Woodcut Proforme Tool - More Woodturning

More Woodturning/January 2004/Page 4
Tips and Hints to Get the Most out of Your Woodcut Proforme Tools
by Lyn J. Mangiameli
The Woodcut Proforme instructions
are quite minimal, not unlike most hollowing
tools. Nonetheless, I’ve managed
to get what I consider to be outstanding
performance from the tools. I can control
my cuts from aggressive to fine. I
never get uncontrolled catches and if I
can hold on and the motor won’t stall, I
can remove incredibly thick curls of wood
until the wood is all gone. It is possible
to overcome “bounce,” avoid ridges, and
achieve a smooth surface that needs little
or no shear scraping to clean up. Here is
what has worked for me.
Lathe Speed:
Number one rule, run the lathe at low
speed. If I ever have a problem with
these tools, almost of any sort, the first
thing I do is turn the speed down even
more. Probably 90 percent of the time
this immediately solves the problem.
These tools cut so efficiently and so aggressively,
high speed simply isn’t important.
I’d guess I generally use the tools
at from 200 to 300 rpm, but I imagine
anything from 50 to 500 rpm may be appropriate
depending on how deep a cut
you are taking and the nature of the
wood. If you feel your tool is way too
aggressive and you are hanging on for
dear life, your speed is too high and/or
your gap is too large; reducing either or
both will help you maintain control. It also
doesn’t hurt to relax and be gentle, but I
realize this advice is easier to give than
achieve.
Blade Exposure-Gap Width:
You don’t need much of an exposed
edge. That is, you don’t need much of a
horizontal opening between the blade and
the guard; about the thickness of a piece
of paper should be quite enough for dry
wood, a very little wider for wet wood
(the dryer the wood, the more you want
the guard closed down). The thickness
from the OUTSIDE of the blade to the
edge of the cap is set from .015 to .020
on all six of my heads. I never measure
this, I just adjust them to the opening that
works best for me, and this was what
they measured to be. Keep in mind this
is from the outside of the blade, so the
actual gap between the blade and the
guard is less. Those figures would suggest
I generally work with a gap at or
slightly less than 1/64 of an inch. Yes,
occasionally I open it up two to three
times that for deliberately hogging wet
wood (if I’m feeling strong), but for most
hollowing work, a gap less than 1/64 of
an inch works just fine for me. With such
a narrow horizontal gap, the guard will
leave you pretty safe from catches.
Blade Exposure-Area Exposed:
The cutter forms a J shape. Try to
have a roughly even gap in the area of
the J from the bottom of the J on around
to a third of the way up the rising long
side of the J. This will allow you to make
straight forward “plunge” cuts and also
allow you to make side cuts. Use anywhere
along this opened up area to make
your cut, according to the access you
have, the width of cut you want, and simply
what gives you the best cut for your
purposes at the moment. It is usually
A close up of the New Proforme Head.
easier to first adjust the guard forward
and back for the appropriate gap, then
use the eccentric Allen head screw to
tune the exposure. If any one area should
have the most gap, it should be the area
where the J begins to curve upwards
along the long side of the J. However, if
the gap is limited only to that area, the
narrow slices make it more likely to create
concentric (well actually tight spiraling)
ridges in the wood, rather than a flat
smooth surface. The more you can move
your cut up the side of the J, the more
level your cut, that is, the cut surface will
be more even along the wall sides. With
practice, you can achieve an internal finish
that is superior to any scraping tool
I’ve owned (including the Stewart and
the Kelton hollowers) and that usually
doesn’t need sheer scraping or sanding
to level and smooth the interior surfaces.
At about the price of a good woodturning gouge
Orientation of Cutter to the Wood:
You need to approach the wood so
that the edge of the blade can reach the
wood without being blocked by the guard.
