Chucks and chucking

[Lennart Delin]

There has been some discussions lately on chucking. This is a description of how I chuck the bowl while rough turning the green blank and then finish turn the dried blank. The perhaps unusual part is that I always turn the foot as tenon or mortice as part of the final bowl before turning the inside. I. e. I never reverse to turn off the tenon.

 

[hughie]

There has been some discussions lately on chucking. This is a description of how I chuck the bowl while rough turning the green blank and then finish turn the dried blank. The perhaps unusual part is that I always turn the foot as tenon or mortice as part of the final bowl before turning the inside. I. e. I never reverse to turn off the tenon.
View attachment 75285

same here

 

[William Rogers]

We all have preferences. I always remove the tendon from my turnings. I just think I think it looks better.

 

[Bill Alston]

We all have preferences. I always remove the tendon from my turnings. I just think I think it looks better.

One of the turners at my club used to enter a lot of competitions years ago. He said if you wanted to win, any indication of how the bowl was held for turning had to be removed. One of the most obvious and sure to be noticed is a mortise. You can remove the dovetail inside but it’s still obviously a mounting point. A winning bowl had to have an elegant foot that’s in proportion to the bowl.

 

[Lennart Delin]

We all have preferences. I always remove the tendon from my turnings. I just think I think it looks better.

I think the your view depends on that you see it as a tendon, whereas I see it as a foot that lets the bowl float. Without a foot I think bowls tend to look like a lump of dough. Actually I have never heard any comments on the foot from a non-turner.

When I think of it, I remeber reading when I started turning more than 60-years ago: "A bowl is not finished until you have turned a foot". That was before any woodturning chucks. The standard was to glue on a sacrificial piece that was fastened to the faceplate with screws. After parting off the bowl from the sacrificial piece you just had a flat bottom that needed to be turned into a foot.

 

[Lennart Delin]

One of the turners at my club used to enter a lot of competitions years ago. He said if you wanted to win, any indication of how the bowl was held for turning had to be removed. One of the most obvious and sure to be noticed is a mortise. You can remove the dovetail inside but it’s still obviously a mounting point. A winning bowl had to have an elegant foot that’s in proportion to the bowl.

That is the foot I try to make, but I make it so I can still use it for mounting, may be it is because I aim at gallerys and not turning contests.

 

[Aaron Harris]

Lennart-How deep is that recess on the left, 3 or 4 mm at most? I have done this on platters and some bowls. It certainly saves a step if you're only turning for customers who don't care and in fact like the defined foot and ring. Different strokes for different folks!

Lastly, how are you mounted when you are turning the outside? Lately I have been turning an inside tenon for this, though a screw chuck on wide jaws secured with TiteBond gives a rock-solid and confident hold (and the bond is not that hard to break when you take it off for reversing).

 

[William Rogers]

That is the foot I try to make, but I make it so I can still use it for mounting, may be it is because I aim at gallerys and not turning contests.
View attachment 75314

I didn’t say I did not elevate the bowl. I just don’t use the tendon, more on the line what @Bill Alston said. I don’t want to be constrained with the tendon size dictating the foot diameter. To be truthful I rarely see the tendon incorporated into the final bowl. for me, it doesn’t have anything to do with galleries or contest it just looks better to me.

 

[Lennart Delin]

Lennart-How deep is that recess on the left, 3 or 4 mm at most? I have done this on platters and some bowls. It certainly saves a step if you're only turning for customers who don't care and in fact like the defined foot and ring. Different strokes for different folks!

Lastly, how are you mounted when you are turning the outside? Lately I have been turning an inside tenon for this, though a screw chuck on wide jaws secured with TiteBond gives a rock-solid and confident hold (and the bond is not that hard to break when you take it off for reversing).

Yes probably 3-4 mm. If you look in the PDF I published, you will get a full explanation.

 

[Aaron Harris]

Yes probably 3-4 mm. If you look in the PDF I published, you will get a full explanation.

D'oh, I didn't even think to open that! (The term Dad-clicking was invented for me, I think). Thanks!

 

[Bill Alston]

I don’t want to be constrained with the tendon size dictating the foot diameter. To be truthful I rarely see the tendon incorporated into the final bowl. for me, it doesn’t have anything to do with galleries or contest it just looks better to me.

This is exactly right for me. The mounting method should not dictate what the final bowl looks like. This is why I believe one of the demonstrators at my club suggested not to use a recess unless absolutely necessary.

The trick is of course how you remove the chucking point. After experimentation I settled on the Donut Chuck as being the safest and most secure way of doing this. As a live centre is not required there is no cutting or hand sanding of any small remaining wood. Each to their own though. Whatever works for the individual to achieve the result they’re after.

Another thought, turn over a ceramic bowl or plate and look at the foot. Ignoring the actual size of it, look how elegant they normally are. There’s no reason the foot of a wooden bowl can’t be as elegant as this even if you do alter the size to fit the piece. Just my view.

 

[Lennart Delin]

The mounting method should not dictate what the final bowl looks like.

I have different jaws and can choose the diameter after the foot I want. I experience no restriction in the foot design.

 

[Lennart Delin]

I posted a memo on chucks and how I use them to turn bowls. Judging from the comments I get, it seems to me that you did not even bother to open the memo, or was it the nowadays popular TLDR, too long didn´t read?

 

[Barry Larson]

I posted a memo on chucks and how I use them to turn bowls. Judging from the comments I get, it seems to me that you did not even bother to open the memo, or was it the nowadays popular TLDR, too long didn´t read?

Lennart:
Thank you for posting the article. I've saved it for future reference.

Cheers.

Barry W. Larson
Calgary, Alberta, Canada eh!

 

[Bill Alston]

I posted a memo on chucks and how I use them to turn bowls. Judging from the comments I get, it seems to me that you did not even bother to open the memo, or was it the nowadays popular TLDR, too long didn´t read?

I for one did look at it, but I never turn green wood so much of the content wasn’t of interest to me. I also only use wood turning chucks, not modified metal turning chucks. It’s a good skill if you can do it, but so far I’ve only needed standard wood turning chucks.