Spur center?

[Dustin Cranford]

When mounting an unturned blank to put a tenon on the back do you use a spur center in the headstock, a faceplate or just your dead center. I have seen a few videos (I have yet to get Bills) and I have seen a couple different ways. Want to make sure I do this right before I knock a few teeth out. Just needing to find out what else I need to order here since I am already a few hundred dollars in. I need to find a mentor more than anything. Anyone know any good ones in Oklahoma?

Between all of this stuff and my penturning stuff I bought a little over a year ago my wife is starting to think I am nuts. I told her to wait till I buy a larger lathe and it all starts over again trying to get all the equipment for it. To bad she don't know that if I find a good bandsaw and the price is right I'm getting it to.

[Allen Neighbors]

Most of the time, I just bring the jaws of my chuck up against the blank, tight, and turn a tenon. Depends on the weight of the blank, mostly. I don't want to damage the bearings.
Sometimes I use a spur center in the chuck, but I mount the blank with the tenon side toward the chuck. Then turn the tenon next to the chuck... which makes it unnecessary to measure the tenon. Quick and easy.

[Scott Conners]

I generally turn it between centers using a PSI steb drive and a live center. If you haven't already checked out the AAW website (http://www.woodturner.org/), it has great resources for finding a local turning club, which is one of the best learning resources around, and a good place to find a mentor.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Dustin - I have the Oneway Talon chuck and use the woodworm screw that came with the chuck. Drill a 3/8" hole into the blank, thread it onto the woodworm screw and use the tailstock for support while you shape the tenon and outside of the bowl or hollow form.

[Don Carter]

Dustin:
Great advice here from some experienced turners. I use the Supernova 2 chuck and I use a ring that is screwed to the bowl blank face. The chuck jaws fit into the ring and expand to hold it like a face plate. When I get the tenon or recess cut I just take it off the ring and reverse the tenon into my chuck and remove the ring. I know this is not what you want to hear...more stuff, but that is what I do most of the time.

All the best.

Don

[Bernie Weishapl]

Most time when I am turning bowls to put a tenon on I use a faceplate. A couple of times I have used the screws that came with the chuck but still come back to a faceplate.

[Curt Fuller]

Unless you have a blank that has a flat surface to screw a faceplate to and is uniform in thickness, I prefer to start out between centers. A drive spur in the headstock and live center in the tailstock. I first mark a point as close to center of the blank as possible on both sides, use a punch to make a small hole, and put it on the lathe between the centers. Then I turn it by hand to see how it turns, see if it's straight or wobbling. If it's off a little you can back of the tailstock and move it accordingly until you get it straight. Then I turn on the lathe at the slowest speed and see how well the balance is. If it seem's too far out of balance and making the lathe dance, I can adjust the mounting points again until it feels good to start roughing. Another reason I like to mount blanks between centers is a safety factor. If you get a bad catch and break or pop loose a couple mounting screws on a faceplate, you have a rodeo until you can get the lathe stopped. But between centers about all that happens is the drive strips out the wood. Then you can just apply more pressure from the tailstock and continue turning. But which ever way you prefer to do it, you should support the wood with the tailstock until you get the bottom form turned. And after you get your bottom shaped and a good tenon, when you reverse it and mount it in the chuck, you should still support it with the live center until you have the top trued up and the bowl is turning smooth and balanced. On larger bowls I leave a post in the center for support until I've hollowed most of the bowl out. It's just a lot safer turning when you have support on both ends.

Also, for mentoring check this out
http://www.woodturner.org/community/chapters/LocalChapters.asp

[Ryan Baker]

I usually use the woodworm screw (occasionally something else) in combination with a live center tailstock -- at least for the initial roughing and tenon cutting.