Unlike a gouge, you can control your cut
by rolling up along the bevel (the
manufacturer’s recommended approach),
or by rolling down off the guard
(what I do about half the time). This is
achieved by simply rotating the shaft of
the tool to get the best cut. If the gap is
not outrageously wide, either approach
will work uneventfully and help you find
the best angle for cutting. With the cutting
edge straight up, you want the tool
to be near the 9 o’clock centerline of the
vessel or a little above. Within a degree
or two of vertical, will be the best cutting
angle. You can help judge this by placing
the shaft in the tool handle with the locking
bolts/screw/wingnut (depending on
handle) oriented to the 12 o’clock position
when the blade is vertical. Thus even
when the head is hidden, you will have
those mounting fasteners to orient it.
Generally, if you are having troubles getting
the blade to cut, slightly raise the
cutting head inside the form and turn
clockwise. When you find what some call
the “sweet spot,” notice (on an open vessel)
just what is the angle between the
blade and the wood. Once you have a
sense of that angle, you can cut anywhere
from 11 clock down to roughly 6 o’clock
as long as you turn the tool head to maintain
the same angle to the wood. I often
make cuts down around 4 to 5 o’clock
when it serves my purposes (you pretty
much need a toolgate or pin rest to do
this). For a cut off the bottom of the J,
keep the tool at centerline but have the
toolrest slightly raised so the shaft will
angle down. This will get you off the bevel
(not that there is much of one, in the traditional
sense) and allow a cut.
Since the edge is guarded, it is pretty
safe to experiment with all sorts of positions
without major ill effects, feel free
to try the unorthodox, though I recommend
you learn with the straight shaft,
as it will be much easier to master during
your initial experiments. As long as you
keep the gap closed down, you can try
all sorts of plunge cuts, side cuts, approach
angles, tilts, and back cuts without
worrying that you are going to sink
that edge a half inch into the side of the
vessel. The area of the curve of the J as
it goes up the side should be the easiest
place to achieve a cut, but feel free to
experiment with anywhere from the short
side of the J, through the very tip, to the
full length of the long side. Once you get
the hang of it, you will be able to take
cuts from any of these locations.
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Clogging:
These tools can clog in one of two
ways: the first is when wood fibers
become so packed and jammed between
the edge of the guard and the
cutting edge that the tool can no
longer take a shaving; the second is
when wood fibers are left stuck between
the guard and the blade or
packed under the guard at the
completion of tool use. The latter is
largely an inconvenience, doesn’t effect
the ability of the blade to cut efficiently
as they are self clearing
when cutting is taking place, and can
be removed easily without taking off
the guard by some judicious probing
with a metal awl from the open end
of the J shaped cutter. It is worth the
trouble to remove them, for if initially
green, they can harden in place and
be troublesome to remove later. This
sort of clog is not uncommon, particularly
on the earlier versions of the
Proforme that used a flat guard that
covered the entire head.
Very uncommon, at least for me,
are those clogs where prior shavings
are so jammed and packed against
or behind the cutting edge that the
newly cut wood cannot push by. The
only clogs I have had of this sort occurred
when I was first learning to
use the tool. Now, I never have clogs
of this sort. This leads me to believe
those clogs that prevent cutting are
most often caused when there is an
insufficient vertical gap between the
top of the blade and the bottom of
the guard. This is different than the
horizontal gap between the blade and
the side of the guard that you set to
control the shaving size. As discussed
above, provision is made for horizontal
adjustment of the guard, but no
factory provision has been made for
vertical adjustment of the height of
the guard above the top of the blade
edge.
The Proforme has had several
different guards and the earlier ones
have the least vertical gap, while the
most recent has a raised section on
the bottom of the guard to increase
the vertical gap. I suspect that the
reason I no longer have clogs that
prevent cutting is that the newer
guards have more vertical clearance
from the cutting edge, and with my
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More Woodturning/January 2004/Page 5
heads that carry the older flatter guards,
the blade has worn back and thus the
gap has increased as the blade height
diminished from sharpening. So one way
of increasing the vertical gap is just to
use your Proforme a lot and wear down
that blade edge. Of course a more immediate
way to increase the vertical gap
is to install a thin shim or washer of paper,
plastic or metal between the guard
and the head. The shim should be very
thin, no more than the thickness of a business
card. Then, as the blade wears, you
can remove or use a thinner shim.
