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jim barter
05-22-2004, 9:01 PM
I have just purchased the Kel McNaughton wood saver from Lee Valley Tools.Roughed out first bowl.Unbelievable how slick it works.Bought both the small and medium chisels as a kit.It took approx 5 miniutes to rough out a bowl.There won't be a tree safe in New Brunswick.
:D Does anyone else out there in Sawmill land have the same good experence?It will take a few bowls to get them to turn out perfect(or close to it) .Had to make a base for my lathe but other than that nothing else required.Glad to read the information on use from Bill Grumbine as there were no amount of info with the unit.I'm puzzelled as the first line of instruction says to make sure the brass pin is installed correctly.There is no brass pin with mine. So far more than happy wish I'd bought it years ago.
Jim Barter

Jim Becker
05-22-2004, 9:29 PM
Now that I have a larger lathe, I'm considering this system for my own use. It didn't matter when the blanks were under 10", but a coring system will save a lot of wood for turnings for larger stock and cut down on the mess in my shop. (I roughed out a few ash and cherry bowls this evening and I'm swimming in shavings!)

jim barter
05-23-2004, 9:57 PM
Jim / I know what you mean.Before I got this tool I roughed out 35 -16 inch maple and birch bowls and had 23 glad garbage full of shavings.I'm hoping this tool will save all that lovely wood that went into shavings.
Jim

Jim Becker
05-24-2004, 9:35 AM
The picture below illustrates why I plan on aquiring a coring system one of these days...to help keep the shop cleaner! :D (At least for bowls...hollow vessels will still generate a lot of waste) This is what was produced from roughing three ~12" bowls. That pile is a foot and a half tall!

Charles McKinley
05-25-2004, 10:58 AM
Hi Jim,

Dry the shavings out and they make great starter for the fire place/ wood stove. Hate to think about burning wood now though. It take up way too much of my time in the winter.

Jim Becker
05-25-2004, 11:03 AM
Dry the shavings out and they make great starter for the fire place/ wood stove.We use them for mulch and composting as well as the paths in our vegatable garden. That pile (created in about a half hour) filled half of the 55 gallon bin under my cyclone...there is no way I could keep stuff like that around for kindling and I get pleny of that from flat-work scraps. But it's a good idea as these broad shavings would burn very well once dry!

Chris Padilla
05-25-2004, 11:04 AM
I'd vote for using shavings as mulch/compost (as I think Jim mostly does...kudos to him). Burning wood can be a source of air pollution.

Jim Becker
05-25-2004, 11:07 AM
Burning wood can be a source of air pollution.
True, but our wood stove has a catalytic system that significantly reduces emissions and burns more completely. Hot gasses are re-burned before they get to the flue. In some areas, this type of stove is required now.

Chris Padilla
05-25-2004, 11:17 AM
Good to hear, Jim. There have been plenty of times when I live in Denver that wood burning would be banned due to the infamous brown cloud that would form along the metro area/front range when nary a wind could be found.

Jim Becker
05-25-2004, 11:20 AM
Good to hear, Jim. There have been plenty of times when I live in Denver that wood burning would be banned due to the infamous brown cloud that would form along the metro area/front range when nary a wind could be found.
There is a significant and noticable difference in the smoke coming from the stove when the catilyst is engaged and when it is not. It needs to be "off" when starting the unit and until it reaches a certain tempurature so that the gasses will ignite and reburn properly. With the catilyst engaged, the "smoke" is clear--not unlike those heat waves you can "see" rising from hot pavement.

Chris Padilla
05-25-2004, 11:26 AM
Sounds just like a catalytic converter on cars! Very cool. :)

Paul Downes
05-25-2004, 5:36 PM
Funny you should mention it, but I have been looking into wood gasification technology these last few months. I was/am going to build my own out door wood fired furnace. I have been concerned about the amount of unconsumed wood gases that go out the chimney. Many of the popular outdoor wood furnaces have a bad reputation for pollution. Spending a few minuits down wind of one convinced me that I need to redesign the unit I was going to build. I do live in a rual area and my only near neighbor said he wouldn't be bothered at all by the wood smoke, but, I like the idea of increasing the efficiency of the stove from around 50% to near 90%. There are two common ways to attain this. One is to run the smoke through a catalyitic converter similar to the automobile type. The other is to run the smoke into a ceramic chamber with injected heated air and burn it at around 2000 degrees. The biggest problem you face is that you can't have a cycling fire. It needs to burn continuously so the fire remains hot throughout the burn. This means you need to be able to store the heat until you need it. I am thinking about storing the heat in a 1500-2000 gallon tank buried beneath my new shop addition. This would also heat the wood shop :D . Tarm, and Garn are manufacturers of this type of furnace. Do a google seach on wood gasification boilers if you want to learn more.