Universal Chuck from 1979

[Thomas Bennett]

I bought this Universal Chuck in 1979 from Woodcraft when they were located in Woburn, Massachusetts. At the time, Woodcraft was one of the only woodturning resources I knew about. I had never seen any similar chucks on the market. I really enjoyed getting away from the traditional mounting methods of wood to lathe; screws, glue blocks, etc.. I was taught to screw on a blank and carve out the bottom after turning, which was way too much work. I got into woodturning through carving and that is how I found Woodcraft. I spent close to$100.0 for the chuck. In today’s economy, I’m guessing it would be the price of a Vicmarc.
Universal Chuck one-r.jpgUniversal Chuck three-r.jpgUniversal Chuck two-r.jpgUniversal Chuck order form-r.jpgUniversal Chuck directions back-r.jpgUniversal Chuck directions face-r.jpg

[John Keeton]

We certainly have come a long way! Great story!

[Denny Rice]

Thats pretty cool. In 1979 that would have taken all my Christmas bonus from my customers on my paper route! I was only 13 back then, LOL!

[Brian Ashton]

I remember having one of those. I read about it in a Peter Child book and it was quite revolutionary at the time.

[Bruce Markwardt]

I think I have that exact same chuck somewhere in the basement!

[Dale Winburn]

I have the same chuck in the original box with the invoice from Woodcraft, I bought mine in the early 80's. Now I've upgraded to two Vicmarcs.

[Michael Stafford]

Those old scroll chucks were the best thing since sliced bread in their day and they still work. I still enjoy using the lever armed scroll chucks I have in my inventory.

I noticed one interesting thing; the chuck jaws are rounded on the corners to eliminate that deadly edge. The new Easy Chuck incorporates that feature on its jaws. I guess the old adage "what once was old is now new" really applies.

[Wally Wenzel]

I have one of those from the early 80's. I still use the screw chuck, and the 1" pin chuck from time to time, ya they were pretty slick after patching screw holes and scraping glue and hand sanding the bottoms. Wally

[Clint Merrill]

I recently used mine to turn an 8" dia. by 4" hi. curly maple bowl for a customer. Works great, no slippage even when left on the blank for about 6 mos. while seasoning. Hard to replace a good tool such as this.

[Wally Dickerman]

I had one of those chucks. Sometimes called a 6-in one collet chuck. Mine included a 1-inch pin chuck which I used in turning a natural edge bowl. The tenon for a bowl had to be pretty precise in size as there wasn't much adjustment

[Barry McFadden]

When I saw this thread I thought "hey, I think I have one of those somewhere". Went down to the workshop and dug it out. I think it was my first chuck that I ever owned. It's from Robert Sorby Limited. I haven't used it in decades but someday may use the pin chuck part of it to do a small natural edge bowl.

CAM00346.jpg

[Aaron Craven]

Thats pretty cool. In 1979 that would have taken all my Christmas bonus from my customers on my paper route! I was only 13 back then, LOL!

I was born in 79... :-D

[Al Hockenbery]

Brings back memories. Mine is resting in a drawer in the shop.
Got mine from a Russ Zimmerman who was selling them way back then.

[Wally Wenzel]

I also got mine from Russ Zimmerman when I took a 2 day class from him in Vermont, I wonder if he is still there that was in 1985 or 6. Wally

[Thomas Bennett]

Russ Zimmerman is located in Fla now. I just checked out his web site. I seem to remember chatting with him over several phone conversations in '78 or '79 concerning buying a record lathe.