Though unlikely to be present, you should
also examine the bottom of the guard for
lumps or burrs, and remove them to allow
for the smoothest passage of wood
fibers past the guard. It is also possible
to use a Dremel like tool to polish the
internal surfaces of the head behind the
blade. I’ve done this, but I can’t honestly
say that I find it has made any real
difference (but then I wasn’t having
clogging problems in the first place).
This photo shows a selection of Proforme shafts available, plus three
cutter heads, two with adapters to enable them to fit onto different
handles. In the far right hand corner is the teardrop scraper that is
available from Woodcut.
The standard Proforme handle shown with one of the shafts.
Shafts:
The Proforme currently comes in
with a choice of three different shafts: a
straight shaft, a slightly canted shaft and
a swan necked shaft.
My favorite shaft is the shaft with
the slightly angled (canted) shaft. Woodcut
calls this their Slight Bent Head. For
a while, Ken Port the manufacturer, discontinued
this shaft, replacing it with a
totally straight shaft. However, after
many requests, has re-introduced the
slightly canted version of this shaft. I
would recommend anyone who only has
the fully straight shaft to consider obtaining
the slightly canted version as well.
Both have their preferred applications
and can largely substitute for each other,
but I much prefer the canted version for
hollow forms that are rounded and/or
semi-enclosed.
The “straight” shaft is good for many
purposes, but I find it forces one to angle
the rear of the shaft a bit farther over to
the right, in order to present what is usually
the preferred area of the blade
(where the blade begins to transition from
the bottom of the J to the long side) to
the wood. This is not a problem when a
turning has a moderately wide mouth, but
is sometimes difficult to achieve when
dealing with a hollow form with a very
narrow mouth. However, the straight
shaft does work well for very deep hollowing
when coupled to the Woodcut
long handle or the Hutson handles (discussed
in the next section).
The “swan necked” Proforme shaft
(Woodcut calls this their Bent Head or
Heavy Bend) can be handy to have, but
does not adapt to as wide a range of situations
as its straight and canted brothers.
Still, the “swan necked” shaft will
make it easier to get aggressive “front
of the J” plunge cuts in deeply rounded
forms, and makes it easier to get “side
of the J” cuts on the peripheral upper
edge of such forms. I don’t find the
angle of the neck very useful for getting
directly inside the opening of a small
mouthed hollow form, and have to resort
to another tool like a Kelton or small
Jordan Hollower for this area.
All Proforme shafts are somewhat
limited when used by themselves for
large forms and very deep hollowing because
of their modest length and 5/8ths
diameter. You can get around these restrictions
of length and rigidity by installing
the stock shafts into the Woodcut or
Hutson long straight handles, or by making
up an adapter (I start with 1/2 X 3/4
inch aluminum bar-see accompanying
photos) that will allow the Proforme
heads to mount in a Stewart/Pencil/Jordan
OmniTool style straight shaft, or on
a Don Pencil Scorpion Hooker or
Stewart Bottom Hooker (the cutting edge
will not align on axis with the usual top
mount Steward/Sorby Hooker). The profile
of these Hookers are particularly effective
in allowing the Proforme head to
be optimally oriented when working in
larger hollow forms.
Handles:
The relatively short standard handle
is quite comfortable for making hollow
forms on the small side of medium. I like
my standard handles to be weighted with
lead shot for the last several inches (it is
easy to pull the rear cap, put in a wood or
plastic plug about five to six inches down,
fill the end with lead shot, and replace
the cap). I find this weighted handle to
be quite effective at reducing the stresses
that arise from little kickbacks common
to hollowing, and to allow for more control
in general.
Any metal shafted handle offering a
5/8 inch bore will work fine with these
tools. For larger forms, you will achieve
much greater control with a longer
handle, something in the 20-26 inch range.
