Bowl Coring Device ?

[Kim Ford]

Okay, I going to take the plunge and by a bowl coring rig. I have heard about the One Way and the McNaughton.

What is the real scoop on how well they work, the pros and cons and how much should I pay?

I turn almost exclusively from logs that produce 10" - 16" blanks.

Thanks

Kim

[Kim Ford]

Sorry guys I found this thread and read through it. It seems very complete and answered most of my questions.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=114431

[Bernie Weishapl]

I have the oneway system. As was said in the other thread it doesn't win any awards for price. Knives and clamp blocks for whatever lathe you use are seperate. I tried a friends McNaughton system and never did get the hang of using it. The oneway I had set up and cored in about 45 minutes after I watched the DVD. To me it is very simple, easy to setup and easy to use.

[Ryan Baker]

I'm pretty happy with my McNaughton rig. It is the most versatile, and the least expensive. There is some "getting used to it", as with all of them. It does the job quite well. If you are planning to do a lot of coring, you might want the Oneway system instead. The Oneway is the easiest to use, I would say, but the price put it way out of consideration for me. The woodcut system is similar to the Oneway in some ways, but is much more limited in versatility.

[Kim Ford]

Thanks Bernie and Ryan. I haven't decided yet as to which one I'm going to get. It looks like about $200 more to go with the Oneway. Which knifes do you have Bernie?

What I try to do is collect logs during the year, anchor seal the ends and put them in a old feed room I have on the farm. No light and constant temperature. Then in September / October I take the stash and start making bowl blanks for the next years adventures. I've probably got 100 bowls in the logs I have now and a coring rig would probably double that. This year I have some really nice maple, apple and cherry, so that is why I have decided to take the plunge.

However, help me out. The style I use when making blanks is to bring to round and first cut the outside of the bowl along with the tenon between centers. Then chuck up on the tenon, second cut the outside to true everything up and then rough cut the inside. So I guess with a coring rig you would do the same thing except turn several blanks through the first cut on the outside and then set up the rig and core out one after another until done with the batch?

[Reed Gray]

For me, I turn green to final thickness, and let them dry and warp, then sand and finish. I like warped bowls. I also use a recess. So to turn the bowls, I will cut the blank to size, use a big forstner bit to make a recess in the top of the blank, mount by expanding the chuck into the recess, finish turn the outside, and make a recess, reverse and take biggest core, finish turn the big bowl, then remove. Take the core and repeat the process. This way, the chuck never comes off. 6 inch bowl blank usually gets 3 total bowls. I can get 4 if I really want to, but I ended up with tons of small bowls in the 4 to 6 inch range. For efficiency purposes, not really worth the effort, but with an exceptional piece of wood, I will make the exception.

As far as the McNaughton, if you get it, you could probably get by with the standard set of blades. I use the medium curved blade for 95% of my cores. It will remove cores from bowls up to about 14 inches. Over that size, you need the large set of blades. Do learn to use the medium sized blades first before trying the large ones.

robo hippy

[Brodie Brickey]

I have the McNaughton and generally core in the 16" and under class. Standard knives are all I need. Round the outer blank, core so you have an inch to inch & a quarter thickness and go to the next one. You can grab the biggest blank first and then re-tenon/re-chuck or pull the smallest first when you're better at it. Pull the tool out regularly to get the shavings out.

With the McKnaughton the cutter tip has to be at the center line otherwise things get 'interesting'. The handle also works great for holding Doug Thompson gouges when you're not coring.

[Ken Glass]

Kim,
I also have the Oneway Easy Core Coring system and started out with the 11.5" and 13" sets of knifes, and am about to buy the 9" set. I probably won't buy the largest 16" set, unless I start doing 16-20" bowl's.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Kim I have the 9", 11.5" and the 13". I have a 16" lathe so see no need in the 16" one. I usually rough shape the outside and make a tienon. I then turn it and start coring. I always core the smallest first as I saw Dave Lancaster do in the demo I watched. He left the smallest bowl about 1", the second 1 1/8", the third about a 1 1/8" and the fourth about 1 1/4" thick walls.

[Pete Jordan]

Reed,

Do you have pictures of your process?

[Rick Hutcheson]

I have a page about how I use the Mcnaughton here, there is a short video at the bottom of the page.
http://www.scrollsaws.com/WoodLathe/Mcnaughton.htm

[Barry ward]

I have the standard McNaughton 300.00
Oneway was about 800.00 an being I do this a hobby,I just couldn't justify the differance in cost.