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OneWay Coring System Binding

Randy Anderson

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I have the 11 1/2' oneway coring system and have been using it for about a year. Mainly on traditional style bowls. Recently on a natural edge bowl I got a very nasty catch on the support finger as it caught on a wing of the bowl from the air to wood gap on natural edge bowls. I've been studying and trying to find info on using the tool to core natural edge bowls but can't find anyone that uses it that way. Lots of info on traditional bowl coring. I also have to be careful on the arc of the finger as it will rub on the outside top and inside bottom, depending on the size of bowl and depth of cut. I know the geometry of these two can really change the way the finger rides in the cut, and wood moves as you cut so all of that combined means it will rub a bit. Not big issue on traditional bowls since it can't really catch that easily but, on a natural edge core it can be a disaster. Plus, the wood starts moving quickly on thin natural edge turns so it can start out great and then be a tough fit for the finger. Any advice or inputs on how best to manage the finger rub or catch potential on this tool? I saw one person ground away some of the steel on the bottom inside edge of the the support finger.
 
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I always use only the post as support when starting a cut. Once you have a groove a half inch or so deep all the way around the rim then use the finger for support. If binding starts to occur just stop and move the base sixteenth of an inch and cut a slightly wider channel.
 

Randy Anderson

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That's what I do on traditional - go in a bit with just the post support and then start moving the support finger in as I go. Works fine and when it does start to rub too much as I get in I tweak the angle to minimize it. No big risk on a traditional. I'm nervous about coring natural edge still. As the support finger gets into the cut there are times, depending on bowl size and shape, where there are almost no walls keeping it from swinging in or out and bang - it can catch. I've put the set screw in the bottom of the post but still not comfortable that will do it. Lots of torque and vibration as you know. Didn't think about moving the cutter base to give me a slightly wider cut space.
 
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I think the problem may be in the positioning of the cutter post, I have had them bind some on cores where I was stretching the range of the cutter. What I mean is the positioning of the post that holds the cutter, If I am to far from center fore or aft, primarily fore. This happen mostly on smaller bowl cores. If you try to shrink, say the 11 inch knife you loose the geometry because of the depth Or height of the support knife( this would be when you have the cutter post set to the right of center as you would view the face) The core radius is is reduced making the sphere half too short. The answer is to use the smaller 9 inch knife and open its diameter as opposed to shrinking the 11.
I hope this makes sense and it is of some help.
Depending on how deep you want the bowl the live edge bowls can be challenging on the one way as it is designed to cut to a flat face. When you orient the live edge keep it in plane as close as possible but by doing this often it causes you to loose the shape you were after. The Oneway is an awesome system and I use it all the time but it works within a certain range. The McNaughton is more versatile but more difficult to use. It might be the best answer for live edge bowls and uneven face surfaces.
 

Randy Anderson

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Dean, thanks and I agree that it's likely a "range" challenge for the system since the arc of the knife and support arm are fixed. The pic below is from a traditional core. ID of outer bowl is 12" so cut is within the range of my knife set I believe but likely max I should try. Easy to see the touch at the top and gap at the bottom. On a traditional it's manageable. On a NE that outer top "touch" is a dangerous situation. My cutter tip is dead on center with the spindle center. Oneway response via email was to adjust the height of the cutter. I don't think that helps the issue. At this point I've accepted it's a limitation of the system and will be VERY careful on natural edge cores.
 

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The height of the cutter is critical on larger diameter cores, the further into the core you cut increases the amount of downward cutting forces and drag on the cutting tool, if your tool is too high or too low it will begin binding inside the path of the kerf in the core. There is a sweet spot for the tool to ride in and the technique used must accommodate the size and type of wood, several adjusted passes will widen the cut path for the cutting tool to pass through. You may want to check the vertical alignment of your cutting tool and its mounting post against the arced curve of the cutting tool to see if you incurred any damage to the tool which would cause issues on larger diameter cores. You may have slightly twisted the curve of the cutting blade or the vertical post may be bent, or the blade could have been slightly out of position when they welded the two pieces together in the factory. Does the cutting tool mounting post fit firmly into the pivot post, any slop in this mounting will increase the potential for tool binding, any bend of the tool post or bend in the tool pivot base upright in relation to the ways plane will also cause binding on the cutting tool if there is any misalignment of these tool components.
 

Randy Anderson

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Mike, thanks and I'll inspect the mount HW again. I checked my welds for cracks and cutter height from outside to inside swing to see if I could detect a bend or "tilt". Will also check for vertical post alignment. Didn't when I studied it last time. Just pondering what might help is potentially a groove in the top of the support finger and a ridge in the bottom of the cutter arm that aligned. Would always ensure they were together on my natural edge cores. But, that's not something I will attempt to modify. One thing I think I will do is not insert the support finger in a position that leaves the tip of it exposed to an air cut. Will insert for a bit then slowly cut until I have a good groove cut into the low wing sides and then move the support finger in. That way the tip of the finger is not exposed to a potential catch point on the tall wing as it comes around.
 
