bowl saver

[Skip Spaulding]

Does anyone have the Woodcut Tools, " Bowl Saver Kit" or have used one? I was checking the KMS TOOLS sight and came across them. It hooks up to both the tool rest and tail stock. It is about the same price as the McNaughton system and looks like it might be more stable. Thanks, Skip

[Dario Octaviano]

There is always trade offs...w/ this system you can only core a certain shape.

I opted for McNaughton myself.

[Frank Kobilsek]

Skip

I picked up the Woodcut system used on the internet. The blades needed to be retipped. Dario is basicaly correct that systems like the Woodcut and the Oneway are limited to the shape of the knife. It is simple to use but not as fast as teh video they show on their website.

If you buy it use the biggest jaws you own in your chuck. Don't buy it if you have a lathe less than 1 1/2 HP or don't have variable speed. I have stalled my Jet 1642 several times with the Woodcut. RPM fine tuning can really impact the vibration caused by the knife.

I use mine often. Producing three bowls from one half round of log. The middle blank is the one I value at 9 to 12 in diameter. The smallest blank goes to Dad to turn on his Mini.

All in all a good tool.

Frank

[Bruce Smith]

I have had the woodcut system for three years and it works fine for me. True you are limited to the one shape, but you can always core thicker and alter the shape on final turning. I had always planned on fabricating some other knives but haven't done so yet. So far I have only succeeded in coring three bowls from a single blank but I'm sure if my lathe had a larger swing (presently 12") I could get more. It sure as heck beats making sawdust. Good luck with whichever one you so choose.

[Reed Gray]

I have all three systems. The Woodcut one is a nice little unit. The emphasis is on little. The biggest blade has a 5 inch radius. You can remove up to a 13 inch core (claimed by the manufacturer), but the bottom of the core will be concave and you do lose some of the bottom depth. The stellite tips are supposed to be good for 500 cores, at which time, you either have a new tip put on, or buy a new blade. I have used it on a 12 inch, 1hp Oneway with no problems. All three of the coring systems remove about a 3/8 inch wide kerf, so you must keep the blades sharp, and especially with harder woods, go slowly. The main thing that I don't like about it is that you need to have the tailstock on to use it. It attaches by a morris taper thing on the back of the plate that the coring tool is on. This heips to counter the forces of having a tool reaching out 5 or more inches over the tool rest. I have cored 10 inch bowls without it attached to the tailstock. It did ok with cherry but chattered with locust. It does work better when attached to the tailstock, and I never have the tailstock on when turning bowls. With the design of the tool, I don't think that it will handle bigger blades well if they ever do make them. Also if you use a face plate, it must be removed before you core as the tool plate goes up almost to the surface of the bowl being cored. For me, I drill a recess either with a forstner bit before I turn the bottom, or I will turn a recess, so that the core can be easily recentered by expanding the chuck into the recess. I remove the biggest core first, finish turn what is on the lathe, then remount the core, turn the outside of it, core it, etc...

Of the 3 systems, I use the McNaughton the most. It is the fastest for me to set up and use, and you can core any shape except hollow forms. The down side here is that there is a learning curve, since it isn't on a pivoting center. The blade wants to drift to the outside of the cut as you core. This causes the blade to bind and you have to come back to the top and open the cut up some more, and/or try to take a bit more off the inside, and/or bump the tool rest to the inside just a bit. You also can't see where the tip of the cutter is, so you can make lampshades by going through the bottom, or you aim way to shallow. They do make a laser pointer that goes with the system which really helps you figure out where the cutter is and if you need to correct your cut. I do prefer the Oneway for the biggest cores as it is the most stable when reaching out a long way. It is also the most expensive, and the tips are a pain to sharpen.

If you have a small lathe (1 hp and 12 inch), I would recomend the McNaughton mini set, and the Woodcut. Oneway does have a set up for the 12 inch lathes, but it has only one blade. You need at least a 1 hp motor, and if you have speed ranges, always use the low range. If you have questions about whether a coring system will work on your lathe, see if you can remove a 3/8 inch wide shaving as you cut with your tools, preferably with a scraper, as all the coring systems use a scraping cut. The McNaughton tool rest does sit too high to use on some 12 inch lathes, but it has the smallest cutter profile of the bunch. With the McNaughton you don't need the entire set of blades. I turn mostly bowls from about 14 inches down. I use the medium and small radius blades on the medium and mini sets for 99% of the cuts I do.

robo hippy

[Skip Spaulding]

Thank you to all that responded to my question, lots of great information.