Wood Lathe Chucks - Is One in Your Future?

The 4-jaw wood lathe chuck is one of the innovations in woodturning in the last century. For many of today's turners it has become a necessity. Is it in your future or is it a luxury that can wait?

Wood lathes demand that a turning blank be held in place in order to work on it. Traditionally the blank has been held between centers for spindle turning such as chair rungs and on a faceplate for such items as bowls or platters. In more recent years, especially for faceplate turning, the four jaw chuck has been used by more and more turners to take the place of the faceplate. Beginners are often convinced that a chuck is necessary, however the cost is often more than the price of a first lathe.

It should be remembered that woodturning as art and craft has been performed for more than three thousand years. The woodturning chuck of today's craftsmen is less than one hundred years old. Yet there is little made on the wood lathe today that has not been make is some form in the past. Perhaps a quick look at the common salad bowl, long a mainstay of the woodturner's output, would help to see why the chuck is often used.

Traditionally a rough bowl blank would be attached to the headstock of the lathe with a faceplate and wood screws mounted to the top of the blank. The outside of the bowl would be rough turned and the bottom turned to the same size as the faceplate. Then the faceplate would be screwed to the bottom of the bowl and the blank would be hollowed out leaving a think bowl. This would then be waxed and dried so as to warp and twist as wood does. After drying for a few months, the bowl would be remounted using a couple of the screw holes on the bottom and finish turned. Ultimately there would be screw holes in the bottom of the bowl. These would be filled or covered.

With a 4 jaw chuck, the bowl blank is usually mounted first with a screw fixture in the chuck and the outside turned leaving a tenon on the bottom to fit the jaws of the chuck. The blank is reversed to place the tenon in the chuck and the inside roughed away to leave a thick bowl for waxing and drying as before. After drying the tenon is replaced in the chuck and the bowl is finished in and out. Large jaws are placed on the chuck to grasp the outside of the bowl and turn away the tenon. There are no screw holes on the bottom.

It is easy to see how a 4 jaw wood lathe chuck can make things easier and perhaps quicker for the woodturner. Thus it remains a question of economics and sometimes a connection to the history of the craft as to whether this is the right time for you to purchase and learn to use this versatile tool.

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