[Jeff Nicol]

If you have a catch that breaks the face plate screws there is more wrong than the face plate! Either the screws are weak or your faceplate is to small, also speed and amount of wood trying to be taken off will cause bad catches. I agree with the woodworm and the chuck for larger bowl and HF blanks. Truly the only time a spur drive should be used is for spindle work where you can use a mallet to set it in the wood or use the band saw to cut an "X" on each end of the blank. The exception is the safty center drive or the steb centers. The saftey drive is spring loaded at the point and has a cup that drives the wood. The steb centers with there many teeth are nice for starting burls and odd shapes. THe main thing is to remove the bark where the drive center will be located.

Just my way and opinion!

Turn safe,
Jeff

[Bob Hallowell]

As you can see there is many ways, Mine differs from all here but it doesn't make wrong as there are more than one way to skin a cat.

I drill a 2 1/8" hole in the top and put my chck jaws in it and bring the tailstock up. Works great for me but sometimes NE's can be tricky.

Bob

[Allen Neighbors]

Dustin, where are you located, in Oklahoma. I live just across the border, at the SW corner of OK, in Childress, Texas.

[Wilbur Pan]

I use the Supernova 2 chuck and I use a ring that is screwed to the bowl blank face. The chuck jaws fit into the ring and expand to hold it like a face plate. When I get the tenon or recess cut I just take it off the ring and reverse the tenon into my chuck and remove the ring.

I do exactly the same thing, except that I have a Vicmarc chuck and faceplate ring, and I use tailstock support when starting off, which is what Don also does, I'm sure. The main advantage that I have seen with this method is that for me, there seems to be less runout error than if I start with a separate faceplate between centers, cut a tenon, and switch to the chuck.

[Jim Becker]

I use a either a two or four spur center on the headstock end, depending on the particular blank. I don't prefer to use a faceplate or other "fixed" position method of holding the blank so that I can make adjustments to what is ultimately the centerline of the turning to best take advantage of the wood. Once you screw or glue something on the blank, you're committed to it's orientation...

[Tom Godley]

I do the same as Jim and Curt (except the last thing Curt does)

This way not only can you play with it but it will allow the blank to spin if you make a mistake and the tool catches.

By doing it this way you can also play with the blank if you see you may want to change the orientation of the grain.


Once it is rounded out I can then prep for a face plate or a chuck at the tail-stock. I do not use the screw because you loose a lot of material designing out the screw from the finished whatever.

But there are many ways to shin a cat -- I think?

[Wilbur Pan]

But there are many ways to shin a cat -- I think?

Strictly speaking, there are only four ways to shin a cat -- one for each leg. ;)

Jim has a good point about being able to reorient the piece with a spur center. I'll have to give that a try.

[Thom Sturgill]

I was taught to do what Curt and Jim described. Another point is that when you reverse the bowl, your tenon may not have a square face. If you are not using a chuck with dovetail jaws, the bowl CAN mount off axis. The hole from the spur center gives a place for the live center to mount to insure that the bowl is turning on the same axis.

[Dustin Cranford]

Thank you all very much. It seems there are many different ways and they best way for me after playing with different ways will have to be the way I am most comfortable with. Nothing like a hunk of wood slinging around and not feeling very comfortable standing by it. So I will just have to play with it and see what happens.

[Jeff Nicol]

Git'er right the first time!! I make sure that is done before I even turn on the lathe. little time in the beginnig save time in the end.

But everything that works is the best way! The end result is what matters!

Jeff

[John Sheets]

Another vote for the Curt-Jim philosophy. It's good to be able to tweak the position of the blank.

[Wyatt Holm]

What I do is quite simple. I use the screw center that came with my Vicmarc chuck. I never use it without the tailstock unless it is a small piece that seats very tight. I have used a faceplate a few times but that is mainly for larger work. When I do natural edge bowls, I use a 4 prong spur center( I would use a 2 prong, but I don't have one).

[tom martin]

I have used all of the methods described above with the exception of the ring (one more thing to buy!). My favorite is the Texas spur center. It's a two prong spur center that mounts right in the chuck. the advantage for me is that I turn the tenon on the tailstock side and then remove the spur and tight the tenon on the chuck. I don't need to knock out the spur or remove and remount the chuck.