I don't believe I've seen any reports from robo hippy concerning this DVD. But considering the number of posts he has made to this newsgroup over the years, I felt it should be brought to the attention of the members of the newsgroup. Here is my story.
I receintly received a new DVD from Reed Gray on Bowl Coring with the McNaughton System. I actually can't remember whether I've ever met Reed, but have known of him for several years as "robo hippy" on the rec.crafts.woodturning newsgroup.
Reed is a production bowl turner and has tried all of the coring systems on the market. He feels that the McNaughton System is the fastest and easiest to set up and provides the most flexibility when coring a bowl. He has put his thoughts into a very well done 70 minute video. Mildred and I watched it twice on our television.
Reed begins his presentation with the question, "Will this work on your lathe." He then describes the limitations of the system as far as lathes go; i.e., it will not work on all 12" swing lathes or with lathes having less than one horsepower. He feels that a 14" swing and two horsepower lathe is most suitable for the McNaughton system. The next question he asks is, "Is this tool for you?" Then he explains that for someone who turns only a few bowls a year, this system would pretty much be a waste of money. For someone who turns and sells their bowls, he feels this is an excellent tool.
He then introduces all of the bits and pieces of the system and how they fit together. He points out that the McNaughton system now comes with pointed cutters, a favorite of Mike Mahoney. He finds, however, for himself a tool that is ground straight across works better and provides a narrower shaving from the kerf. He also talks about the laser attachment that helps one to know where the cutter tip is at all times and will hopefully keep you from creating a lampshade instead of a bowl.
His preference for mounting the bowl for coring is the use of a recess for the chuck jaws. He notes that Mike Mahoney recommends a tenon for the chuck. Reed feels that the recess is better and should be about one third of the bowls diameter for greatest holding power.
He then shows the coring of a standard bowl and shows how he places the tool alongside the bowl outside to determine which tool to use when coring the largest bowl. He stresses that he cores the largest bowl first, because it is the most valuable. Also since he originally mounts the blank on the top portion with a hole drilled with Forstner Drill, he has this hole remaining in the cored out portion for remounting after coring.
He then cores a natural edge bowl and mentions that they are very little different from a regular bowl, except that initially you have to feed the tool slower because it is only cutting part of the revolution.
Reed says that he cores the blank and then final turns the bowl without removing it from the lathe and drying it. If you want to dry and then final turn, he recommends that you leave the wall thickness of at least 10 percent of bowl diameter.
He covers sharpening of the tools and provides some illustrations to show how the tool would cut into a bowl. He gives information on straightening bent blades and a lot of tips. I recommend this video highly. I don't know the cost, but you can contact robo hippy for find out.
This information is the text from the review I did on Reed's DVD and is being published in the February 2008 issue of More Woodturning
Fred Holder