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Bowl coring/saving systems

robo hippy said:
Dan, I won't have any problems figuring it out. I had the first version of the McNaughton cutters, where the wing was all on one side. I heard that people were experimenting with different shapes, so I did as well. Bevel to the right, bevel to the left, and square, and I settled on square across. Even with their newer blades, I grind them straight across. I have put some tantung on the tips of old blades, and it works fine. The spear point was a Mike Mahoney idea. The purpose was in part to be able to cut a blank all the way out. If you are cutting crotch wood, or some burls, if you try to break the core out, you can rip fibers out all the way through the bottom. Did that more than once. To me, the trick if you are trying to do that, is to have the cutter at dead center. If you are below center, it is impossible. Being able to figure out where dead center is the trick. With the coring systems that are on a fixed base like yours and the Oneway, this is not a problem. The McNaughton, well, you have to figure it out. Oh, part of the spear point idea was also for 'fishtailing' as Mike called it. He wiggles the coring blade side to side as he does deeper cores. This is to open up the kerf, which is a necessity. I do need to make my own blades and bend them to perfect circle arcs some time, just to see how much of a change that will make. I do have the Max 4 system. Still in the box....

robo hippy
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Hi Robo, when you do get a chance to use your Woodcut Max4, please let us know your feedback. I note your comments from what you have learnt from Mike, he has also had a great influence on my approach for bowl coring. Best regards Dan
 
The Oneway can make shallower or deeper bowls (probably not as shallow or deep as the McNaughton) dependent on how you set it up but once you make the shape whether shallow or deeper you would want all the cores from that piece the same shape regardless of which system you are using (that is my thought as if you made a deeper bowl you are not going to get a shallow bowl on the next cut).
 
robo hippy said:
When coring, you need to use the low speed range, unless your lathe has 3 pulleys, then you can use the middle one. Massive catches with the McNaughton are usually, at least as far as I can tell, come from being below center. This is why I have mine set at least 1/4 inch above center. There is a learning curve with it....

Stellite is a good material. I got a few blanks from Canada when making the Big Ugly tool. I can't really say if it performed better than the tantung or not. Wish I had more to play around with. Last time I contacted them, they wanted to sell me a block of it. I could have afforded it then, but had no way to process it into 1 by 3 by 1/8 inch pieces. Highly resistant to abrasion when cutting, very durable edge. Some one needs to make the Big Ugly tool for sale....

I am getting ready for my one show per year, and will be breaking out the Max 4 just to see how it performs. The cutters on it are now flat across the top. The original 2 blade system I have, the cutters were slightly concave. That did seem to eject the chips better than the square tips I had on my McNaughton. I did have one tip I made from a blank that Oneway sent me that didn't have the tip ground on it. It was also flat across the top. Might have to dig that one out as well....

robo hippy
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Hi Robo. When using the McNaughton coring system, what RPM do you set?
 
Most of my lathes don't have rpm read outs on them. I think I am over 500, maybe up to 1000. If I am getting a lot of chattering, then I tend to up the speed a bit. Some times that chattering can be caused by too slow of a speed. I guess there is an optimal speed for just about every different wood. Maybe next time I see Mike Mahoney turn, I can ask him to see if he knows. Last time I saw him he made an interesting comment about how he uses the medium curve blade for 90% of the cores he takes.

robo hippy
 
If I remember right, Mike says he likes to core at about 2/3 the speed he would normally turn with a gouge. I don't use a speed readout. I go with, if the lathe isn't shaking, and if I am not shaking it us a good speed. I also use the McNaughton system, only one I know.
 
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