spur center?

[alex carey]

I think my spur center fell into a heap of shavings and I accidentally threw it away. Hasn't been a huge inconvenience but it's not like they cost a ton so I mine as well get another one as they are helpful.

My real question is, am I Better off with the 4 prong drive center or the spring loaded multi teeth center? Pros, Cons, Differences?

And lastly cheapest place to get one.

Appreciate the help.



leaning towards this.

http://www.pennstateind.com/store/LCENT3210.html

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Try PSI. They have a great selection. The 4 prong, I pound in with a mallet into softer wood. The multi teeth work better in hardwood. If you don't turn hardwood, get the regular spurs. The multi teeth just grind out soft wood. Or bark or sap wood. End grain, they do well too.

Just my .02.

Oh I know it's too late now, but how did you manage to throw out the spur? Did you check the trash etc? Check the bottom of your tool storage?

[Mike Lipke]

Lots of turners prefer a 2 prong, as they grip better.
Another option is a OneWay SafeT center. They have no spurs, and work a lot better than you might imagine. They can also save your bacon.

[alex carey]

Kyle-I looked all around the shop and couldn't find it, normally after us it goes right in my tool caddy but I guess it somehow fell. I dump all my shaving in my backyard in order to kill the ivy trying to creep up. I looked around but it would take a month to search it all.

I had never heard of the safety Center from oneway, definitely not for me, I already have trouble from taking too big of cuts.

I've used the 2 prong and like that you can change grain orientation with it, it just never felt as safe to me. Might have been psychological. I dunno, 4 just seems better than 2.

I looked at the oneway and they are like 30$+ as oppose to pis being 18$.

[Jarrod McGehee]

Get a strong magnet and start probing!

[Horst Hohoff]

I usually turn the harder woods and bought a
STEBCENTER ( multi tooth ) when it came out. I never bothered
thinking about using the fourprong ever since.

Horst

[Cyril Griesbach]

The PSI clone of the Stebcenter.

[David Drickhamer]

See if you can find someone with a metal detector. That or get the neighborhood to look for it. $5 and a turning lesson to the one finding it. If you do need to replace it I prefer this one.
http://www.pennstateind.com/store/LCENTSS22.html
Dave

[Thomas Canfield]

Check the PSI on Amazon and free shipping if it still applies. Lower price to start, but may require adding something to get over the $25 min for free shipping. Look at the PSI expanding collet to use on small bowls and saucers. I find that using a Bedan tool give a flat bottom as opposed to the center mark of the forstner bit for the expanding collet.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I use a steb center on hardwood and a 2 prong on soft wood. Especially NE bowls.

[Paul Atkins]

I've said this before - I turn spindles for a living and have not used a spur center in 20 years. The multi spur center is the closest to what I have, but check this thread for the pictures.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=103092 - go to post #24.

[Ryan Baker]

A 4-prong is fine for spindle turning, though a stebcenter (or knockoff) is arguably better for that. For pretty much everything else, a 2-prong center is much better (especially with soft or wet wood). A stebcenter is also sometimes handy there too for harder woods.

[Bernie Vail]

I just took a class from Mike Hosaluk, and he showed and recommended the use of a Oneway cup drive (Safety Center) and the Oneway cup live center for all spindle turning. It is amazing how much drive power you can get out of the cup center, and an added benefit (in addition to safety) is that you can reverse any turning and have it automatically perfectly centered since the cup drive and the cup on the live center are identical

[Mike Lipke]

As I said in an earlier post, it is surprising what that darn thing will do.
It is almost always now the drive center I start with, and unless I move the piece to a chuck, it is the one I end with. 4 prong and two prong don't get used much.