Thread: Kel McNaughton Hollowing and some Curly River Red Gum

So, I slabbed the rings once I was home, lucky it was raining which showed off the grain to good effect

This was the first attempt.

Some stunning curly jarrah I cut a few months ago. Thought I would try the Jarrah before the RRG as Jarrah is way softer.

The Youtube videos make it far more complicated than it needs to be. I would be happy with one core out of the blank, so I kept it simple.
The jarrah core was reasonably small and the donor blank was very thick edged, so I hollowed out more with a bowl gauge to a consistent thickness.

Armed with new found knowledge and skill, onwards I went

Right, onto the RRG
Big blanks, approx 400 mm, and heavy, like, really heavy

Very happy with the end result once I got the hang of it. I have now cored 15 bowls over the last two days. The added bonus is less wastage, more bowls, blanks dry out quicker. Disadvantage , can be time consuming, limits bowl shape to blade profile. The Kel McNaughton Hollowing system is only good for wet timber

What did I learn, well heaps really.

1. The Kel McNaughton Hollowing system I bought was second hand. The previous owner had limited success and damaged a blade. After a few years of sporadic use, I have used it heaps in the last two days and when reviewing a youtube video, I realised the blade was incorrectly held in the handle, needed rotating 90 degs.

2. Aim for one core when unsure of the process. One is a bonus, keeps it really simple

3. A big wet blank adds a lot of stress to the process, my lathe, 3hp, did slow down a bit, I eased off the cut for the big cores.

4. Because of the stresses and vibrations, I had heaps of things loosen when I needed them to be tight. The blade came loose, the handle extension came loose, my banjo came loose, my tool post came loose. Sooooooo, tighten everything prior, like, really herc them down. I am a big fellow, but things worked loose.

5. PPE is awesome! I managed to have a very big blank of RRG shear the spigot off. The spigot had some bark inclusion and the spigot completely sheared off. Note: I am a huge fan of having the tailstock engaged with the timber as long as I can, but it interfered with the Kel McNaughton Hollowing tool, so I had removed it. Bad mistake.

This then allowed the bowl to fly freely from the lathe and smack me on the Armadillo face mask (awesome bit of kit) and split my nose (no photos as I don't need to advertise stupidity). No other damage to the body!! 3 splits on the nose, a blood nose and no other damage, even playing volleyball tonight. Even the face mask looked good. Oh yeah, I normally turn in bare feet, no damage there either. I sat down for 1/2 an hour, composed my self, stopped the bleeding and conducted an investigation into what happened. Needless to say, Tailstock is now fully engaged at all stages

In the photo, is a frypan with candle wax. I melt the wax and roll the blank in it to seal it to hopefully prevent cracking. The bowls aren't turned 100 round as I expect them to shift as they dry, so will true them once I do the final turning

All in all, well worth the effort

Sincerely
Willy
Jarrahland

Willy, some interesting observations there. I have the Woodcut Bowl Saver and within reason some, or many of your observations to your coring unit, apply to the Woodcut unit I have.

Waxing is pretty good, and I've done plenty like you have, but these days I use an end sealer whenever I core some bowls from wet timber. I apply the end sealer to the ends (top and bottom) on the outside and inside. This allows the bowl blank to dry a bit quicker with what seems like minimal distortion.

I also use a cheap Aldi moisture meter to see where things are at when drying; they come up regularly and are around the $25 mark. Mine has been going for at least 6-7 years.

With larger bowls I have a couple of times cut them really thick, somewhere around 40mm thick, which allows me to change the final dry turning shape a little or a lot.

I have a Laguna Revo 2436 lathe, yep, it shimmies and shakes like a disco dancer from the 70's on steroids. I've found the best thing with really large bowl blank cutting, is to check things constantly whenever I stop to have a look. My lathe is a single to 3 phase unit via an inverter with a 2.2kW motor and in general it has enough power, but like yours it can at times be a struggle if things start to stick. That said, I have used my bowl saver on a small lathe with a 1.1kW motor; one just adjusts to the power you have.

Coring devices are really good with wet timber, pretty good with starting to dry timber, sort of hard work with dryish timber; but doable.

Having your controls at the rear of the lathe is helpful, as you can start and stop the lathe well away from the firing line.

Very interesting report, thanks for giving it to us.

Mick.

Bowl_Saver_IMG_20190822_103644.jpg

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I have had both the Woodcut and the McNaughton and settled on the McNaughton for my needs.

My lathe is only 1.5hp and I would prefer more power for coring, but with care I have managed to core whatever green blanks I have put on it. I just have to alternate between brief spells of cutting and then clearing shavings from the cut, and also keeping the cutter sharp...

Cored bowl - m.jpg

Cored blanks - ash & sycamore.jpg

I changed the tip shape on the McNaughton from that on the left to the one on the right in the following photo. The tip on the left produces butterfly shavings that were more inclined to clog inside the cut. The tip style on the right worked slightly better for me..

IMG_2684.jpg

I always debate with myself whether to core or just turn away the inside of bowls and platters and forget about the extra blank or so that could be saved. Coring is definitely not faster than straight turning, but there is definitely a lot less shavings to clean up when coring and that will sometimes help me to decide to core.

If you are paying for your wood (one way or another) and that is the reason you are getting a corer, you do need to save quite a few extra pieces for the corers to pay for themselves. Buying second hand or sharing with someone else can help you reach payback sooner.

And, although it doesn't happen that often with the wood that comes my way, occasionally the wood itself is worth squeezing out an extra blank or two from...

Walnut.jpg

I core outboard, in the same way that I do most of my turning, and always have the lathe control just behind me. I'm never in the firing line while coring and the stop button is in reach of my knee for whenever I need to give the stop button a nudge.