Help with buying a chuck

[John K Jordan]

The question I have is why would anyone own so many chucks outside of a production shop with many lathes and turners?

Good question. I have several reasons.

1. I have way too much money to get rid of. (Just kidding, scratch that and start over!) Some people buy lottery tickets and lots of beer - I buy chucks. Actually, some of my chucks I bought used for cheap or for trade. For most of the others I just kept my eyes open for a good deal. One was given to me by a friend.

- I hate to change jaws. No, I REALLY hate to change jaws. I'd rather have a chuck dedicated to a particular set of jaws.

- I like to have several chucks mounted with duplicates of the jaws I use the most - for example pin jaws, 35mm jaws, 45mm jaws, and 50mm jaws. I think I have four or five chucks with 50mm jaws mounted.

- I often have several projects in progress and leave a project in a chuck while I work on something else. If a piece is removed from a chuck, it is often difficult to register it precisely when remounting due to the nature of wood. Extra chucks? - just leave it mounted. I've had one project on my shelf for a year now - still in the chuck. I'll get back to finishing it any day now...

- Some operations can benefit from multiple chucks. For example, keep the base of a bowl in the chuck while turning a jam chuck from a block of wood held by a second chuck, then mount the first chuck on a tailstock adapter while jamming (and taping) for perfect registration the first try.

- When doing demos, I sometimes have several pieces in various stages of completion, each in a chuck. This lets me switch to another stage without boring everyone with all the finish cuts on the first one. Also, I sometimes have a piece turned entirely with the finish cuts and leave it in the chuck so I can demonstrate smoothing with negative rake scrapers and by hand. Leaving it mounted avoids any registration problems from remounting and the need to make additional finish cuts before the smoothing.

- I sometimes use multiple chucks for different parts of the same project. For a recent project I left a test piece mounted in one chuck that I returned to a couple of times to try some ideas. The project was mounted in another chuck to turn and drill a center hole. I used a third chuck (with different jaws) to hold a piece of wood to turn a mandrel to jam hold the finished piece to clean up the bottom.

- I have a special set of pin jaws on one chuck that I turned down to a precise size for a special application. If I remove and remount those jaws lather, especially on a different chuck, I may lose some of the precision so I keep them in the same chuck. (Did you know you can easily turn steel chuck jaws with woodturning tools?)

- I have two lathes set up in the shop at all times. Sometimes I'll have a project in progress on one lathe and take a break and work on a different project at the other lathe and just leave the first setup as is. For example, when set up with a sphere jig or threading jig I don't want to tear down the setup. An extra chuck makes this easier to do something on the second lathe.

- I am slowly buying new Supernova2 chucks as I find them on sale to replace some older Supernova chucks (the ones with the horrible chuck keys). I may end up selling or giving away some of the older chucks.

- I have four chucks loaned out at the moment to students and friends. I probably wouldn't do this if I didn't have extra chucks on hand!

- One chuck is a Nova Titan with large jaws. I don't often do big work but when I do it is nice to have this chuck on hand.

- I sometimes have a student or two. It is useful to leave a project in a chuck when a student can't return to finish until a few days or a week later. Once I had two students and hauled in a third lathe to demonstrate. Extra chucks make all this easier.

The turning alcove of my shop with a couple of students.
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JKJ

[Paul Heely]

The question I have is why would anyone own so many chucks outside of a production shop with many lathes and turners?

I have a couple of reasons why I have multiple chucks. I'm not quite as bad as some, but I'm working on it. I have 7 VM120s, with all the different size dovetail jaws and 3 VM100s with shark jaws. For me there are two main reasons for multiple chucks. First, I am very fortunate and tend to have more money than time when it comes to my hobbies, so when I find I "need" a new pair of jaws for a project I'm planning, I tend to just buy another chuck with those jaws. Second, I HATE changing jaws. I understand it's not hard, but it's one of those little annoyances for me and I try and eliminate as much annoyance as possible from my hobbies. I leave the annoying stuff for work.

That all said, I did not start out buying 10 different chucks, just in case. Over the course of years I've added to my collection as I saw a need. Don't feel rushed to buy lots of different chucks. Start with a basic chuck and set of jaws, I think the Easy Chuck is a solid choice, and then add to the collection as your needs dictate.

[Joe Bradshaw]

I'm in the multiple chuck camp. I have four chucks for each of my lathes(40. My chucks are Oneway. I like two with the number two jaws, one with the spigot jaws and one with number three jaws. As JKJ said, I like to keep a piece on the chuck as long as possible.
Joe

[Bernie Kopfer]

I have a couple of Nova super2 chucks and they work great and go on sale occasionally. Once you start using chucks the convenience will overcome your desire to do it the old fashioned ways.

[Robert Henrickson]

Although I haven't checked the price of the Easy Chuck for a long time, you used to be able essentially to buy two Nova chucks for the price of one Easy Chuck. You certainly can get a Nova and a couple jaw sets for the same price as the Easy Chuck alone. It doesn't take much time to change jaws. I have to admit I'm one of the multiple chuck people, although only one chuck has a set of 50 mm jaws mounted. I have a number of Nova 50 mm jaw sets put away, most never used --they came with the chucks.

