I've been using the McNaughton coring system for 12 or more years. I use the medium curve blade from the Standard set for 99% of the bowls that I core. The cutter started out new at 3/8" wide, and as it's been sharpened many times over the years it gradually became smaller and wasn't cutting as wide of kerf. I debated about buying a replacement blade for $75, but after talking with Hunter Tools I decided to send my blade to him and have him retrofit it with a Korpro cutter for $100. In my mind the extra $25 was a no brainer from not having to sharpen, ease of cutting, etc. (As a side note Hunter doesn't do the retrofit himself, he subs that out to someone else because a precise recess has to be milled in the end to fit his Korpro).
Has anyone else had their McNaughton retipped with a Korpro? I'm curious to hear your thoughts. I'm having nothing but problems.
As you can see in the pictures, the Korpro is only 1/32" wider than the blade. As soon as I get about 2" deep into the cut you can feel the blade bind up in the kerf. Trying to widen the kerf is a PITA because it's hard to get the edge of the cutter to bite into the sidewall. Shavings are almost welded (for lack of a better word) to the side of the blade to the point where I have to constantly withdraw the blade and use a wire wheel in my drill to remove caked on shavings. The shavings also build up on the tip more so than the McNaughton tip and again I have to use the wire wheel to clear them. As you can imagine with the blade rubbing on the sidewalls the blade gets really hot.
I contacted Mike Hunter and asked if I got the wrong Korpro installed and can I get a bigger cutter. He said I had the right cutter and since the Korpro cuts so easily and quickly that I need to clear shavings more often. I didn't think that was the problem but OK I'll try it. Tried it and no change. I'm not a Mike Mahoney or anything but I've cored enough to know somethings not right. When it works it's nice and easy to cut, but that's not very often. I fight with it every cut and it easily takes 2-3 times longer to make one core than it used to.
I debated about switching over to the Oneway system, and I've read great things about the Korpro cutter with that system. The pictures on Hunters website clearly show the Korpro is wider than the Oneway blade. In the end I spent $75 instead of $750 and bought a replacement McNaughton blade but I don't have any wood to core at the moment. The new McNaughton blade isn't without it's problems, you can see the blob of extra metal on the side of the tip that I need to grind smooth.
I'm just curious if anyone else has done this and if you've had any problems like I have before I contact Hunter Tools again. I thought maybe my Korpro blade was bent or twisted but comparing it to the new blade shows them identical (1st pic shows Korpro blade on top of new blade)
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