Wood reamer materials advice needed

[M_Chavez]

Hi All,

I am looking to get/make myself a set of wood reamers in a variety of shapes & sizes (trying my hand at making baroque flutes).
I would be very grateful for advice on what materials can be used for a reamer for hardwoods.

As I do not own a metalworking lathe, my options are rather limited:

1) Brass: Hollow brass rods turned on a wood lathe. I would have thought that brass is too soft to be a good hardwood reamer, but there's a guy on youtube showing off a reamer made of brass... Easy to work with and can be turned freehand, but I have doubts about its ability to hold an edge.
2) Stainless steel: 304 or 316. say, 4mm-thick flat section, laser-cut to the exact dimensions. Quick and easy to make in any shape, works out cheaper than brass. Will it be possible to put an edge on it and will it hold it?
3) If the two options above fail, I can use the old chairmaker's reamer trick and cut up an old saw into reamer blades to be held in a wooden body. Very time consuming and I can't imagine this will be very durable or extremely accurate, but free.

I am leaning towards the stainless option (laser-cut slightly oversize, lap on diamond plates/wetstones to put a scraping edge on them) but don't think I have heard of stainless being used for scrapers?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[MusicMan]

I would use tool steel (silver steel) rather than stainless as it will take a better edge, especially if you heat treat it a bit. The chair maker's trick is how woodwinds were traditionally made. Mild steel is actually adequate for the edge, but I share your doubts about brass. But note that the wooden part of the reamer needs to be the exact circular profile you need for the bore. You then cut a grove in it and fit the steel blade (old hacksaw blade often used) to the same profile with file and grinder. If you search online for making bagpipes you will find some sources.

Keith

 

[M_Chavez]

Thanks.

The laser-cutting places that I found offer mild or stainless - can't find tool steel.

I remember reading that the chair maker's reamer will only last for a dozen instruments - seems to be a lot of work for very little use (as opposed to uploading a vector graphic drawing and paying £10-15)...

 

[Just4Fun]

I remember reading that the chair maker's reamer will only last for a dozen instruments

Really? I am surprised (based on zero knowledge, just my first reaction). What is it that fails?

 

[ED65]

I remember reading that the chair maker's reamer will only last for a dozen instruments - seems to be a lot of work for very little use...

These were I believe made traditionally using saw steel, which is really soft, far softer than the average modern kitchen knife, so that would account for that.

If you used a harder steel like from an all-hard hacksaw blade the cutter will last far far longer. But obviously using a harder/tougher steel means the initial shaping is much more effort.

Back to your first post:
1) Yes although brass is a soft metal it is still harder than almost any hardwood, and by a considerable margin. Obviously it won't last but if these are easy enough to make you could make many and treat them as a consumable?

2) Some grades of stainless can work well with wood. Whatever the common cutlery grades are make excellent scrapers for example (for the very reason that some find them challenging to sharpen). All grades of stainless can take an edge, any metal can really. But how long it lasts will depend on the wood(s) you're using, the grade of stainless, the edge geometry, how hot it gets in use.

I think it's possible with a reamer to use a burr as the cutting edge so to speak, in which case repeatedly recreating the edge is the work of moments compared to a conventional method honing one or both faces, and you won't lose metal until a complete resharpen is called for as with a card scraper. Couple this with HSS for the steel and who knows how long the tool would last?

Further options:
4) Make the blades all but invincible by cutting them from carbide bar stock. This can be cut and shaped surprisingly easily using various diamond wheels, and once sharpened (again with diamonds) a hand tool will hold its edge for years.

5) Not sure of the sizes you want so this may be a non-starter, but reamers are available on AliExpress for under a fiver.

 

[Racers]

Don't get tool steel laser cut it hardens the edges and will have trouble forming the cutting edges.

The last one I made I used the blade from a old rusty square and it holds an edge well.

Pete

 

[M_Chavez]

Thank you very much for the advice.

I think I'll give the wooden bodied reamer a try this weekend - I've got all the scraps and an old hacksaw blade ready for action.
Am I right to think that I turn the body to about 0.1-0.2mm smaller than desired profile, then saw halfway into the reamer, cut a chip clearing channel before the blade, epoxy a piece of hacksaw steel into the cut and then file the hacksaw blade flush with the wooden body? Does the blade need to be shaped?

 

[chiokli]

Have you seen this video by Pask Makes?
https://youtu.be/DEZ3oeI-SoQ