Crown Revolutionary Hollower

Re: Crown Revolutionary Hollower

George Guadiane

I picked one up in a HUGE estate along with 8 or 10 other (deep) hollowing tools.

I haven't had a chance to use it yet, but the brass piece used to control how aggressively the cutter works has a lot of potential.

I'm thinking of making a couple of similar pieces for the cupped cutters on my Rolly Munro tools.

On this tool, how deep you plan to hollow should be key in your decision making. I like the idea of the auxiliary handle, but keep in mind, a big catch could hurt your hand or wrist.

If nothing else, it is a basically well designed tool with a lot of options in cutters and a good amount of ability to articulate.

Over all, it's also not a bad price. It would not have been my first choice, but I think it's a good choice (depending on how deep you intend to hollow).

Re: Crown Revolutionary Hollower

Dennis in Southern Oregon

You don't indicate how deeply you intend to hollow, but if you are interested in going beyond 8 inches or so on a regular basis, I would suggest that you invest in a captured bar system. It will keep you from beating yourself to death. For not much more money, you can get a system that includes laser guidance and far more capability.

Re: Crown Revolutionary Hollower

William Rogers

Dennis, I have the Hope articulating arm Hollowing system. I was intending to just buy the bar and cutters and use it in my Hope system. For the 5/8" bar I wouldn't hollow any more than 8". I have a 3/4" bar for deeper hollowering to say 12". Not my intention to go deeper with these bars.

George, by first choice do you mean a system instead of hand held or a different tool altogether?

Re: Crown Revolutionary Hollower

Peter Hyde

I bought one when they first came out several years ago. Frustration, frustration, frustration! Screws wouldn't securely lock the links in position, screw heads constantly stripping from over tightening because it needed so much force to prevent movement. Brass cutter shield was a real pain to set up because it meant over tightening the screws to hold the settings. Brass is slippery so it definitely was a bad choice in this application. Mine has a 1/2" diameter shaft that fits into a brass bushing to go into the handle. Tighten set screws against the brass bushing and it distorts and makes tool removal extremely difficult. I ended up drilling 2 holes through the bushing so the screws bit into the shaft. My complaints to Crown through their main seller resulted in me receiving extra screws and links and cutters, but it didn't solve any of the frustrations. This tool is badly engineered and I feel the brass is there for decoration rather than practicality. Vibration was really bad with the ring cutters and the scrapers mainly because of the small shaft diameter. I think the newer ones now have a bigger shaft. Hollowing deepre than 4" was almost impossible.

Moved on to a full size Rolly Munroe and a mini Rolly Munroe which still have the stripping screw head problems but nowhere near as bad.

I use the Rolly Munroes in a Sorby handle which has the bigger side handle and I have no problems hollowing to 10 or 11" Also use it on the inside of bowls as it cuts equally as well in push and pull cuts meaning twice the amount of material removal with each pass of the tool. Both Rollies have been retro fitted with carbide cutters.

Re: Crown Revolutionary Hollower

William Rogers

Thanks Peter. I knew this tool has been out there a couple of years, but not much in the way of reviews. The Rolly Munro has a lot of good reviews, so I'm most likely going this route.

Re: Crown Revolutionary Hollower

George Guadiane

Hand held.

More than 10 years ago, I saw a friend use the hand held Rolly Munro mini hollower. I was hooked. I have three or four of them and I especially like it on my Kobra hollowing system.

The Crown may hold a lot more promise than I think, because I'm so hooked on the Munro. As I said, I'm particularly interested in the brass insert that COULD be used to limit the cutting depth on the Munro (if that makes any sense to you.

Re: Crown Revolutionary Hollower

George Guadiane

"I'm glad it's not just me" isn't really the right thing to say, but I'm buying screws and star washers by the box for my Munro's, but they're still my favorites by a long shot.

I was concerned that the Crown setup, which has quite a few more friction surfaces than the Munro. Sounds like that's what you found.

I still think that custom made brass caps could be an answer to the clogging I get with the hoods on the Munro tools. By varying the diameter of the brass one could vary the amount of cutting the tool would do. I'm going to make a few tries at it to see what happens.

Re: Crown Revolutionary Hollower

Mike Brazeau

I made the same recommendation on a similar thread the other day at the AAW Forum - have a look at what Lyle Jamieson has done in adapting a No. 1 Hunter tool. It is mounted on a 3/16" short bar and mounts in his swivel adapter. I have had one with for several years and use on my home built Jamieson design and it works superbly. See it at link below in Tools & Jigs. You do not have to worry about a shield controlling depth of cut, works on wet or dry wood. I also use in a hand held CRS bar for boxes, shallow hollowing or under cutting bowl rims etc. Would probably be adapted to you existing system easily.

Thanks Mike