Bowl Savers

[alexf]

I am looking at bowl savers for our turning club. I think we should buy one which would be suitable for use at the club but also for use by members on their own lathe. I am thinking of the smaller one from McNaughton or the Woodcut one. I cannot find much information on the OneWay system. Any thoughts on these would be appreciated. Unfortunately being in Scotland I can't just nip down to a suppliers to see them in action.

 

[Dalboy]

I am looking at bowl savers for our turning club. I think we should buy one which would be suitable for use at the club but also for use by members on their own lathe. I am thinking of the smaller one from McNaughton or the Woodcut one. I cannot find much information on the OneWay system. Any thoughts on these would be appreciated. Unfortunately being in Scotland I can't just nip down to a suppliers to see them in action.

Our club has just been given the go ahead to buy one from axminster tools and one of the questions asked was does every one have a lathe that it will fit on to or has a large enough motor. As if not will it just be for those that have the bigger lathes. As well as that how many members source their own logs compared to those that just use brought blanks

 

[Lazurus]

I have the Woodcut Max 3 great bit of kit but for the bigger cutters you do need over 1HP, on the plus side it is easy to set up and use, you would need to consider member lathe power and tool rest stem size. Also consider if it really would be used enough to warrant the investment. I did a lot of research before committing to this as some systems are very difficult to use correctly, trawl you tube for info.

 

[jurriaan]

The McNaughton one is great if you want to save different forms, but has a much longer learning period. If you want to core 'standard' bowls, I would get another one.

Information on the Oneway system is on youtube - lots of videos...

 

[sunnybob]

I first saw one of these in a utube clip showing a commercial setup presumably phillipines or similar location. One giant tree trunk turning and a man using one of these at the end of it. Push, let the bowl fall, machine moves the tree trunk 2 inches, push, let the bowl fall, etc etc. what a job for an 8 hour shift.
But definitely saving on raw materials.

 

[gregmcateer]

Paul Hannaby showed me the McNaughton and I THINK, the Woodcut.

I went for the McNaughton due to flexibility of shape and multiple sizes all working on the same system.

Have only used it a little, and am clearly about a million times less able than the master, Mike Mahoney (bowlmakerinc), but it does a good job and for coring from unseasoned blanks to get multiple bowls, it ain't too difficult, especially if you've done a bit of 'tubing' to learn the basics.