Recess chuck safety question

[Lawrence Tarnoff]

I've turned the outside of a 16x8 bowl and am getting ready to hog out the inside. I have a Woodriver chuck with a closed outside diameter of the jaws of 2 inches. Can I use this in recess mode and reasonably expect the blank to stay on the lathe? I've ordered a larger set of jaws but I'd like to get this turned this weekend.

Larry

[Thom Sturgill]

2inch jaws (50mm) are rated by nova for 12x4 expansion or 6x4 compression. You would need powerjaws to come close. I'm sure wood river is In the same ballpark.

[Bob Bergstrom]

Better wear steel toed boots so when you break that small tenon it won't break you toes. 8" deep will put a lot of torque on that tenon. It will never survive.

[Dennis Ford]

A highly skilled turner with lots of patience could possibly do it with that chuck and jaws but would have better options. A face-plate with or without a glue block would be my choice.

[Reed Gray]

My big Vicmark has closed diameter of about 2 5/8 inches. It is fine for heavy turning at 14 inch diameter, at 16 it is pretty iffy. It also has dove tailed jaws, which give a better grip. 2 inches would be risky unless you are not coring, and leave the tail stock engaged for turning out the inside. A 2 inch recess will supply ample drive for spinning the bowl, but that deep, and that wide it is just too minimal. You also will not improve grip strength by cutting a 3 inch wide recess and expanding your 2 inch jaws into that, because you will have less steel surface actually in contact with the wood.

robo hippy

[robert baccus]

Not enough data here. What species are we turning--sidegrain?- green or very dry- any doty or knots. These can sway your decision by a magnitude easily. If everything is in your favor I wouldn't hesitate to turn it. I haven't put on my larger jaws in many years.

[Lawrence Tarnoff]

Not enough data here. What species are we turning--sidegrain?- green or very dry- any doty or knots. These can sway your decision by a magnitude easily. If everything is in your favor I wouldn't hesitate to turn it. I haven't put on my larger jaws in many years.

Thanks, guys. First, this is a recess -- not a tenon. This is a large hunk of just felled willow. Very green, very wet. Grain is running sideways. This is just a practice piece for me.

[Garth Sheane]

A few months ago I just had started roughing out a 14" yellow cedar bowl and popped the tenon off. I then cut about a 3" by 1/2" deep recess for my Oneway chuck and it worked fine.

[Reed Gray]

Your really hard brittle woods, and softer woods, especially pine/cedar types are more prone to breaking off than medium hard woods like cherry. They tend to break rather than flex. I do tend to over size those when turning them, and be much more gentle when cutting and coring.

robo hippy