Homemade Chatter Tool

I’ve been wanting to try some different embellishment techniques, one of which was chatter work.  However I kept on balking at the price of a new chatter tool.  I decided to make my own.  It cost me $3.00 and a hour or two on a Sunday afternoon.

I got a 1/2″ x 10″ nipple from the plumbing department at the home improvement store, along with a 3/4″ long 1/4 20 bolt.  The rest of the materials I used were in the shop already including a used jigsaw blade.

I mounted the pipe between centers on the lathe and after a bit of sanding it was nice and shiny.  I then cut the threads off one end and drilled and tapped a 1/4 20 thread about 3/4″ back from that end.

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The next step was to mount a cherry pen blank in a chuck and turn it down to 1/2″ so that if fit inside the pipe.   I only turned down the first couple of inches, and then put it in a vise and cut it lengthwise.   This off cut was then glued into the pipe with CA glue, the bolt served as a clamp.

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After turning the block of wood to be used as a handle round, I drilled it to fit the the OD of the pipe.  Unfortunately, the OD of the pipe was around 13/16″ and the only forstner bits I had were 3/4″ and 7/8″.  So I drilled with the 3/4″ and then widened the hole using a square edge scraper until the pipe fit inside.  The image below show the handle shaped and sanded, just prior to being parted off.

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I’m playing with dyes at the moment, so I applied a red dye to the handle and then a couple of coats of shellac.  While I was waiting for the shellac to dry, I ground the teeth off the jigsaw blade, shaped the point of the blade and bent it as in the image below.

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The completed tool, ready for testing!  Did I mention how nice and shiny it is!
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I’ll show some pictures in a future post of the results from the tool.  I also have a couple more jig saw blades and some sawzall blades.  I plan on experimenting a bit with the different blades and profiles and see what sort of results I get.

If you’ve made a chatter tool let me know what type of blade and profile you got the best results with by posting a comment.   Thanks.

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