# new to turning , advice for chuck



## dusenbeg (Jan 25, 2013)

Brand new to this forum as well as to wood turning. This past year I had to take down a beautiful old red maple with numerous burls which inspired me to purchase a lathe. I decided on the Jet midi 1220vs. I am now preparing to start to rough out bowls from some of the wood from the maple. I am in need of sound advice as to what direction one would suggest for a beginning chuck. I plan on turning bowls and vases up to 10 inches in diameter. I am also trying to keep the dollar amount reasonable. I have been considering Woodcraft's 4 jaw chuck for $99.00. That's about as far as I have gotten. i would greatly appreciate any perspectives offered.


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## sawdustfactory (Jan 30, 2011)

You're going to get as many different opinions as there are turners. If you search here you'll find this topic has been done several times recently. Me personally, I like the Oneway Talon. Great chuck and I've had no problems in 7 years of turning with them.


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## Waterboy12 (Nov 4, 2012)

You really can't go wrong with a talon or a nova. You can pick up the nova g3 (14" swing capacity) with 4 sets of jaws and the wood worm screw right now for $199 at woodcraft. You can't beat that. I myself own a g3 and will be picking up the supernova2 shortly. Never had a problem with my nova chuck.


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## robert421960 (Dec 9, 2010)

sawdust said it right many opinions :yes:
i own a supernova and love it to 
Welcome to the forum :icon_smile::icon_smile:


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## Lanny0134 (Apr 21, 2012)

I can vouch for the supernova2 as well. I bought it reconditioned and have had it for about a year with no problems.


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

Sawdustfactory predicted you would get many recommendations.

I have the Oneway Talon and this has been a terrific chuck with zero problems.

I was at my friend today. He purchased a NOVA G3 chuck, and as he was showing me a piece he turned, it started to vibrate.

It turned out the chuck was vibrating loose from the adapter. I had not read of such issues before.

We ended up buying a Loctite product to prevent this in the future.

Scary. The adapter had no method to lock to the chuck, other than force when screwing into the chuck.

My OneWay Talon has lock screws which screw through the adapter into the chuck.


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## Art Smith (Oct 16, 2012)

I agree with what others have said with one addition. You can use the face plate that came with your lathe to turn a bowl. Get yourself another face plate and make a Donut chuck that you attach to the second face plate. You can find plans on the interweb. Then you will have a way to remove the bottom of your bowl after removing it from the first face plate. Probably cheaper


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## Dale W. (Feb 22, 2012)

Well I can't vouch for the high dollar chucks but I am sure they are great. Being the typical broke wood turner I can't afford one of the expensive ones. I bought the Economy Chuck from PSI. It has cole, pen, and standard jaws. I think I paid about $90. I have had it a year with no problems.

http://www.pennstateind.com/store/CUG3418CCX.html


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## robert421960 (Dec 9, 2010)

Dale W. said:


> Well I can't vouch for the high dollar chucks but I am sure they are great. Being the typical broke wood turner I can't afford one of the expensive ones. I bought the Economy Chuck from PSI. It has cole, pen, and standard jaws. I think I paid about $90. I have had it a year with no problems.
> 
> http://www.pennstateind.com/store/CUG3418CCX.html


i also have one of these and used it for a year or more and like it too


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## Art Smith (Oct 16, 2012)

I posted these photos on another thread


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## blondewood (May 17, 2009)

Hi Dale,
I got the Harbor Freight midi (10" X 18") for Christmas. Would the pennstate chuck be appropriate for that machine, size wize. It looks like a good deal to me, but I'm a novice and still reading and watching youtube videos. It's on sale for $89 right now and I'd love to catch a sale.

