HempWood Hobby Knife / How-To

[KateHarrow]

Exploring some new shapes and how aggressive I can get while turning our (Bullseye) improved HempWood material, this hobby knife / craft knife / whatever you want to call it was the result. My favorite part is that it's not a kit, it's a store-bought knife that's modified with a turned handle

Start with this blade, unscrew the parts and knock out the one piece that's pressed in. Use an 8mm replacement tube cut to the correct size and the blank of your choice. Once you're prepped, tiny giant/editor bushings get the job done and you shape it however you like.

Hope that's helpful. I make loads of these in a lot of different materials

 

[KenB259]

Exploring some new shapes and how aggressive I can get while turning our (Bullseye) improved HempWood material, this hobby knife / craft knife / whatever you want to call it was the result. My favorite part is that it's not a kit, it's a store-bought knife that's modified with a turned handle

Start with this blade, unscrew the parts and knock out the one piece that's pressed in. Use an 8mm replacement tube cut to the correct size and the blank of your choice. Once you're prepped, tiny giant/editor bushings get the job done and you shape it however you like.

Hope that's helpful. I make loads of these in a lot of different materials

Thanks for posting this, I'm definitely going to make some of these.

 

[KateHarrow]

Thanks for posting this, I'm definitely going to make some of these.

No problem! I did a live demo at MAPG a few weeks ago but figured I should write it out for anyone who either missed it or didn't take notes

 

[walshjp17]

Nice work, Kate. What is your price point given the $4.82 "kit" price, the cost of the barrel material (avg = ~ $7.00) and approx $.62 per tube (2 barrels per tube)? At my usual pricing model (2.5 x cost of materials), these would sell for ~ $31.10/ea. which is probably a bit difficult in most areas of the country.

 

[egnald]

Cool project - thanks for sharing. I may have to make a couple of these for myself. - Dave

 

[KateHarrow]

Nice work, Kate. What is your price point given the $4.82 "kit" price, the cost of the barrel material (avg = ~ $7.00) and approx $.62 per tube (2 barrels per tube)? At my usual pricing model (2.5 x cost of materials), these would sell for ~ $31.10/ea. which is probably a bit difficult in most areas of the country.

I sell them for $45-65 depending on material

 

[RKB]

Like it, Like it, Like it.

 

[penicillin]

Nice knife. Thanks for sharing the how-to to make them.

Question: What is "improved" between the hempwood you bought and the old hempwood I have seen from the past?

 

[KateHarrow]

Nice knife. Thanks for sharing the how-to to make them.

Question: What is "improved" between the hempwood you bought and the old hempwood I have seen from the past?

A few things. First, HempWood as a company has learned a lot from the turning community and has made major improvements to their manufacturing process. On top of that, our team at Bullseye Turning Supply as been working for 2.5 years to perfect stabilizing it and we feel like we have nailed it at this point - it takes a lot more care than your average timber. So the combination of the new stabilizing process and improved manufacturing makes for an all around better product

 

[penicillin]

Thank you for the clarification. I missed the fine details:

* Bullseye Turning Supply is taking ordinary hempwood turning products and adding an extra stabilization step to make them better and easier to turn.
* Kate is part of the Bullseye Turning Supply company.

 

[KateHarrow]

Thank you for the clarification. I missed the fine details:

* Bullseye Turning Supply is taking ordinary hempwood turning products and adding an extra stabilization step to make them better and easier to turn.
* Kate is part of the Bullseye Turning Supply company.

Yes sorry, I thought my signature and profile photo gave that away. Bullseye Turning Supply is our family business.

And stabilizing HempWood is a huge help for turning it. You can turn it without stabilizing, but I'd recommend thin CA by your side and maybe some booze of your choice for when you're done

 

[penicillin]

Yes sorry, I thought my signature and profile photo gave that away. Bullseye Turning Supply is our family business.

Well duh! You just helped me realize that I don't read anyone's signatures in this forum. How could I have missed that? :-(
Thanks.

 

[KenB259]

I got my knives today, haven't done much except some preliminary measurements. I have some questions though. The pressed in part fits very sloppily in a 8mm tube, how are you dealing with the slop? Do you really even need a brass tube? The entire knife doesn't fit to bad inside a 10.5 mm tube, might that be an option?

 

[KMCloonan]

I got my knives today, haven't done much except some preliminary measurements. I have some questions though. The pressed in part fits very sloppily in a 8mm tube, how are you dealing with the slop? Do you really even need a brass tube? The entire knife doesn't fit to bad inside a 10.5 mm tube, might that be an option?

I had to buy 8mm tubes (got them from Exotic Blanks), and there was no slop between the tube and the "Blade Section" that is pressed in. It was actually a pretty tight fit. On the other end, the "Nut" section just tightens when screwed into the Blade section, removing any slop/movement.

 

[KenB259]

I had to buy 8mm tubes (got them from Exotic Blanks), and there was no slop between the tube and the "Blade Section" that is pressed in. It was actually a pretty tight fit. On the other end, the "Nut" section just tightens when screwed into the Blade section, removing any slop/movement.

That's odd, I have 8mm tubes and they are very sloppy. I'll look again tomorrow

 

[KenB259]

I couldn't stand it. I checked again and found I a wrong tube mixed into the 8 mm ones I have. Of course that's the one I tried.

 

[KMCloonan]

I couldn't stand it. I checked again and found I a wrong tube mixed into the 8 mm ones I have. Of course that's the one I tried.

Mystery Solved!

 

[Painfullyslow]

The only advice I can offer is to turn down the knurling on the aluminum top piece before pressing it into the tube. It is slightly larger than the 8mm tube and I was worried about cracking the acrylic since it is pretty thin in that area. Even if you make it level with the surrounding aluminum, it is still a press fit.

 

[KateHarrow]

The only advice I can offer is to turn down the knurling on the aluminum top piece before pressing it into the tube. It is slightly larger than the 8mm tube and I was worried about cracking the acrylic since it is pretty thin in that area. Even if you make it level with the surrounding aluminum, it is still a press fit.

The aluminum knurling is super soft though and presses in fine with no issues - fwiw

 

[Painfullyslow]

The aluminum knurling is super soft though and presses in fine with no issues - fwiw

I appreciate that info. I was just so paranoid about cracking the end of my acrylic blank that I just took the time to bring it down a tad.