Rechucking to finish bottom of a bowl

[Jamie Copeland]

Hi all

I'm fairly new to woodturning and I'm looking for methods of securing a finished bowl to the lathe to complete the bottom if you've created a spigot.

The chuck I use is the sorby patriot. Any suggestions would be great!

Thanks

Jamie

 

[woodpig]

Do a search for Longworth chuck.

http://www.woodworkersguide.com/2010/10 ... rth-chuck/

Lots of info and a YouTube video on making and using one. Or buy some button jaws for your chuck?

 

[Paul Hannaby]

Most people that use longworth chucks find that they don't hold well enough without tailstock support. There are easier and cheaper alternatives..

I use a block of wood mounted in the chuck with a curve on the front face to match the inside of the bowl. Put some router mat and kitchen roll between the wooden "mandrel" and the inside of the bowl to protect the finish and use the tailstock to provide pressure to hold the bowl in place. Use enough pressure to achieve enough drive to turn/reshape the foot and you will be left with just a small stub in the centre. I usually sand those away with some 80 grit but you can carve / cut it away by other means if you prefer.

One tip - use white router mat. I have seen other colours get transferred to the wood!

 

[Woodmonkey]

Button jaws, also known as Cole jaws are probably easiest, although it can be a faff changing jaws over (eventually you will end up with another chuck which the cole jaws can just stay on). But it can be done cheaply using jam chucks instead, loads of stuff on YouTube etc

 

[Dalboy]

Most people that use longworth chucks find that they don't hold well enough without tailstock support. There are easier and cheaper alternatives..

I use a block of wood mounted in the chuck with a curve on the front face to match the inside of the bowl. Put some router mat and kitchen roll between the wooden "mandrel" and the inside of the bowl to protect the finish and use the tailstock to provide pressure to hold the bowl in place. Use enough pressure to achieve enough drive to turn/reshape the foot and you will be left with just a small stub in the centre. I usually sand those away with some 80 grit but you can carve / cut it away by other means if you prefer.

One tip - use white router mat. I have seen other colours get transferred to the wood!

This is how I do it if I don't want to change over to my coles jaws and also natural edge bowls

 

[woodpig]

An alternative is not to hold the bowl by turning a spigot but to hold it by a dovetail recess which can be left as part of the base.

 

[finneyb]

This may help http://www.ptwoodturners.org/Tips%20and ... 0Bowls.pdf

Brian

 

[CHJ]

Here's an old post of mine showing what Paul refers to about trapping the bowl against a wood former.
One tip, when you make your initial spigot or socket to mount the blank, make a central indent to help align the tailstock support when it's turned around.

 

[Paul Hannaby]

An alternative is not to hold the bowl by turning a spigot but to hold it by a dovetail recess which can be left as part of the base.

This is an option for utility bowls etc. but leaving the chuck recess is generally frowned upon for what you might consider gallery pieces. I don't think there is a right or wrong here as it's never black or white. You have to make your own mind up on what you consider acceptable and where your intended audience is.

 

[CHJ]

I find the tidying up of the base plays a significant part in the reception of even my run of the mill efforts, folks who come back for more as gifts or local mementoes nearly always pass comment about the fact that "even the bases are finished" not like those they are charging a fortune for in a local/woodland gift shop.

I just don't understand why a 'professional turner' by that I mean someone making a prime income from turning tells me he hasn't got time to worry about a chucking socket 'just put a few patterns in it and forget it, the punters don't know the difference' expects to maintain his sales.

Get yourself organised, whatever method you find easiest, especially with batch production and it's a matter of just a couple of minutes to clean a base up, especially if you pre-prepare/finish the centre of the base of a socket before you hold it in the chuck.

 

[CHJ]

Even small spigots can be camouflaged very easily by reversing the taper and providing a little central depression to aid the base stability, forming a simple foot without being obviously a holding point.

 

[woodpig]

I may be wrong on this but I think it's mainly other turners that frown on obvious chucking methods like internal dovetails. They are after all quite practical and not unattractive. Spigots on the other hand look hideous to me even when reworked to disguise them a little.

 

[gregmcateer]

Take cover, onlookers - this could go the way of a sharpening thread!!

 

[beganasatree]

Who has the right to say what is right or what is wrong,surely it is up to the individual what they do with the bottom of the bowl??

 

[CHJ]

Who has the right to say what is right or what is wrong,....

If you are trying to market the product the Customer, the acceptable standard depends upon the personal standards or perceptions of the customer.

 

[BearTricks]

I posted the same topic a few weeks ago. The best advice I received is to use the tailstock and a piece of domed scrap, then to carve or sand the remaining spigot away. I've been using my spoon knife.

I'm not sure whether to agree with the idea that the customer doesn't know enough to realise that a recess or spigot is forced upon us rather than always being a design choice. I find both of them ugly probably because I have no choice but to keep one or the other in lieu of wasting (what I think to be) a significant amount of wood and possibly cutting 5mm or more off the height of my bowl. But then again, I have a set of ceramic bowls in my cupboard with feet on them like CHJ's above and I think they're quite nice. I don't know anything about pottery.

 

[CHJ]

I find both of them ugly probably because I have no choice but to keep one or the other in lieu of wasting (what I think to be) a significant amount of wood and possibly cutting 5mm or more off the height of my bowl. ...

Try and get yourself organised with a hot melt glue gun and some cheaper waste/sacrificial wood and mount your blank on that.


Here's a piece that was originally mounted on scrap wood, this is only a small piece but you can do the same with quite big bowls, 100mm square block will hold a 250mm blank as long as Hot Melt is very fluid when applied.

See this Thread

 

[pennardesign]

Hi all

I'm fairly new to woodturning and I'm looking for methods of securing a finished bowl to the lathe to complete the bottom if you've created a spigot.

The chuck I use is the sorby patriot. Any suggestions would be great!

Thanks

Jamie

I use a 'Longworth Chuck' I made out of Nylon Sheet, easy to make with a router.

 

[woodpig]

My old Longworth chucks a bit tatty now so I need a new one, what thickness Nylon sheet did you use?

 

[Aden30mm]

How do your re-chuck a deep natural edge bowl for bottom clean up? Any direction would be most welcome.

Rgs

Aden