I wanted in this page to share some ideas to those who want to build their own tools.

Some indications will appear obvious to some readers, but might be helpful for others...
I have no connection other than a very satisfied customer with cited brands and suppliers. Don't hesitate to visit professional suppliers, as they always have good advices and are not more expensive.
As I've translated this page from the French version, there might be some wrong technical wording. Please send me an so I can correct this.

Bedan

A page specially dedicated to the bedan, for those who are not familiar with this tool.

Termite

The termite is a great tool for end grain hollowing. It is a kind of ring tool, but much more usable than standard ring tools. Developped by Oneway, its use might be not obvious at the beginning, but gets easier thanks to the very well done user manual written by Herman de Vries. As you are visiting his site, have a look at his tips section. As Herm, I wanted to go further with this tool, by building my own version allowing deeper hollowing (vibrations are too high when depth is greater than 15-20 cm).

It's quite simple, you just need to find the good supplies:

• A wood handle, 50-60 cm (I used oak)
• A round steel bar, 18mm diameter. More difficult to find. Have a look at steel product suppliers. I found mine at SMG in Grenoble (France). Around 20 euros for a 6 meter bar, quite enough for a few home made tools...
• An helicoidal drill for wood, 18mm, 40cm long. 15 euros by "Vinay matériel" in Grenoble.
• A drill bit to hollow the bar end to place the tip (diameter 6.5mm)
• A drill bit for the screw hole(4.2mm).
• A gun tap, M5 type, to thread the hole. (With gun type you only need one instead of a set of 3 for classical taps).
• And the most difficult part: A screw to hold the tip. Found at a professionnal reseller (SAFIX in Echirolles, France). Generally, they also sell drills and taps.

Realization:

• Turn the handle, don't forget the place for the ferrule.
• Drill the handle, with the drill held in a mandrel in the tailstock. Depth: 40 cm.
• Drive in the steel rod (cut to 80 cm length). Chamfer the end.
• Drill the hole to place the tip.
• Finish by the hole for the screw, and thread it.

Another hollowing tool

This tool is based on ring cutters from Ashley Iles, available in France at HMDiffusion. It is very easy to buy only the spare cutter, and build the tool by yourself, and especially since cutters are delivered with a spare fixing screw and an Allen key. For the small cutter (12.5mm), you will need an M4 tap, and M5 for the bigger one (19mm). The process to build the tool is similar to the termite's one.

This tool is very efficient for end grain hollowing. Take care to the part which is in contact with the wood: the more you cut away from the axis, the more the cutting effort will tend to rotate the tool.