[John K Jordan]

...I have a number of Nova 50 mm jaw sets put away, most never used --they came with the chucks.

Yes, I have a box of those too! It's the one size jaws you can't even give away, unless someone has damaged theirs. I wish Nova would sell the chuck body with no jaws at a discount.

[Mike Peace]

A lot of good advice here. I am in the multiple chuck camp. If you want a visual overview of the same content you might want to watch this video I did recently

[William C Rogers]

Ok it's time for someone not in the multiple chuck camp. I went down that route and at one time had 4 Nova 2s, one Nova G3, two Record Power, Hurricane 125, Barracuda 2 (first chuck 15 years ago). I had bought the Axminister eccentric adapter, but it never really fit the Nova or Record chucks. I ended up buying the Axminister SK100 chuck with their “C” jaws (~70mm) mainly for that purpose. I liked the Axminister so much I bought the SK114 and a set of O’Donnell jaws. Now I had 11 chucks! I ended up selling all the Nova and Record chucks because I really didn’t need them or the jaws on them. I bought a set of 4” bowl jaws for the Axminister SK114. I kept the Hurricane because I felt it is better than the others. If I need another set of jaws, with the Axminister chucks you just crank out one set and crank in the other, no screws to mess with. The Axminister are direct thread and the Hurricane is a taper insert that is better than a threaded insert IMO. I have found the O’Donnell jaws takes the place of many other jaws, so I don’t need a collection of chucks. I can use any set of jaws on either Axminister chuck, but keep the C jaws SK 100 and switch the 4” jaws and O’donnell jaws on the SK 114. The Hurricane is for when I need that second bowl chuck and I have a worm screw for that chuck. The Barracuda 2 lives on the mini lathe.

[Eric Arnsdorff]

Thanks again!! I haven't had time to make my purchase recently but thought I had decided on one.

Mike Peace that's a very helpful video!

Based on most responses indicating having multiple chucks I was thinking of going with the Record chuck from my local Woodcraft over the Easy Chuck. I don't know if I will need multiple chucks but at half the cost of the Easy Chuck it makes it more feasible to buy another.

William Rogers you brought a new perspective. The Axminster looks like a great chuck and the O'Donnell jaws look like a good option. The Easy Chuck comes back to mind for a single chuck though with quick change jaws.

I think my problem now is too many good options. That's not the worst thing.

[William C Rogers]

Eric, Here is information in regards to Axminister chucks. I have two, a SK100 and a SK114. The SK114 is the larger of the two. Mostly all the jaws are interchangeable between the two chucks. However when purchased the SK114 comes with jaw slides are longer than the SK100 jaw slides. Those slides are specific to the SK114. However the SK100 jaw slides also can be used in the SK114 chuck. You need to buy a set of jaw slides for each jaw set and that is extra cost. I only buy the jaw slides that fit both chucks. You initially mount the jaws on the slides and they stay mounted. When you want to change jaws you crank out the jaws to remove and then crank in the new set. I can do this in about 20 seconds. The SK100 chuck uses a drill chuck type key that is a bit odd, but I haven’t had any problem with it. The SK114 uses a square key that I prefer. Both chucks have three tightening points instead of two and 3 set screws for reverse turning (I never use). The SK100 has available a spanner wrench for removal, but the SK114 doesn’t have a removal feature other than the key. I had an old spanner wrench that fit that I use. Both chucks are direct thread that I prefer because of less tolerance stack up. Both have a stainless steel body, but other components are not stainless steel. I bought the O’Donnell jaws that have the inserts for various sizes. It takes a total of 4 screws to install the inserts. These jaws are the best I have found for holding square wood blanks. One thing I noticed right away is the dovetail is not very deep less than 1/4”, but I haven’t had any holding problems. I would recommend the SK114 chuck mainly because it is a little bigger and the square key. I hope this gives you enough information for comparison to the chucks you are considering.
I started buying an Arsenal of chucks, buying the Nova and Record chucks because the jaws were interchangeable. Most were mainly a luxury with special jaws. It became a storage problem in addition to the $$ just sitting. The three chucks I mainly use are all I need and could get by with two.

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[Eric Arnsdorff]

Thanks William! I debated between the Axminster and the Easy Chuck. That Axminster chuck looks very well made and easy to change the jaws.
I have ordered an Easy Chuck so we'll see how this goes. It isn't cheap but the zoom ring and clip look good to me.

This is my first chuck and I don't presently see me having multiple chucks. That may change in the future but I'm hoping the features of the Easy Chuck will suit my needs.

Thanks to everyone for the advice!

[Brian Deakin]

I do not know if this product is available in the USA

Axminster tools have produced a new package

Please see link below
https://www.axminstertools.com/insta...k114%20package

Please note it may be of interest the one of the internal profiles of the C jaws is not a dovetail
https://www.axminstertools.com/type-...il-jaws-502734

Please view detailed image on page