shop made chuck question

[Brian Greb]

I have a book on turning Chinese balls(balls captured inside other balls), and hollow balls. In this book they show how to make the necessary chucks... but i have a problem. He recommends English elm for the compression chuck, the stated reason is it resists cracking. I need a good substitute for elm due to it is not readily available locally. any suggestions an what would be a good substitute.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Brian - I am not the expert when it comes to wood, so I won't be able to answer your question, but it may help others if they knew where you were located.

[Brian Greb]

sorry I'm located in Tomball TX that's north of Houston

[Steve Vaughan]

I'm not sure what kind of chuck you even need for that sort of thing, but when you mention something that resists cracking, I wondered if you could create your chuck out of plywood, built up to a correct thickness if you need that?

[Ted Calver]

How about Mesquite?

[Joe Herrmann]

Check with Fred Holder at www.morewoodturning.com. He makes a lot of Chinese balls and I'm sure he could help with wood selection.

Joe

[Brian Greb]

here is a scan of the jig

[David E Keller]

I would think any dry hardwood would be acceptable... Maple, walnut, Osage, lyptus, mahoghany, etc.

[Ryan Baker]

That's just a special version of a donut chuck. Pretty much anything would work for that ... hardwoods, softwoods, plywood ... about anything but MDF. In your area, mesquite should be a good option.

[Tom Giacomo]

I made mind out of hard maple and it worked just fine. Had it for about three years now and no problem.

[Bill O'Conner]

In the book I got from Fred he said that you could use plywood for the chuck and that if you didn't get it just right could also use car body filler to make it a sphere


Bill

[Tony Wheeler]

how much elm do you want and what size

[Bernie Weishapl]

I believe Fred Holder is at www.morewoodturning.net. As was said I think he uses plywood.