I'd also like to know if the robert sorby turnmaster would be an appropriate sized chisel for this size machine. I will attempt to learn to sharpen tools, but this far I haven't done well with it. What I'm interested in is what size handle for a machine this size and what size tool shaft length? Lastly, to turn pens do you need the mini tools?
Thanks so much.
Vicki


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## Dale W. (Feb 22, 2012)

Vicki, I looked at the specs for your lathe and could not determine if you had an 1 inch or 3/4 inch headstock spindle. However it dosen't really matter as the PSI chuck comes with a 3/4 adapter. Horse power is light as it is only 1/2 hp and the chuck is heavy but all chucks are going to be heavy. I am pretty sure it would work fine.

I can't comment on the sorby tools. I bought the Harbor Junk tools, with the addition of a 1/2 inch Thompson Bowl Gouge. I have turned pens, bottle stoppers, segmented bowls up to 15 inches, and log bowls up to 12 inches with these tools.

As far as tool length goes you can turn small stuff with large tools but not big stuff with small tools.


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## Whaler (Mar 9, 2011)

dusenbeg said:


> Brand new to this forum as well as to wood turning. This past year I had to take down a beautiful old red maple with numerous burls which inspired me to purchase a lathe. I decided on the Jet midi 1220vs. I am now preparing to start to rough out bowls from some of the wood from the maple. I am in need of sound advice as to what direction one would suggest for a beginning chuck. I plan on turning bowls and vases up to 10 inches in diameter. I am also trying to keep the dollar amount reasonable. I have been considering Woodcraft's 4 jaw chuck for $99.00. That's about as far as I have gotten. i would greatly appreciate any perspectives offered.



You have picked a great lathe, I had a Jet 1220 for about 7 years and never had a complaint. I have sold it and stepped up to a larger lathe. I used the Nova Midi chuck the entire time, it is the perfect chuck for that lathe it will hold anything that will fit on that lathe.

http://www.woodcraft.com/product/2080325/28578/nova-precision-midi-chuck-with-two-jaw-sets.aspx


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## DaveTTC (May 25, 2012)

Dave Paine said:


> Sawdustfactory predicted you would get many recommendations.
> 
> I have the Oneway Talon and this has been a terrific chuck with zero problems.
> 
> ...


I have had a similar issue, not nice when your finished work starts to unscrew from the lathe.

Dave The Turning Cowboy


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## NCPaladin (Aug 7, 2010)

I have Nova’s but my first was the Woodcraft. The G3’s are available on the bay or from Amazon for $125 including insert and shipping. The Supernova2 is available from the service center for $100 (about $135 including shipping and insert).

I am not sure what problem Dave’s friend had. The interior section of the chuck is tapped for a set screw but the allen wrench has to be inserted through a hole in the exterior body. The set screw does seat against the threads of the adapter.

I now have quite a few Novas. If the Nova was $100 I would pay no more than $50 for a WC.

BTW, IF you buy a Nova from WC you will probably get an insert WC has made, Not a real Nova insert.


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## soltc (Aug 20, 2009)

I've had the JWL-1220vs for 3 years with the Woodcraft's 4-jaw chuck. I've had no complaints. 
At Christmas, I bought a 2nd Woodcraft chuck so I don't have to stop to change jaws.
By the way, the PSI Economy Chuck jaws will fit the Woodcraft chuck if your machine the screw heads to fit holes.


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## NCPaladin (Aug 7, 2010)

I didn't mean to imply that the WC chuck is bad, just not up to par with the Nova for about the same $$ IMHO.
I started with the WC and used it about a year until I bought a Nova. Continued using it for two more years with the #1 jaws.
The only problem I had with the WC chuck was a jaw slide broke which they replace free and promptly.


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## dusenbeg (Jan 25, 2013)

*Thanks for all the information*

Greatly appreciate all the perspectives. Really glad to have joined the forum. I am sure I will have many other inquiries in the future, and hopefully valued feedback at some point as well. 

I went with the Nova G3. Seemed to be a good balance between value and quality. Available at amazon for $129 plus $16 for the Nova 1 " adapter. Appreciate the fact that has many adaptable Nova chucks for future use and that seems to be a nice match for the power and size of the Jet midi lathe.

Thanks again. Greg


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