New McNaughton Center Saver arriving

[Butch Harden]

Hey guys,
I have a new McNaughton Standard Center Saver system delivering tomorrow.
Along with a longer 1" center post for my 3520B.
From the videos that I have watched, looks like the Standard set of cutters was best choice for starting out.
But some users referenced that they typically only use one or two of the Standard knifes and also maybe one of the knifes in the Jumbo set.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the knives in each set are numbered. Does the #2 knife in the Standard set have the same curve as the #2 knife in the small and Jumbo set, just the tool is smaller/larger?

I know that you can order the knives separately and was wondering which individual knives would be most useful if coring 12-16" diameter blanks.

I would rather just order the individual knife instead of the whole set and then find I only use 1 cutter in the set.

This should be an interesting learning curve.
Any pointers for using them on Powermatic 3520B are appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Butch

[Edward Weingarden]

There's a demo by Dale Bonertz on Youtube. I highly recommend watching it; it's very instructional. The link is below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS2yIb0HAU4

[Reed Gray]

I have a video up also. Mike Mahoney has one out as well, but not on You Tube. I use the medium curve blade for 90% of the coring I do. The curves on the different sets are identical. I use the shallow, and tight curved blades on occasion. I have used the straight parting tool some times if I want to part more than about 2 inches deep.

robo hippy

[Bill Boehme]

No, they're not numbered. Lee Valley refers to numbered sizes, but there aren't any pictures to show which blades correspond to their numbering.

[Pat Scott]

I use the medium blade in the Standard set for 99% of my coring. It will work from 8" bowls up to 15" bowls, although 15" is about max (it doesn't have the length to go bigger). I bought the medium blade from the Jumbo set for the occasional 18" bowl, but Mike Mahoney has it right when he calls the Jumbo knives a "widow maker". The Jumbo blade is big, the cutting edge is bigger (either that or I've sharpened my medium blade so many times it's almost worn out), and boy do you have to be careful to not take too big of cut or be too aggressive or it will dig in and jam. Nothing worse than the belts squealing. Even though the Jumbo medium and Standard medium are the same curve, I have a heck of a time "aiming" the Jumbo, it wants to go too deep. Granted I've only used it a few times compared to thousands of times with the standard, but to be honest it kind of scares me. I core between 500-600 rpm on my 3520B.

[Butch Harden]

Yes it was Lee Valley where I saw the blades numbered. Bill your right that with no picture to reference they leave you to guess which blade is which.

Butch

[Bill Boehme]

The first set that I got was the large size (Craft Supplies calls it the Jumbo size). It certainly is a widow maker. It rattled everything on my lathe loose and nearly shook the fillings out of my teeth.I decided that I needed to step down to the standard blades. Starting off with the mini blades might be an even better idea.

[Dave Bunge]

I agree that the large McNaughton blades are a Widow Maker/Lathe Breaker (title to a country western song?). I've only tried using the large blades about 4 times, but all were bone jarring experiences.

The standard size and mini size blades have worked well for me once I got the hang of them. Key for me was to let the knife cut the curve it wanted to cut. At first, I was too afraid of making a funnel (cutting thru the bottom of the outside bowl). So I compensated by trying to force the knife away from the bottom of the outside bowl . Result was that the kerf formed a different shape than the knife and the knife would bind near the rim of the outer bowl. Once I stopped doing I had much better results.

Yes it was Lee Valley where I saw the blades numbered. Bill your right that with no picture to reference they leave you to guess which blade is which.

Butch

The standard set has a straight blade, a slightly curved blade (diameter about 18"), a medium curved blade (diameter about 12"), and a tightly curved blade (diameter about 6"). I use the medium curved blade in the standard size the most by far. Lee Valley calls the straight blade #1. I think they call slight curve #2, medium curve #3, tight curve #4. But it's probably best to call Lee Valley to be sure.

Dave