Woodcut now offers a 20 inch long, 1.125
inch diameter handle, that can be paired
with a second for very deep work. Also
for very deep forms, one can use the
Woodcut or Hutson long handles. Presently,
Woodcut is not showing their 1 inch
diameter long handle to be available, but
I bet Ken would be willing to make one
up on special order. Between the Woodcut
and the Hutson, I much prefer the
Woodcut versions, as they allow the extension
of the Proforme shaft to be varied
over nearly the shaft’s entire length
to achieve the best balance between
length and rigidity, while the Hutson version
only has a short socket, that means
the 5/8’s shaft is always fully exposed
and thus the overall combination is less
rigid. The only downside of the Woodcut
Long Shaft is that if you want the handle
weighted you must load your own lead
shot (easily and inexpensively obtained
from a gun or hunting supply store). Ken
makes this easy to do by pre installing an
internal plug and an endcap on his long
handle. The Proforme head mounted on
the standard straight shaft, coupled to
these long lead filled handles with their 1
inch shafts, makes an excellent tool for
very deep hollowing.
Finally, with a 5/8 to 3/4 adapter
(which can be a simple sleeve made from
metal tubing, or you can use one of the
excellent Don Pencil Scorpion adapters).
Indeed, one of the favorite ways for me
to use my Proforme tools is to have them
mounted in a Scorpion Armbrace. The
Proforme shafts also work very well
when used with a Stewart style armbrace
or even the Jamieson or Kelton
rotationally constrained hollowing rigs.
For very deep work with a rotationally
restrained system, you can make up an
adapter to mount the Proforme cutting
head alone to a thick boring bar.
Tool Rests:
You almost have to have a gated and/
or pin tool rest to get the most out of the
Proformes. A toolgate or pin rest allows
for considerably more control, reduces
physical effort, and allows you to lever
the tool to the side (when the head is oriented
vertically,” this helps to achieve a
cut off the rising long side of the J shaped
blade) rather than down near the tip. Indeed,
when you get used to the tool, you
can even lever in the other direction and
get a cut off the short side of the J (know
what you are doing before you start doing
this as the blade is less supported and
more vulnerable on this open side).
Though you often need this sideways
force to make the tool bite, be judicious
in how much force is applied as too much
force will make the cut too aggressive.
The BestWoodTools adjustable pin rest
(particularly if you ask him to make my
version with two additional holes drilled
to allow Delrin toolgates), a Phil Iron’s
toolgate, the new Kelton Tool Gate, or a
Hegner Deep hollowing toolrest are presently
the best of the deep hollowing tool
rests. That said, my preference is for
making up my own Delrin toolgates sized
specifically for the shafts diameters I most
often use. This is an easy task using a
drill press, a couple of sizes of Forstner
bits, and a clevis pin; the Delrin rod can
be obtained in small quantities from
ENCO. If you don’t want to make up your
own, the Phil Irons tool gate, in its latest
configuration, comes with two U shaped
gates sized with interior dimensions of 5/
8 and 1.125 that are a perfect match for
the Woodcut shaft and handle diameters
Practical Aspects of Use:
Since the Proforme head can be adjusted
to take such an aggressive cut, be
careful to limit the gap until you get used
to the tool, and take care to gently approach
the wood when you do have wider
gaps. With a wide gap, a long weighted
handle and/or a strong handle like an
armbrace or rotationally restrained handle,
it is quite possible to get controlled, long,
greater than 1/4 inch shavings from green
wood as long as you are strong enough
and your motor is too. However, if you
aren’t attentive and don’t have good control
at such times, it is possible to cut right
through the side of a form before you even
know it (I haven’t actually done this, but
I’ve sure heard reports of people who
started with a 3/4 inch thick bowl and cut
right through the wall or bottom before
they even knew what was going on).
Again, a reason to use slow speeds and
also a reason to check your progress with
calipers more often than you might do with
other tools such as gouges or scrapers.
Another side effect of the efficient
action of a cutting tool like the Proforme
is that you will produce shavings/chips
more rapidly and thus have to clear them
more often. Just as with the scraping tools,
frequent removal of shavings is necessary
to allow the tool to maintain constant and
controlled presentation to the solid wood
surface. If you want good cuts, take the
time to clear shavings frequently. While
compressed air works well to remove the
smaller chips formed by scraping tools, a
vacuum cleaner is often more effective
in removing the larger shavings created
by the Proforme and other cutting tools.