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Well, the only thing that I know of that causes the knife and support arm to bind is if you are coring something where you don't have the pivot point centered in the ways of the lathe. The blades are pretty specific to needing a particular arc for the cut. If you are coming in off center, you may need to use open up the kerf a bit so the blade and support finger have room to cut.

Most of my experience is with the McNaughton coring system. All coring systems are scrapers. When cutting with scrapers inside of a bowl, you want the cutter to be at or slightly above center. I usually have my cutter height about 1/4 inch above center height. I have found this to really help with the McNaughton. Not sure what it would do with the Oneway.

robo hippy
 

Randy Anderson

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Thanks. Not sure if on this cut I was off center but to change the size of the core I do move the pivot point off center a bit, not too much but some. I see it done by others so I believe, within reason, it's an acceptable thing to do but as you say it will certainly change the arc of cut to the fixed arc of the knife set. I'll try raising my cutter a bit above center and open up the cut a bit as I go in if it starts to bind.
 
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Dean, thanks and I agree that it's likely a "range" challenge for the system since the arc of the knife and support arm are fixed. The pic below is from a traditional core. ID of outer bowl is 12" so cut is within the range of my knife set I believe but likely max I should try. Easy to see the touch at the top and gap at the bottom. On a traditional it's manageable. On a NE that outer top "touch" is a dangerous situation. My cutter tip is dead on center with the spindle center. Oneway response via email was to adjust the height of the cutter. I don't think that helps the issue. At this point I've accepted it's a limitation of the system and will be VERY careful on natural edge cores.

How big was the core that you cut out? It looks like that’s too small of a core for the 11” knife to work properly. OneWay says 1-1/2” up or down from knife size but in my experience that’s a bit too much for natural edge bowls. I’ve found when the top of the support finger is touching like in your pic the core is too small, when it’s too big the bottom touches. When I core natural edge bowls I limit the range to 1” up or down from the knife size and have eliminated any catches.
 

Randy Anderson

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Greg, the inner core would have been right at 11 1/2" so right on the spec. It was a traditional core. Good to hear someone else using it for natural edge cores. I've done some without issue but once I had the finger swing and catch I've been looking for some info to minimize the risk before I tackle another. My current thought is it's a combination of too many variables to really predict on a natural edge but staying close to range likely helps a lot. Do you cut into the lower walls a bit before you slide the support into the groove? That's my plan going forward. Will put the knife a bit further out from the support than "spec" perhaps but at least the support finger always has a groove to ride in.
 
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Do you cut into the lower walls a bit before you slide the support into the groove? That's my plan going forward. Will put the knife a bit further out from the support than "spec" perhaps but at least the support finger always has a groove to ride in.

I've cored quite a few NE bowls with the Oneway system and always do it the way you described. Make initial cuts with knife resting on the post, make sure the knife has cut a groove at least 1/2" into the wood all the way around the bowl before swinging the support arm into place under the knife. Never had an issue with support arm coming out of the groove or causing a catastrophic catch. Depending on the shape of the log, the knife might be a ways out into space unsupported on the first cut, but go slow and easy and no problem, at least for me, coring green wood.
 

Randy Anderson

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Dave, thanks for the info and confirmation that someone else does NE coring often and my plan is sound. Hard to find anything about it online.
 
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Greg, the inner core would have been right at 11 1/2" so right on the spec. It was a traditional core. Good to hear someone else using it for natural edge cores. I've done some without issue but once I had the finger swing and catch I've been looking for some info to minimize the risk before I tackle another. My current thought is it's a combination of too many variables to really predict on a natural edge but staying close to range likely helps a lot. Do you cut into the lower walls a bit before you slide the support into the groove? That's my plan going forward. Will put the knife a bit further out from the support than "spec" perhaps but at least the support finger always has a groove to ride in.

If I’m coring natural edge I try to cut the blank from a large log and keep the rim height difference as small as possible. I do try to cut to the lower wall before inserting the support finger if possible. I also want really green wood for coring natural edge, within three or four days of cutting it down. Ideally I only core natural edge in January or February and the bark rarely comes loose.
 

hockenbery

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Regarding NE -
I’ve seen mike Mahoney do his nested NE bowl demo several times.
Mike gets as many as 14 NE cored bowls in the demo. Amazing to say the least.

While Mike is a master with the coring tools he plans for success by using burl caps that are nicely rounded.
The burl has no endgrain to fight through and the roundness of the burl cap doesn’t vary a lot in rim height like the @Greg Norman above suggestion.
 
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