Hello George (another one)

Welcome to woodturning. The San Diego Woodturners came up with just
the tool to handle the situation that you describe. Actually, it was
designed for hollow forms, but it will work very well for your case. I
hope I can describe it with just words (here is where a picture is
worth a thousand words). Basically, they have a shaft with a Morse
Taper No. 2 on one end to fit into the headstock Morse Taper. The
other end of the shaft has a 1/4" hole drilled in the center to accept
the shank of a sanding pad designed for use in a drill motor. A
tapered cone has a hole in the center that is the diameter of this
shaft. It is slipped onto the shaft and has a hole drilled and tapped
for a set screw that allows it to be secured in place on the shaft.

Now, once this is made if can be used over and over again. The cone
must be larger than the hole in the rim of your bowl or hollow form
and not so long that it bottoms out on your bowl. Slip the bowl over
the sanding pad until it bottoms out in the bowl, bring up the
tailstock to hold the bowl in place, move the cone into the top of the
bowl to center the bowl and lock it in place with the set screw.

Now, turn the foot, except for a small cone where the tail center is
located. After removing the bowl from the mounting, remove the little
nub with a knife or chisel and sand smooth.

The San Diego Woodturners version was a steel shaft and a plastic
cone, but I've made them out of wood with good results. It takes a
little time to make it up, but it will be worth it in the long run
when you turn other items with small openings.

Incidentally, my 2003 book "A Guide to Work-Holding on the Lathe" and
my new book "The Woodturners FAQ Book" should be useful items to have
in your library. They were both designed for the beginner to
intermediate woodturner. The new book will not likely be available
until the latter part of this month. Both books are listed on
Amazon.com. While being commercial, I should mention my magazine,
"More Woodturning". You can see a sample of it at my website.

Fred Holder
http://www.fholder.com

On Jun 10, 12:05 pm, "George" wrote:
I'm a relative newby to turning and have a problem for which I don't see an
easy solution.

I've just turned a bowl which is 6 1/2" in diameter but with a 4" opening.
The bowl is finished and it is now time to part off the tenon/spigot. My
problem is that my OneWay 4-jaw chuck doesn't open wide enough to hold the
bowl by its opening, and the Jumbo Jaws don't close small enough to hold it
by the opening. The outside from the opening on top to the sides is too
high to be caught by the rubber jaws on the outside.

What is a reasonable solution? Some sort of jam chuck on a spur and hold
the tenon by the tail stock while I part it off?

Thanks.

George (another one)