I'm not sure I understand your question? Do you think it's the way to go?
I own one and use it. My woodchuck is a great tool but it's just one of my many great tools. The material I'm using and what I'm trying to accomplish dictates the tool used.
That being said... as much as I like the Woodchuck, to me there's nothing quite like turning with a razor sharp skew or a gouge.
^^^this. The art of what we do requires lots of time, practice and patience. Using a Woodchuck (to me) seems like something for guys that have put in the time to gain the experience on the traditional tools. Watching videos of turners (noobs and vets alike) and seeing the tools being used WAY wrong just makes me shake my head. When someone uses a 45* skew like you would use a scraper the ENTIRE time they use that tool, that tells me they have no clue what they are doing. They make a scraper tool for that specific purpose.
Folks will argue that the Woodchuck will create a smoother finish with little to no sanding. My reaction is, "So will my skew.....more so in most cases". In fact, I'd be willing to put my skew finish up against ANY Woodchuck finish out there. Search the SOYP forum for my posts. I pride myself on my finishes. Most of them are skew finish, every other MM, 20/20 lotion....done!
You do what works best for you. But my personal suggestion is to learn the correct way to use the traditional tools,
learn to sharpen them, and when you have become good at those you will understand better what makes the Woodchuck work like it does.
That being said, I still believe "to each his own". I believe the saying goes; "There are 100 ways to do this, 99 of them work.....I use the other one".:biggrin: