Volvo CV joint wood carver

**sossol** · Jun 10, 2014, 11:38 PM

This is my first tool posting here, but not my first made tool. It's a wood carving/gouging tool made from the ball retainer of a Volvo XC90 CV joint and a portion of the seat belt reel bracket from a MKI Rabbit. It's made to fit a 4 1/2" angle grinder (the seat belt reel center was the perfect size).

I cut the bracket apart and used one (unplugged) grinder to rotate the disk while I cut a rabbet around the outside to fit the cage and leave a V-groove for welding. This was one occasion where a nearly used-up grinding disc is perfect.

.
I used a carbide cutter to re-profile the "teeth" and a grinding stone to sharpen them.

.
Then I stitch-welded it and ground it back smooth on the outside.

The purpose of this tool is to make smooth bowl shapes in a wooden stump that I'm setting up for metalworking. It doesn't have much mass, so tends to skip a little, but it's well-balanced and makes a smooth cut. These were just experimental cuts on a walnut stump.

I'm going to make a guard that fits more closely and a base plate similar to that of a circular saw to control the depth of cut and make perfect circles and ellipses.

**kbalch** · Jun 11, 2014, 11:33 AM

Thanks sossol! I've added your Wood Carving Tool to our Metalworking category, as well as to your builder page: sossol's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Wood Carving Tool by sossol

tags: angle grinder, grinding, welding

**Washbush** · Jun 13, 2014, 11:36 AM

Fantastic, FANTASTIC! What a great idea. It sure beats going at the stump with a chain saw! Awesome.

**sossol** · Jun 14, 2014, 11:54 AM

Thanks! I have a King Arthur Lancelot (a chainsaw on a wheel), and it is better and safer at this sort of cutting than a regular chainsaw, though it limited to ~1" plunge cuts.
I want to make a larger one of these, but I don't know where to source a CV joint large enough to have a 4 1/2" ball cage.

-