The most efficient technique for me is to
use a piece of stiff wire or rod, bent on
the end, to help “rake” the longest shavings
out of a tight mouthed vessel. I mount
the wire in a removable file handle to make
it easier to pull the shavings out. Often
you can use one of the swan necked micro
hollowing tools for this task if the form
is not too deep.
Sharpening:
Keep the blades sharp, but don’t grind
them (I have yet to find the need to actually
grind on the blades); consider yourself
dressing or honing them instead. As I
see it, there are two ways to hone the
Proforme blades, my way and Ken’s way.
The way that Ken Port recommends is to
use fine (600-1200) Diamond “stones”
[Continued on Page 7.]

More Woodturning/January 2004/Page 6
Proforme from Woodcut Continued from Page 5
shaped in the “credit card” or “paddle”
style. Ken uses the hone along the outside
of the blade in a specific pattern. It
is best viewed looking down from the top
as something like this: )( The first arced
curve is the blade of the tool, the second
arced curve is the path the honing tool
takes across the outside face of the
blade. You have to repeat this motion as
you go around the entire blade. This will
allow for the most accurate contact with
the blade. If the complimentary curve
throws you, then think of it more like )/.
The face of the blade is concave, so your
honing tool will actually be contacting only
the top and bottom of the face of the
blade. Peter Hemsley shows essentially
the same motions in his description of
sharpening the Hamlet Big Brother on
his website: http://www.toolpost.co.uk/
system/index.html
My method is faster but requires
more expensive equipment; a 1 inch vertical
belt sander with a leather belt
charged with green (chromium oxide)
honing compound sticks. At somewhere
between .5 and 2.0 micron, this green
chromium oxide honing compound is far
smaller in grit than any diamond stone
(though not raw diamond paste), and you
can use it without any fear of over grinding.
I use three Proforme heads a lot (and
two to a lesser amount) and none have
yet to approach any need for refurbishment.
The technique I have found most effective
and convenient is to use a leather
belt and chromium oxide with the vertical
belt sander fitted with a flat platen.
Just bring the head to the sander with
the shaft attached (it is usually easier to
manipulate if you leave the handle off,
so you may want to use only the shaft
and head for your initial sharpenings).
Turn the head upside down, with the
guard and cutting edge facing down, i.e.,
in the direction the belt is moving. Bring
the head to the belt and just match the
two to achieve full contact between the
blade and the belt in the area where you
will have full platen support. As the outside
of the blade has a broad low angle
bevel, the Proforme head will not be held
vertically, but tilted slightly in to the center
(towards the guard). Just move the
head along the path of the blade to hone
the entire edge. This sharpens from bottom
to top (of the tool, or vice versa with
respect to belt movement) rather than
side to side in Ken’s technique. That’s
all it takes and all it will ever take if you
do not get a stone nick. If that happens
one will need something like a 9 or 15
micron belt, but be conservative in its use.
I have only had to go this far just once
on one of my blades. For all other times,
the honing belt has been quite sufficient,
and one does not have to go back to this
very often. With a couple of heads in different
shafts, I can usually get through
an entire hollow form on one honing. I
suspect that even using only one head, a
person will need to hone no more than
once more.
The great thing is that the Proforme
blades require remarkably little maintenance
and they last for a very long time.
Ken says roughly 1.5 years of use before
there typically is a need for refurbishing
with a new blade (he does this
cheaply, but you have to send them to
New Zealand), but I have used mine for
longer than that and don’t feel mine are
anywhere close to being in need of replacement
(mind you, I am just a recreational
turner, so my tools are not in constant
everyday use).
That is pretty much it. The Proforme
system has stood the test of time, and
remains one of my most favored hollowing
tools. Ken Port continues to look for
ways to refine its performance, and thus
far all of the little changes he has developed
have been made available for retrofit.
Frankly, I use all the versions interchangeably,
and in the end find that technique
makes a greater difference than
any of the tool refinements. Hopefully the
above discussion will help you get the
most from yours.
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