This is an FYI for anyone who does not get American Woodturning and is
thinking of getting Coles jaws to hold bowls or looking for perhaps a
better way to finish the bottoms of your bowls so I'm not expecting
any replies.

The Spring 2008 American Woodturner (you can order a copy from the
American Association of Woodturners web site if you are not a member)
has an interesting article on the Straka chuck. It is used for
reverse chucking. I wish this article had appeared a few years back.
Rather than buy a second chuck and jaws to hold bowls up to 8", I
would have made one of these chucks instead and been able to hold
bowls up to 12" (I have a 15" lathe). It is also a cheaper way to
go.

The chuck has a faceplate connected to two plywood disks (glued
together) potentially as big as your lathe can hold. Next, it has a
plywood ring held by bolts to the first disks. Finally there is a bowl
sandwiched in between the disks and the ring if you can picture all
that. The article has pretty good directions on how to make the
chuck.

"tww" wrote in message
...
This is an FYI for anyone who does not get American Woodturning and is
thinking of getting Coles jaws to hold bowls or looking for perhaps a
better way to finish the bottoms of your bowls so I'm not expecting
any replies.

The Spring 2008 American Woodturner (you can order a copy from the
American Association of Woodturners web site if you are not a member)
has an interesting article on the Straka chuck. It is used for
reverse chucking. I wish this article had appeared a few years back.
Rather than buy a second chuck and jaws to hold bowls up to 8", I
would have made one of these chucks instead and been able to hold
bowls up to 12" (I have a 15" lathe). It is also a cheaper way to
go.

The chuck has a faceplate connected to two plywood disks (glued
together) potentially as big as your lathe can hold. Next, it has a
plywood ring held by bolts to the first disks. Finally there is a bowl
sandwiched in between the disks and the ring if you can picture all
that. The article has pretty good directions on how to make the
chuck.

Fred Holder gives details of the Longworth Chuck at
http://www.fholder.com/Woodturning/chuck.htm. I found it easy to make and
very effective.

Without seeing it, it sounds similar to the one Bill Grumbine has on his web
site.

http://www.enter.net/~ultradad/bowljig.html

Never tried making one, but it appears to be rather simple in construction.

JD

--
He that will make a good use of any part
of his life must allow a large portion of it
to recreation.
- John Locke

"tww" wrote in message
...
This is an FYI for anyone who does not get American Woodturning and is
thinking of getting Coles jaws to hold bowls or looking for perhaps a
better way to finish the bottoms of your bowls so I'm not expecting
any replies.

The Spring 2008 American Woodturner (you can order a copy from the
American Association of Woodturners web site if you are not a member)
has an interesting article on the Straka chuck. It is used for
reverse chucking. I wish this article had appeared a few years back.
Rather than buy a second chuck and jaws to hold bowls up to 8", I
would have made one of these chucks instead and been able to hold
bowls up to 12" (I have a 15" lathe). It is also a cheaper way to
go.

The chuck has a faceplate connected to two plywood disks (glued
together) potentially as big as your lathe can hold. Next, it has a
plywood ring held by bolts to the first disks. Finally there is a bowl
sandwiched in between the disks and the ring if you can picture all
that. The article has pretty good directions on how to make the
chuck.

"JD " james.smithremove wrote in message
...
Without seeing it, it sounds similar to the one Bill Grumbine has on his
web site.

http://www.enter.net/~ultradad/bowljig.html

Never tried making one, but it appears to be rather simple in
construction.

JD

These have been around for decades, if not longer. They are cheap and easy
to make and use, but you'll need several variations to accomodate different
bowl sizes and shapes.

B.

Actually Buddy, what is needed for various bowls is a series of outer rings
to fit the basic ring attached to the faceplate. For instance a ring with 4"
hole to fit bowls with a 3" bottom or 5" hole for those with a 4" bottom and
so on. I like a set of jaws to go on my Oneway chuck.
http://aroundthewoods.com/jaws.shtml

--
God bless and safe turning
Darrell Feltmate
Truro, NS Canada
http://aroundthewoods.com
http://roundopinions.blogspot.com
"Buddy Matlosz" wrote in message
...

"JD " james.smithremove wrote in message
...
Without seeing it, it sounds similar to the one Bill Grumbine has on his
web site.

http://www.enter.net/~ultradad/bowljig.html

Never tried making one, but it appears to be rather simple in
construction.

JD

These have been around for decades, if not longer. They are cheap and easy
to make and use, but you'll need several variations to accomodate
different bowl sizes and shapes.

B.

On Sat, 12 Apr 2008 14:19:33 -0700 (PDT), tww wrote:

This is an FYI for anyone who does not get American Woodturning and is
thinking of getting Coles jaws to hold bowls or looking for perhaps a
better way to finish the bottoms of your bowls so I'm not expecting
any replies.

The Spring 2008 American Woodturner (you can order a copy from the
American Association of Woodturners web site if you are not a member)
has an interesting article on the Straka chuck. It is used for
reverse chucking. I wish this article had appeared a few years back.
Rather than buy a second chuck and jaws to hold bowls up to 8", I
would have made one of these chucks instead and been able to hold
bowls up to 12" (I have a 15" lathe). It is also a cheaper way to
go.

The chuck has a faceplate connected to two plywood disks (glued
together) potentially as big as your lathe can hold. Next, it has a
plywood ring held by bolts to the first disks. Finally there is a bowl
sandwiched in between the disks and the ring if you can picture all
that. The article has pretty good directions on how to make the
chuck.
Rather than buy a 2nd chuck and jaws, it's less expensive to buy a used vacuum
pump and make a vacuum chuck, IMO..

