Glue block/faceplate versus chuck

[Rachel Aberle]

I was watching some wood turning videos and came across Lyles video in using a faceplate and or glue block versus chuck to offer more variety and secured wood versus a chuck.

Anyone here tried both for comparison?

 

[Mike Peace]

I use both methods depending on the nature of the turning. Larger turnings I agree do better with a face plate. But I turn a lot of small items that do just fine with a chuck. A chuck is not a necessesity but it far more convenient than a faceplate and glue block for a lot of projects. I would say far more turning is done on a chuck than a face plate and it is not all due to marketing hype by chuck manufactures. I have seen most professionals that demonstrate do some large bowls using a chuck. Some like Mike Hosaluk turning something extremely thin using a chuck.

 

[Bill Boehme]

There's nothing to say that you can't use both a glue block and a chuck together. The large diameter maple turning blanks that I use for my basket illusion turnings are typically between 2 and 2½ inches thick so I can't afford to waste any of it by making a tenon or a recess.

 

[Tom Albrecht]

As mentioned above, glue blocks are great for saving thickness in a bowl or plate/ platter. And then there is always double stick carpet tape as I learned from a Dale Nish book. There are no hard and fast rules on this in my choices, except when diameters start getting big, like over 24", then I go to a screw-on face plate which may be screwed to a sacrificial waste piece.

 

[Emiliano Achaval]

I also use waste glue blocks sometimes. I have a Vicmarc VM150, with several large sets of jaws. For large bowls, I can use an 8 in jaw. Solid. I do use my faceplates every other year, LOL I had to do a demo on how to do a bowl without a chuck a few years ago... I turned for years before I even knew what a chuck was...

 

[hockenbery]

I was watching some wood turning videos and came across Lyles video in using a faceplate and or glue block versus chuck to offer more variety and secured wood versus a chuck.

Anyone here tried both for comparison?

I use Glue blocks when I don’t have waste wood for a Chuck.
using thick CA makes the glue block reusable and thick CA will bond to wet wood for a 30-45 minutes.
I’ve done a lot of footless NE bowls with CA glue on a glue block.
Lyle showed me his method in 2000.

I use between centers for turning the outside of bowls and hollowforms
I use a faceplate for hollowing most of my hollow forms
i use a Chuck and tenon for hollowing most of my bowls
also use double sided tape tape in place of glue on a glue block

all these methods hold well enough for those who don’t get catches.

the faceplate will hold in most catches
glueblock on a faceplate glued to dry wood with tight bond glue will hold in most catches

chuck and CA glue block will fail with severe catches

 

[Doug Freeman]

I’ve watched the same Lyle vids. He swears by the faceplate method, particularly for hollow forms. His main reason is less vibration. Over time I did some testing with bowls, platters, HF’s, faceplate vs chuck and glueblock/chuck. My conclusions were a sound tenon/chuck worked as well as a faceplate or chuck glue block. Sizes went up to ~14” turned OD. I use larger tenons initially, and most times cut down to a much smaller one to completely finish turn the item.

The key IMO is how structurally sound is the wood. A weak tenon will need reinforcement, I use CA glue. A glue block works great with weak wood, and doesnt require a bath of ca glue.

My faceplates dont get much use, simply because I’ve had great success with a chuck with parent wood or glue block tenon. Lyles approach to reducing vibration while cutting a piece down, ie leaving mass “below” to support cuts, helped me a lot, and I found chucks work just fine. Chucks are faster/easier for me, and I prefer to have a tenon to grip during sanding/finishing, and it enables quick remounting of a piece. Faceplates dont work very well with my preferred work flow.

 

[Rachel Aberle]

Thank you all, learning here. Stay away from those catches number 1 thing.. Very interesting to learn differing approaches and many work, just what works for you.

 

[robo hippy]

Well, just saw this on You Tube last night:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ygys75Lvav8


I guess they do work, but the only time I use glue blocks is when making boxes. When making a recess or tenon, I am never more than 1/8 inch deep because you don't need the depth as much as you need the proper size for what you are turning. Never use face plates either, other than for one huge, 22 inch diameter bowl, I turned years ago. I would have needed a 5 or so inch set of jaws to have mounted it, and I don't think they make forstner bits that big. Most of my bowls are under 14 inch diameter.

robo hippy

 

[Rachel Aberle]

Well, just saw this on You Tube last night:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ygys75Lvav8


I guess they do work, but the only time I use glue blocks is when making boxes. When making a recess or tenon, I am never more than 1/8 inch deep because you don't need the depth as much as you need the proper size for what you are turning. Never use face plates either, other than for one huge, 22 inch diameter bowl, I turned years ago. I would have needed a 5 or so inch set of jaws to have mounted it, and I don't think they make forstner bits that big. Most of my bowls are under 14 inch diameter.

robo hippy

Thanks for sharing. I did buy a Vicmarc 120 to cover sizes my lathe can hold which is max 14”diameter.

