Apprentice Crown Drive

[Rich Aldrich]

I was looking into a Sorby steb center when I ran across the apprentice crown drive at Craft Supplies. Has anyone tried the apprentice crown drive?

I can be the guinea pig if no one has tried it.

[David C. Roseman]

Rich, from the pic and description, this looks like what PSI offers in 5/8" and 1" for the same price. http://www.pennstateind.com/store/headstock-drive-centers.html
I've had both for a couple of years, and they work very well. The spear point is spring loaded. The Sorby steb drive is available in a smaller diameter, 1/2", which is a bit better for some things (e.g., turning small eggs), but costs significantly more, as you probably know.

David

[Dale Gillaspy]

I've had one for several years. It is my "go to" drive and I love it.

[Rich Aldrich]

Sounds good. I can get both sizes for $20 each. One of the Sorbys would be about $70.

[Doug W Swanson]

I've had one for a few years and use it all the time. No regret here!

[Pat Scott]

I have the 1" Penn State version. It's nice, worth the $20, but it does slip unless you give it good tail stock pressure.

The difference between them is the Penn State and Apprentice have the teeth angled, whereas the Sorby teeth are straight. You'd think the angled teeth would dig in and give a good grip, but in actuality the Sorby does a better job. The angle of grind might be different on the Sorby also (I think that's what I remember being told by Kirk DeHeer), which also gives it a better bite.

I want to buy a 1/2" size, but I'll spend the money and get Sorby for it.

[David C. Roseman]

There's something to be said for some slipping, IMO. :) I like that the pressure can be adjusted so they can serve as safety drives when needed. The spring tension on the point keeps things centered.

David

[Rich Aldrich]

David - I agree the whole purpose to buy this type of center is so that you do have slippage when using a skew - especially learning how to use a skew.

Pat - I assume both slip - actually Alan Lacer shows in the first Skew video that he takes the Oneway center and files a few notches in the outer ring of the drive. Does the Sorby slip at all?

[Thomas Canfield]

I have both the 5/8" and 1" from PSI and find both useful and worth the price. I also recommend the 2 prong center from PSI for the price to use for mounting bowl blanks to allow for shifting the bottom easier than with a 4 prong.

[Dick Mahany]

I use one of the original Steb centers made before Sorby bought the mfg rights and use it regularly, but with the the less expensive alternatives available now, I wouldn't hesitate to buy the CSUSA or PSI version if I were going to do it again.

[robert baccus]

Like Thomas pointed out--if you are using rough or angled wood a 2 wing will work much better.

[Pat Scott]

David - I agree the whole purpose to buy this type of center is so that you do have slippage when using a skew - especially learning how to use a skew.

Pat - I assume both slip - actually Alan Lacer shows in the first Skew video that he takes the Oneway center and files a few notches in the outer ring of the drive. Does the Sorby slip at all?

I don't own a Sorby, having only used them in classes. With the Sorby you can control the slippage by how much tail pressure is used. The problem I have with the Penn State is even with good tail pressure it still slips. When that happens it chews up the wood pretty good. Then you have to really give it a lot of pressure just to get it to drive again, and take much lighter cuts. Maybe the prongs aren't as long as the Sorbys? I'm not sure. I'm just tired of it slipping so much so will get the Sorby next time.