situation I had. We had a number of relatively expensive aluminum parts with 2"-20 threads that were undersized. I rigged up a 1/4-20 tap in a hand held handle to scrape the threads larger. Worked perfectly. Whether it'd work in wood is another issue. I may try it if I have time today.

As far as the curvature of the die threads.... I think I understand your point there, except the die head chasers I'm familiar with don't have the curvature in them. They do have the thread helix angle ground in, but the purpose made hand chaser might have that too.

 

[hockenbery]

I said it will work
but not as well as a traditional thread chasers with the straight beveled teeth.

If your thread cutters have relief after the cutting edge similar to a straight angled bevel they should work great.
I’m thinking of hand taps which seem round to me and would work similarly to a bolt cut in Half.

 

[john lucas]

Al I've taken a hand tap and cut it in half and brazed it on to a shaft. It worked great as a thread chaser. I've cut a bolt in half and tried that. It works but is hard to get the pressure you need both on the male thread and female thread.

 

[Emiliano Achaval]

OK I went to the shop and played for about an hour or more with my various thread chasers and some different woods. I learned several things. First I haven't done any thread chasing for a couple of years now. I much prefer my Baxter threader. The topic of lubricant to make thread chasing easier came up and I thought it was worth a play since I had the necessary ingredients. First of all, good wood is king. If you have good wood it chases easily and cleanly. Other woods can be really challenging. Second of all. The commercially made chasers I have are thicker, have an 80 degree angle on the front. I have several homemade chasers that have a more acute angle on the front and they work well. I had one homemade chaser that was 90 degrees. It's harder to use. I'm going to regrind and file that one. I put a negative rake on the top of my chasers based on the recommendation from a very famous turner who I can't remember at the moment. That works. I had several of the older chasers that were flat on top. They worked but when I put a negative rake on the top it was easier to find the thread.
I tried thin CA, Johnsons paste wax, Dawn dishwashing liquid, and Kerosene. Best I can tell. Any of the lubricant seems to help. I think your skill with the chaser helps more (and wood choice far more). The CA was kind of hit or miss. If I applied some Ca made a pass or two and then applied more it did seem to help on the softer woods. Not much change on the harder woods probably because it doesn't penetrate. With my limited playing I think the paste wax and kerosene worked the best with the least hassle. Could not tell the Dawn did all that much. I did try all of them with the 36TPI chaser and all worked better than none at all but the poor woods just can't handle that fine of a chaser.
Below is my collection of Hand chasers. The ones with Blue tape are pairs, the ones without I'll have to build the mate some day when I have time. The ones with tip protectors are my homemade ones. So are the ones with Walnut handles. The one with a spalted handle is just a 16TPI bolt that I sawed in half. It works but difficult to cut the male threads.

I can see that you have the Sorby chasers. I found the length of the handle way too long. I chase threads the old fashioned way, with an arm rest. I think those are for people that don't use one... I always say that chasing threads is easy, with the right timber! Turners that quit usually tried chasing threads on soft maple, lol. I love my Boxwood! Makes it easy... I do not like the mess that CA makes... I tried chasing threads a few days ago with a new, new for me timber. Citridora Eucalyptus. It's a little green, but I was able to chase some very nice threads, the list of decent local timber keeps growing, all you have to do is try everything that comes thru the door....

 

[Emiliano Achaval]

Al I've taken a hand tap and cut it in half and brazed it on to a shaft. It worked great as a thread chaser. I've cut a bolt in half and tried that. It works but is hard to get the pressure you need both on the male thread and female thread.

My favorite way of getting extra chasers is to look at Ebay from England. There are some really good bargains there, very nice chasers...

 

[john lucas]

I don't use the arm brace. One came with the set of Sorby chasers and I tried it. didn't see any advantage other than being able to leave the tool rest in one position. for the things I chase threads in that wasn't an advantage. so if anyone needs an arm brace I have one.

 

[Emiliano Achaval]

I don't use the arm brace. One came with the set of Sorby chasers and I tried it. didn't see any advantage other than being able to leave the tool rest in one position. for the things I chase threads in that wasn't an advantage. so if anyone needs an arm brace I have one.

There are a few things that I like about the arm rest. Main one is that when I do the female thread, I can apply lateral pressure onto the chaser, I bring in the arm rest and I regulate the pressure with it... The other one is, I can get closer with smaller tools, no chatter. Some of the traditional tools were designed to be use with the arm rest. Like the traditional recess tool, its impossible to use it with out chatter without the arm rest, with it I can get it in very close... I also use a small NRS for the bottom, with the arm rest... Other one, for my demos, I look very professional and looks like I know what I'm doing with the arm rest hanging from my shoulder like my hero Bill Jones, lol. I also had Doug Thompson make me an "Inside tool". I sent him Bill Jones drawings and there is no better way to open up an end grain box than with the inside tool with the arm rest... When I decided to chase threads, the old fashioned way, I also decided to go all the way, the traditional way... I do not use the Sorby gauge to measure the opening... I would look into a jig just so I can thread Koa without having to stabilize... Aloha

 

[Dean Center]

Emiliano, could you provide a picture and/or drawing of Bill Jones' Inside Tool? Thanks.

 

[Emiliano Achaval]

Emiliano, could you provide a picture and/or drawing of Bill Jones' Inside Tool? Thanks.

I will take a pictures of Bill's drawing from his book... I will also take a picture of mine tomorrow. You will be amazed at how good they are!! If you call Doug, tell him you want one like the one he made me... I do not recommend using an old file like Bill Jones did, they are brittle and can break... I have a very small Koa handle on mine because I use it with my arm rest... Aloha @Dean Center

 

[Dean Center]

Thanks. It looks something like the very long edged spindle gouge that Ray Key uses inside boxes.

 

[john lucas]

I made one of those years ago but I guess I gave it away because I don't have it anymore. I just use the Hunter's now and have since he introduced the #4

 

[Mike Peace]

Here is the corner tool I reground from a Harbor Freight 1/2" skew. It works well for me.

 

[Emiliano Achaval]

Here is the corner tool I reground from a Harbor Freight 1/2" skew. It works well for me.View attachment 25114

Mike, thats a fine looking "Inside tool" Mine is shorter, I use it with the arm rest, so I designed it shorter and I made a short Koa handle, its a one hand tool for me, feel awkward if I try to use without the arm rest... Aloha!