 

[Rachel Aberle]

I find the glue technique interesting and still amazed it holds.

Well, just saw this on You Tube last night:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ygys75Lvav8


I guess they do work, but the only time I use glue blocks is when making boxes. When making a recess or tenon, I am never more than 1/8 inch deep because you don't need the depth as much as you need the proper size for what you are turning. Never use face plates either, other than for one huge, 22 inch diameter bowl, I turned years ago. I would have needed a 5 or so inch set of jaws to have mounted it, and I don't think they make forstner bits that big. Most of my bowls are under 14 inch diameter.

robo

 

[Mike Johnson]

I have a box of wood rounds that I can quickly glue onto a flat board and use as a tenon for mounting in a chuck. These are quick to
apply and you can have the piece mounted on the lathe in several minutes and use the tailstock as additional support and start
turning the piece without waiting for the glue to cure all of the way, by the time you are ready to work on the surface where the
tailstock support is the glue is cured and you can remove the tailstock. I like using these on Turkey Calls, Coasters, Plates etc. where
flat stock lumber is used.

 

[odie]

I find the glue technique interesting and still amazed it holds.

You and me, both! I wasn't convinced to abandon my Oneway jumbo, and mega jumbo jaws.

Bonnie Klein is well known in the woodturner's world...and considered a master!

I did find it interesting how she made up a permanent waste block attached to a modified locknut.....and, when it got small enough, more wood could be applied. It didn't look like the threads on the locknut were deep enough to mate with the base of the spindle. I guess the wood itself pressing against the leading edge of the spindle, she feels is good enough.....and, that could be.

It was also interesting how she centered the bowl on the waste block, using a turned nub on the foot of the bowl, pressed into a drilled socket on the waste block.

All in all, an interesting look at someone else's technique for mounting bowls using waste blocks. Waste blocks, these days, seem to be far from being in common use, like they were at one time.....but, the ancient method is my preference for making bowls. I am such a dinosaur!

-----odie-----

 

[robo hippy]

For the nut to seat against the head stock spindle, you need the locking nuts with the nylon insert, and as she said in the video, you need to remove the nylon. That can be done with a scraper or heat. This type of nut is deeper than the non locking types, and will seat firmly against the headstock spindle seat point. I did take mine and put them in a chuck and true up the side that sits against the lathe with a standard scraper. The non locking types are not deep enough to seat properly. You can find 1 1/4 by 8 nuts, but usually they are special order because industry standard for 1 1/4 is 7 tpi. No clue as to why the bigger lathe shafts are not industry standard....

robo hippy

 

[Charlie Knighton]

Once upon a time I attended Florida symposium....attended rotation of Larry Hasiak...."Hollowing the Low Tech Way"
Larry proceeded to mount vase blank with faceplate and turned a very nice vase without removing blank from faceplate. He would alternate doing outside then inside shaping and final turning as he worked top to bottom. It was an eye opening event for me.

 

[Bill Boehme]

For the nut to seat against the head stock spindle, you need the locking nuts with the nylon insert, and as she said in the video, you need to remove the nylon. That can be done with a scraper or heat. This type of nut is deeper than the non locking types, and will seat firmly against the headstock spindle seat point. I did take mine and put them in a chuck and true up the side that sits against the lathe with a standard scraper. The non locking types are not deep enough to seat properly. You can find 1 1/4 by 8 nuts, but usually they are special order because industry standard for 1 1/4 is 7 tpi. No clue as to why the bigger lathe shafts are not industry standard....

robo hippy

Another way to do it so that you get metal-to-metal contact using an ordinary hex nut is to bore a hole in the waste block that is slightly larger than the OD of the spindle threads and a little deeper than the distance from the shoulder to the end of the spindle. Next, counterbore a hole that will be a snug fit for a nut. Make the depth a little less than the width of the nut so that it will sit slightly proud when pressed in and glued in place. Next, rather than facing off the nut, we can assume that the face is flat enough and, most importantly, perpendicular to the threaded hole. Instead, I recommend screwing the wooden faceplate/glueblock onto the spindle until the nut is tight against the spindle registration face and then true up the wood.

Facing off the nut would be a bit iffy assuming that the nut wasn't pressed into the glueblock perfectly straight (and, it would be a borderline miracle if it were pressed in perfectly straight). The problem would be that the nice flat face that we turned on the nut wouldn't be perfectly perpendicular to the threaded bore of the nut (facing off the nut might be good enough, but turning wood is easier than turning steel).

 

[robo hippy]

I think it is Beal, the people that make the buffing wheels, and they have thread cutters for wood and you can drill and tap a wood face plate.

When I face the nut, I do it before I insert it into the waste block.

It does pain me a bit to admit that I never thought of adding another waste block on top of the old one when I get it down to the nut...... Palm smack to the forehead! Good idea also about the small tenon on the bowl blank for centering.

robo hippy