At the risk of an avalanche of proposals for a Oneway or Woodcut system, I’ll hop in and suggest you look for a gently used Mcnaughton bowl saver system. So many people have convinced themselves that they can’t figure out how to use the system safely that there’s a robust market for them used out there. There is information and extensive tutorials on how to use them on YouTube. There’s a learning curve, but if you seriously study what’s out there it’s a very simply system that works well, is very simple and quick to set up and use. The other systems all have a learning curve, too - and a setup that takes often much longer to get done. After a blank is roughed to round and the face is flattened, I can setup the Mcnaughton system in less than two minutes on my lathe and be coring away. The best part is that it’s a small fraction of the cost of the other systems.
I encourage people to take the plunge - find a set either new or used - the standard set will work well for your lathe, go only as fast as your lathe’s horsepower allows (I learned on a Jet 1642 with 1hp). It’s simple and relies mostly on establishing the angle of entry correctly to get the results you expect. Find YouTube content from Robo or Dale Bonertz or Mike Mahoney and choose one to follow scrupulously until you’ve figured out your own approach. And don’t expect to be pulling nested sets of micro thin bowls on your first attempt. I’ve been coring with the Mcnaughton for almost twenty years and the vast majority of what I do is pull two or three cores from what would otherwise wind up in the compost heap or the landfill.
The downside is that you won’t find Hunter carbide tips to use, but then sharpening takes literally seconds…and mostly I just take a few swipes with a cbn hone to refresh an edge.
