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Avoiding rusty jaws

Gary Beasley

Gary Beasley

Joined
Sep 12, 2017
Messages
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Location
Marietta, Georgia
When you mount green wood in your chuck for roughing or once turning place a sheet of saran wrap over the tenon before you mount it in the chuck. This will help keep the wet tannins away from the steel to avoid corrosion with the added benefit of reducing the chance of black stains on your wood from the contact.
 
Hmm, I never worried about rusty jaws, and I have not seen any signs of rust on my chuck jaws, all Vicmark. I do keep some concentrated lemon juice handy to remove the black inside the recess I always use.... Does anyone make stainless chuck jaws? I have used the nitrile gloves as a cover for my chuck jaws, long ago, but don't any more, the lemon juice works better. Well, it is easier anyway.

robo hippy
 
I’ve turned green wood for bowl blanks for years, oak and such, and never had a rust issue. I’m curious what chuck you use so I can warn my club members. I use mostly Vicmark and some Nova.
Great suggestion btw.
 
My problem was mounting up a piece of wood and taking several days to get it ready to bag up for drying. I dont always have the energy to do the entire job in one go.
The jaws are from a Nova Infiniti quick change set, as juicy as the cherry wood was it would affect quite a few types of metal. Heck one of the chunks sitting outside waiting its turn has sprouted leaves!
 
If jaws or screws or any steel gets rusty, Evaporust is magic.
(no rust of chuck/jaws here either)
 
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I've been using Oneway and Vicmark chucks for at least 15 years and don't remember ever getting rust on jaws.
 
No problems at all, but I do put a little bit of Johnson’s Paste Wax on them every once in awhile.
 
Bill Alston said:
Just to say that Axminster Chucks and Jaws are made from Stainless Steel so it shouldn’t be a problem turning green wood?
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Depends on the grade of stainless steel. In my darkroom I have stainless tanks and darkroom sink and I have to rinse then good after use or risk a bit of rust, especially the sink. Tannins are probably not so harsh but continued contact will cause problems.
 
Gary Beasley said:
Depends on the grade of stainless steel. In my darkroom I have stainless tanks and darkroom sink and I have to rinse then good after use or risk a bit of rust, especially the sink. Tannins are probably not so harsh but continued contact will cause problems.
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I’ve seen quite a few pictures of rusty chucks and jaws online, but so far none of them have been the Axminster stainless steel ones. I suppose it’s possible though?
 
I have had Nova chuck jaws get a little rust on them if they sit for a long time without use. I have been in two different houses without HVAC in the shop, and just the humidity in VA was enough. My Oneway jaws are all fine. I've never turned green wood on any of my Nova jaws. They did clean up with a wire brush just fine. The black oxide seems to produce a better rust resistance IMHO.
 
Jonathan Silwones said:
I’ve turned green wood for bowl blanks for years, oak and such, and never had a rust issue. I’m curious what chuck you use so I can warn my club members. I use mostly Vicmark and some Nova.
Great suggestion btw.
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I have all Nova chucks and will get rust if I leave a green bowl in the chuck overnight. I try to avoid that but it's not that difficult to sand the jaws removing the rust. But the saran wrap is a great idea. I will try that tomorrow as I'm turning a bunch of natual edge cherry bowls
 
Dave Hulett said:
I have all Nova chucks and will get rust if I leave a green bowl in the chuck overnight. I try to avoid that but it's not that difficult to sand the jaws removing the rust. But the saran wrap is a great idea. I will try that tomorrow as I'm turning a bunch of natual edge cherry bowls
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I often use a recess on the bottom and leave it in the piece. What's annoying is if the steel imparts a stain to the wood if not completely dry. What I do to prevent that is put scotch tape on the jaws of one chuck.

I don't remember ever rusty Nova jaws over 20+ years but I rarely turn wet wood.

JKJ
 
I live 5 mins from the beach, salt is in the air constantly. If I leave my vehicle out over-night there will be a film of salt on the windows in the morning. The battle never ends as they say rust never sleeps, I am thinking of building a cabinet for the chucks and jaws
 
hughie said:
I live 5 mins from the beach, salt is in the air constantly. If I leave my vehicle out over-night there will be a film of salt on the windows in the morning. The battle never ends as they say rust never sleeps, I am thinking of building a cabinet for the chucks and jaws
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I keep a lot of my tools in clip lock food containers. The round ones are handy for chucks. Many are big enough to take fairly large jaws attached.

IMG_1565.jpeg
 
Gary Beasley said:
It would be a good idea to put some silica gel in with them to get the humidity that will be trapped in with them.
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I think that's a good idea. I'll repeat what I said earlier about silica gel in case it might be useful: I like the indicator desiccator beads. I buy those that are a dark blue when dry and turn pink when loaded with water. This lets me see when they are past the point of absorbing any more moisture so I can "recharge" them in the little shop toaster oven. The problem with using the little silica gel packets that come with lots of things you never know when it's saturated and quits working.

This would be a lifetime supply. Could share it with your turning club for chucks and to extend the life of CA glue.

JKJ
 
Gary Beasley said:
It would be a good idea to put some silica gel in with them to get the humidity that will be trapped in with them.
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Traditionally you would use Anti Rust paper so that’s what I’ve been using. If you look at the picture again you’ll see a piece on the left that I took out of the container before taking the picture. Some tools come wrapped in it when you buy them but I’ve found just leaving a piece in a sealed box works, I’ve been using this stuff with tools for a couple of decades, it works.
 
The Armor Protective Packaging people mention their proprietary VCI paper will protect for "up to" 3 years, whatever that means.
 
Mark Jundanian said:
Is there a way to recharge the paper, or do you replace it periodically?
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I just replace it once in a while. The suppliers I’ve used also used to be able to supply small tins of some sort of chemical for protecting tools in small cupboards etc, but I’ve not tried it.

Edit: I thought I was running out but found another sheet whilst I was looking for something else in the shop.

IMG_5937.jpeg
 
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