McNaughton Saves The Day

[David Delo]

Had a cherry log on the lathe today for a pith-in vase. After getting the bark off and getting it round, discovered a number of bark inclusions and other defects at the end I wanted to be the vase top. Determined I needed to get rid of a good 3" off the end of the piece that was almost 8" diameter.Guess I could have turned it away but got the straight McNaughton coring knife out and just parted it off in no time flat. I know others have mentioned this before and I've used it before on some test pieces but this was the first time I was doing something for real and sort of got stuck trying to figure out what to do...short of getting the electric chainsaw out. Works great and recommend it.

[Dale Miner]

I once parted a 4.5" thick crotch figure walnut blank into two platter blanks with the straight McNaugt. The blank was about 18" diameter. A conglomeration of handles and handle extensions were put together to make a handle that was at least 4' long. Even with a handle with that much length, the upward force on the handle was significant. Got the blank parted without to much puckering, but learned not to do it again.

Since then, I will part in a comfortable distance and then finish the cut with a narrow bar electric chainsaw.

I use the McNaught parting tool to remove the 'donut' piece from hat blanks. The cut from the OD of the blank is a fairly easy cut. The cut into the face of the blank can grab the cutter though, and using a widening of the cut process similar to parting spindle stock is neccessary.

[David Delo]

but learned not to do it again.

I've got a couple of those too Dale. Thanks for the tip on usage of the McN for the hat blank. Do you know if anyone has made a video of that?

[robert baccus]

My signature parting tool for big pieces. A) be careful to follow instructions. B) experienced chainsaw operators only.. C) far safer than parting tools--ouch. Mount your spindle log between centers or on a faceplate securely. Round/rough out to very round. With a 1/4" parting tool cut a groove 1/2" deep at the cut. Rotate the log away from you Slowly(variable speed needed). Place your saw blade in the slot running 1/3 throttle and let the groove guide the cut--it will keep the cut very straight. Continue until the center is easily cut with a hand saw. You can cut all the way through being prepared for the lathe to bind and stop--push the red button yeah. This makes a very straight cut good enough to glue block to. Take care and do not stop the saw blade but keep it going slow. I have done this a dozen times with no problems with logs up to 14". Use common sense?? INCOMING