McNaughton System *LINK*

McNaughton System *LINK*

Greg Jensen

>Use a medium or course slip stone or hard arkansas stone. Swipe upward on the front bevels to raise a burr. Do not attempt to sharpen the top edge or you will reduce the laminant. A diamond is to fine for this steel. Remember a course diamond is rated at 220 grit.

Re: McNaughton System

Doug Trembath

>Sean, Mike uses an unconventional grind which I've seen McNaughton has since adopted, which has a pointed cutting surface rather than the angled, straight across grind the coring tool was introduced with. I believe you have gotten yours recently, so you may have the new grind. If not, get with me and I'll outline how to modify it to make the tool much better behaved.

Mike can get so many bowls from a blank for two reasons. One is that he has an uncanny knack for knowing intuitively exactly where the cutting edge is located at all times, be it in hollowing a vessel, or coring a blank. I suppose many years of daily practice, reason number two, wouldn't hurt either.

I usually core blanks with the thickness varied according to the diameter of the bowl, and have found the drying progresses better this way.

I don't like production bowls to distort, so I dry them all, and still use about one inch per foot of diameter as my guideline for wall thickness.

Remember, especially with this tool, practice doesn't make perfect. PERFECT practice makes perfect. It takes a lot of concentration for me to get really consistent cores, even today, and I can't come close to the quality of cut Mike makes routinely.

Doug Trembath

Studio in the Woods

Re: McNaughton System

Bill Grumbine, Kutztown PA

>Hi Sean

I usually get three blanks out of one the size you describe, but then I have so much wood that I do not push it to the thinnest I can do. I have the older grind knives, and I like them a little better than the new, although I will confess to not having much time on the lathe with the new grind. It felt kind of wobbly to me, racking back and forth in the gate, whereas the older one, once it was set, tracked just fine.

Bill

Re: McNaughton System

Russ Fairfield

>My approach to using the McNaughton tool is different from what I am reading here.

To me, trying to core many bowls from the same piece of wood is a goal that can get in the way of using the tool to effectively remove the core from the bowl that I have. My use of the tool improved immeasurably when I started forgetting about saving the core, and concentrated on using it as a way to remove a lot of wood in a hurry from the bowl that I was looking at. I still do that.

The only bowl I am concerned about is the one in front of me. If I can get another from the core, that is an unexpected gift. If I can put it on the lathe and do the same thing again, one bowl at a time, I am pleased. If not, a chunk of fire wood is an improvement over a pile of shavings.

Mike mentioned once, maybe in his AAW Magazine article, that it took 1000 bowls before he became a ease with using the MeNaughton tool. I have a long ways to go.

There have been a lot of modifications to the original profile of the tool, including a few by Kelton Industries. None of them are better, they are just different. One of them may be be a better match with one style of holding and pushing the tool than another. None of them will eliminate PRACTICE.

Re: McNaughton System

Sean Troy

>Thank you all for the information, Sean

Re: McNaughton System

Fog Tanner

>Greg,

Is the new pointed grind all that will be available on the McNaughton or do they still have the "straight" grind. I have the straight grind and don't want to relearn using the tool with a new grind.