Hi all!
After reading long debates online about the Kel McNaughton centre saver vs. the Oneway vs. the other systems I finally took the plunge and purchased the less expensive, purportedly more versatile, McNaughton centre saver. Since all the information I found here at the creek was very helpful (thanks creekers—especially Reed Gray!), I thought I should post my results to add to it.
My observations are as follows for first use, coring a 13” blank from a 17.5” blank of some kind of very slightly spalted, slightly figured maple.
After reading about the infamous McNaughton learning curve, I was sure to first borrow both the DVDs I could find on the subject. Mr Mahoney and Mr Grumbine both made it look pretty easy I thought.
Tool setup was instant, and the knives came very sharp out of the box. The first inch or so of cutting seemed to be the most difficult and I experienced vibration until the tool had grooved its way in to the blank.
It does take some brainpower to visualize the path of the cut in order to aim it correctly. I read online about a few methods for helping to aim, but like Mahoney and Grumbine, I just “eyeballed it” and it worked out ok.
After getting started, I was excited to experience the knife feeding very smoothly through the cut. I had to adjust the toolpost a couple of times when the knife started rubbing one of the cores. I also had to stop the lathe to clear out shavings, although I think the slightly spalting, figured maple produced particularly “sticky” shavings. Also, after a quick sharpening before the second coring, the cutting action went even better, suggesting that my tool was dulled somehow during the first coring and, having zero experience with the tool, I wasn’t aware that it was a little dull.
It took me about 15 minutes for my first core—a far cry from Mr Grumbine’s two minute display that can be found on youtube; but like any first time, I know there’s room for improvement.
All in all I would say that it was what I expected, a specialty tool, requiring some skill to operate. Like turning in general, an understanding of edges, angles, wood behaviour, safety, etc., was required, but my limited experience (turning for less than one year) seemed to be enough.
Some more thoughts & tips from my limited experience:
- Be 100% sure to hold the handle up to solidly “wedge” the knife between the toolrest and the gate thingy and go super slow when first presenting the tool to the wood. I suspect that not doing so is the most common reason for catches. I lightly tap-tapped the end of the tool handle to ease into the wood
- Also when initiating the cut, keeping the toolrest back an inch or two helped greatly, since that way the full height of the knife was supported by the little posts instead of the reduced height of the knife down by the tip
- My lathe automatically shut off a couple of times when shavings jammed. I’m sure that made the process a whole lot safer.
I recorded the whole event and it’s up on youtube in case you wish to watch. (My long-distance girlfriend wanted to see the maiden voyage—and yes, her interest in my woodworking makes her a keeper in my books! I’m sure my technique isn’t perfect and feel free to comment or offer advice—that’s the reason I joined the Creek!
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=dxerboy#g/u
I was super happy to have success with it (as you can see in the video--haha), and wanted to encourage anyone up for the “McNaughton adventure” to go for it!
Nigel
P.S. Fine print: this post is not intended to spark any “heated” debates about coring systems. It is just an account of my experience!