I have a 5" HTC125 chuck, which came with standard dovetail jaws. When I bought it, I figured I would buy the large dovetail jaws for it, later, when needed. At the time, I wasn't turning anything larger than about 13", and the standard jaws were adequate for that.
Well, now I need them, but I can't find them anywhere. The thewoodturningstore.com site has a listing for them, but you can only put them on a wish list, not in a purchasing cart. I called, they said they don't have them and have no information about future availability. Amazon had a listing, showing "currently unavailable," with no other information. Now that listing is gone completely.
Both sites offer large jaws, but only in "serrated" form, not dovetail. My impression is that dovetail jaws hold better than serrated jaws, of the same size, so I would prefer the dovetail type. But I can't find them.
At the moment, my immediate need for the large jaws is to attach a couple of really large bowl blanks that a friend cored for me, which have large dovetail tenons on them. The blanks are about 18" diameter, 9" tall, with thick walls, and quite heavy. They'll be lighter, of course, after they dry some, but still, they're BIG!
So here are my questions:
1. Does anybody know of a place that is selling a set of large dovetail jaws for the HTC125 chuck?
2. I suppose I could take the large blanks when they are ready to be finish-turned, put them on a really big jam chuck, convert the dovetail to a straight tenon, and then buy and use the large serrated jaws to hold them. Do you think that would work okay? Or, would it be better to use a 6" face plate, since there's quite a bit of extra wood on the bottom, to turn away the screw holes later? Any other suggestions?
Robert