I've tried several variations of the ringed-jam chuck or whatever, and very few
worked well or were easy to use/center the work in..


mac

Please remove [dot]splinters before emailing

tww wrote:

This is an FYI for anyone who does not get American Woodturning and is
thinking of getting Coles jaws to hold bowls or looking for perhaps a
better way to finish the bottoms of your bowls so I'm not expecting
any replies.

The Spring 2008 American Woodturner (you can order a copy from the
American Association of Woodturners web site if you are not a member)
has an interesting article on the Straka chuck. It is used for
reverse chucking. I wish this article had appeared a few years back.
Rather than buy a second chuck and jaws to hold bowls up to 8", I
would have made one of these chucks instead and been able to hold
bowls up to 12" (I have a 15" lathe). It is also a cheaper way to
go.

The chuck has a faceplate connected to two plywood disks (glued
together) potentially as big as your lathe can hold. Next, it has a
plywood ring held by bolts to the first disks. Finally there is a bowl
sandwiched in between the disks and the ring if you can picture all
that. The article has pretty good directions on how to make the
chuck.

Made one a couple of years ago and found the value of a face shield (that
sucker still hurt). Mac is right, a vaccum chuck is a much better idea.

Deb

aren't these problematic with natural edges?

snip---------

These have been around for decades, if not longer. They are cheap and
easy to make and use, but you'll need several variations to accomodate
different bowl sizes and shapes.

B.





** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

On Sat, 12 Apr 2008 22:22:21 -0700, "Bill Noble" wrote:

aren't these problematic with natural edges?

IMO, they're problematic with anything that doesn't have a flat, even top or
isn't the exact size and taper of the jam ring..

BTW: I'm still very happy with the vacuum setup you found for me... thanks
again!


snip---------

These have been around for decades, if not longer. They are cheap and
easy to make and use, but you'll need several variations to accomodate
different bowl sizes and shapes.

B.





** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **


mac

Please remove [dot]splinters before emailing

In article ,
"Ian Malcolm" wrote:

"tww" wrote in message
...
This is an FYI for anyone who does not get American Woodturning and is
thinking of getting Coles jaws to hold bowls or looking for perhaps a
better way to finish the bottoms of your bowls so I'm not expecting
any replies.

The Spring 2008 American Woodturner (you can order a copy from the
American Association of Woodturners web site if you are not a member)
has an interesting article on the Straka chuck. It is used for
reverse chucking. I wish this article had appeared a few years back.
Rather than buy a second chuck and jaws to hold bowls up to 8", I
would have made one of these chucks instead and been able to hold
bowls up to 12" (I have a 15" lathe). It is also a cheaper way to
go.

The chuck has a faceplate connected to two plywood disks (glued
together) potentially as big as your lathe can hold. Next, it has a
plywood ring held by bolts to the first disks. Finally there is a bowl
sandwiched in between the disks and the ring if you can picture all
that. The article has pretty good directions on how to make the
chuck.

Fred Holder gives details of the Longworth Chuck at
http://www.fholder.com/Woodturning/chuck.htm. I found it easy to make and
very effective.

An excellent system (although I like the six point design better). The
only problem with the Longworth style is the same as the Cole, it
doesn't hold it as tightly as a Straka chuck. Although I have yet to
build a Straka, I can see me running my fingers into the bolts/ring at
some point

--
--------------------------------------------------------
Personal e-mail is the n7bsn but at amsat.org
This posting address is a spam-trap and seldom read
RV and Camping FAQ can be found at
http://www.ralphandellen.us/rv

On Apr 12, 1:19 pm, tww wrote:
This is an FYI for anyone who does not get American Woodturning and is
thinking of getting Coles jaws to hold bowls or looking for perhaps a
better way to finish the bottoms of your bowls so I'm not expecting
any replies.

The Spring 2008 American Woodturner (you can order a copy from the
American Association of Woodturners web site if you are not a member)
has an interesting article on the Straka chuck. It is used for
reverse chucking. I wish this article had appeared a few years back.
Rather than buy a second chuck and jaws to hold bowls up to 8", I
would have made one of these chucks instead and been able to hold
bowls up to 12" (I have a 15" lathe). It is also a cheaper way to
go.

The chuck has a faceplate connected to two plywood disks (glued
together) potentially as big as your lathe can hold. Next, it has a
plywood ring held by bolts to the first disks. Finally there is a bowl
sandwiched in between the disks and the ring if you can picture all
that. The article has pretty good directions on how to make the
chuck.

I was bothered by that article, which gave someone credit for
inventing this chuck that has been called a Donut chuck for many
years. A fellow near where I live, Vernon Librant, has been using this
form of chuck to turn the bottoms of his very large bowls for many
years. Vernon uses rings made of unbreakable plastic and for the most
part uses only two bolts to hold the bowl to a flat board of about 8"
width. He cuts a groove in the board to fit the bowl rim then mounts
the bowl and holds it in place with one of his plastic disks with a
hole in the middle for the bowl bottom and two bolts to hold the plate
to the backing board. He turns some very large bowls this way.

I have personally used the process a number of years ago before I got
some chucks that hold bowls well enough to suit me and I don't have to
mess with the bolting on of a donut disk. The vacuum chuck, the
Longworth Chuck, the Rim chuck by Richard Benham are all in my
inventory for holding the bowl to turn the foot. Actually the Rim
Chuck has become one of my favorites for this operation. However, all
of these methods, I'm describing still need the tailstock most of the
time while turning the foot. The Donut chuck does not need the
tailstock to hold the bowl on to the chuck.

Fred Holder
http://www.morewoodturning.net