Well, I will try again. I must have missed the post button the first
time. When I got my first chuck, I started using a tenon, but had some
problems with the jaws eating pieces of the tenon. I then started
experimenting with the mortice idea. I did have a few problems with
things coming off, and breaking the shoulders, but learned what size of
shoulder was necessary, how deep the mortice should be, how much torque
to put on the chuck, and how close of a fit was necessary tor the chuck
to hold. I can core an 18 inch diameter bowl with the McNaughton system
with no problems and no tailstock. I am very agressive when roughing
out a bowl. With a 'properly' cut mortice, it will not come off. I
never use the tailstock as it isn't necessary. The only down side to
not using the tailstock is that all of the vibration from turning goes
to the headstock. I wore out the headstock bearings on my PM3520 in 5
years. I now have a Laguna 16HD bandsaw that makes the blanks much more
balanced and smoother than the chainsawn blalks that I did for 5 years.
This should make this set of headstock bearings last a lot longer. I
will let you know when they fail.
robo hippy
Fred Holder wrote:
I agree with Bill, I use a tenon instead of a recess. Many years ago, I
sometimes used a recess until a fellow brought in a bowl to the club meeting
that was split in half because he had tightened his chuck too much using a
recess. After that, I never again used a recess only a tenon.

When re-turning a rough turned bowl, I open my chuck jaws quite a bit and place
the inside of the bowl over the chuck. I then bring up the tailstock with a live
center and clean up the dovetail on the tenon. Because I always start my bowls
originally between the face of the jaws of the chuck and a live center to turn
the original tenon and the outside of the bowl, I have a center point for
remounting after the rough turned bowl has dried. I keep this center point all
of the way through until the final turning of the foot on a jam fit chuck or a
vacuum chuck.

Fred Holder
http://www.fholder.com



In article , Bill Rubenstein
says...

On every bowl I do. The only difference is that I use a tenon instead
of a dovetail -- much more secure in my opinion. If I used a dovetail
I'd need a small tool to get in given the interference of the tailstock.
This is another justification for using a tenon instead of a dovetail.
It would make no difference in the finished product because I'd get
rid of either.

Bill

Gerald Ross wrote:
Bill Rubenstein wrote:
It seems to me that the lathe is the right tool to true up the
dovetail -- not a router.




Make a small jam chuck -- maybe 3 or so inches in diameter. Your
blank should also have the hole caused by your tail center visible;
that will make centering it easier but is not completely necessary.

Mount it between the jam chuck and the tail stock, top of the bowl to
the headstock side and then cleaning up the dovetail is a piece of
cake. If it is small then you might need to make a small special
cutter to get to it but I'd say this is the way to go.

Bill

Have you ever actually done this?