Barracuda chuck vs nova, which one?

[Weaselrunner]

Learned a lesson when I bought a WEN chuck from Amazon. 2nd or 3rd time I used it, right after tightening it and started the lathe, it threw the wood right into my face. Thank God for face shields.
So I'm looking for a new chuck and the 2 that seem to keep popping up are the nova and the barracuda chuck. The more I read, the more I'm leaning towards the barracuda.
Any thoughts from experience using either?
thanks in advance...

 

[Hippie3180]

Learned a lesson when I bought a WEN chuck from Amazon. 2nd or 3rd time I used it, right after tightening it and started the lathe, it threw the wood right into my face. Thank God for face shields.
So I'm looking for a new chuck and the 2 that seem to keep popping up are the nova and the barracuda chuck. The more I read, the more I'm leaning towards the barracuda.
Any thoughts from experience using either?
thanks in advance...

I have a Barracuda and it's been a workhorse and taken a couple of lickings and still performs. I dropped it once when I first got it, still working great. Sturdy and with an assortment of jaws.

 

[jrista]

IMO, Nova chucks, while popular, are not the best. My experience is the clog easily, and I have found they often don't fit the thread depth on some lathes.

Look into Record Power, maybe. Not much more expensive, but much better in design, machining, sealing, precision and fit in my experience. I would love to have one of the high end quick release chucks, but at around $500 each I've been holding off.

 

[Edgar]

I have a couple of Barracuda chucks that I bought for my mini 10x18 lathe, and I was happy with them. However, when I moved up to a full size Nova DVR lathe and experienced a Nova chuck, I've never looked back.

I have 4 Nova G3 chucks & 2 Super Nova Chucks, and I'm always on the lookout for a good deal on more. It's fairly easy to change jaws, but I like having chucks with my most-used jaws ready to go when I need them.

IMHO, the Novas are much better quality than the Barracudas. OneWay chucks are considered to be comparable quality to the Novas, but I don't have any experience with them.

 

[KenB259]

I have two Nova G3 chucks. I've had no problems whatsoever.

 

[egnald]

I'm in the Nova G3 camp. So far I have 3 of them along with Pin Jaws, 35mm Spigot Jaws, 50mm Jaws, and their Pens Plus Jaws. I got started down the Nova path with my first Nova G3 back in 2017 because it was the brand that was on the shelf in my local WoodCraft retail store. Then, a couple of years ago, I bought a second and then a third because I almost always had the Pens Plus Jaws installed and I got too lazy to change them in and out when I needed something else. Swapping chucks rather than jaws sounds like an expensive indulgence, but it has worked well for me.

The last G3 I received had some obvious differences from the first one. First of all, the jaw slides were no longer numbered to match up with the numbered jaws. I am pretty sure that it is because of a newer fabrication method that eliminated the need. Jaws used to be made as more of a single unit then was sliced into 4 pieces. Numbering the pieces permitted the best fit by allowing them to be kept in the same order as they were when they were being fabricated as a whole.

The other obvious change was that the T-Bar handles looks and feels a lot cheaper than the handle that came with my first (older) chuck. It looks like it is nickel plated and feels kind of clunky-like because of a loose fitting, sliding, T-Bar. My older one didn't have a sliding T-bar and just feels a lot more solid.

I use the adapter version so if I should get a different lathe in the future that has something other than 8tpi-1 threads all I will need to buy are new adapters.

All in all, I remain very satisfied with the Nova G3's. That being said, I don't really have anything else to compare them to as Nova is all I have ever used.

Regards,
Dave

PS If you do go down the Nova path, except for the first one, I bought the rest from Woodworker Specialties in BC, Canada. They cost me about $130 excluding the jaws.

 

[Gregf]

After last night's presention on the Zoom call, I would add the Easy Chuck from Easy Wood Tools for consideration.

 

[jttheclockman]

I have about 4 Barracuda chucks and one Nova and all work well.

 

[wouldentu2?]

I have the Barracuda 2 from Penn State works well and comes with multiple jaws.

 

[dogcatcher]

I have both Novas and Barracudas. The Novas are better but the Barracudas are the best bang for the buck. I like them equally but for different reasons.

 

[Muddydogs]

Why did the WEN chuck let loose of the wood? There are a number of reasons a chuck will not hold a project and most of them are operator error. Biggest one is forgetting to tighten the jaws or tightening them by only using one key hole instead of both or all 3 of the chuck has three. Was your tenon or recess made right?

I do have a Nova G3 with 5 jaw sets. The Nova has treated me good even while making some dumb learning mistakes along the way.

 

[Weaselrunner]

Why did the WEN chuck let loose of the wood? There are a number of reasons a chuck will not hold a project and most of them are operator error. Biggest one is forgetting to tighten the jaws or tightening them by only using one key hole instead of both or all 3 of the chuck has three. Was your tenon or recess made right?

I do have a Nova G3 with 5 jaw sets. The Nova has treated me good even while making some dumb learning mistakes along the way.

I had cut a tendon on a piece of cedar. Chucked it tightly using the 2 bars. Started the lathe and had just started working on it for about a minute when it flew out of the chuck smacking me in the face shield. On looking at the cedar tendon it had good indentations where I had had the jaws tight. This stuff is about 3 years old and hard. I returned it to Amazon and started digging deeper into the reviews and it seems a number of people had the same thing happen with the jaws loosening up and sending things flying. This was the 3rd time using it.

 

[Muddydogs]

Well it would be hard to trust the chuck after that. I was actually looking at the WEN chuck myself but went with the Nova.

Went on a Javelina hunt just North of Phoenix and one afternoon I just had to drive into town and find Rockler and the Woodworkers Source, came away with a 3 jaw Nova G3 set and a few sticks of wood.

 

[Woodchipper]

I have a Supernova 2 chuck, no problems with it. Bought it about 10 years ago from Woodcraft.

 

[TellicoTurning]

I used 4 Barracuda chucks with the tommy bars that I use regularly... each has a different set of jaws... got lazy about having to change jaws for different projects, plus I caught the Barracuda bodies on sale.... I already had the jaws from my original chuck.... I also have a 5th chuck from Grizzly that was a lot cheaper than the Barracudas, but doesn't fit the Barracuda jaws.

I would like to have a single key chuck, but having the ones i have, I don't think it's profitable to spend more money for another chuck.

Over the last 15-20 years I've been turning the Barracudas have served me very well.

 

[sorcerertd]

I started out with a Nova G3 set that was on sale at my local Klingspoors. I had that G3 mounted on a WEN lathe for a while before upgrading the lathe. It's served me well enough that I just bought another one. I have no experience with other brands, so I can't offer comparison, only saying that the Nova has worked well for me.

I did buy the WEN cole jaws because the mounting holes line up with the Nova. I drilled the countersink holes a few hairs deeper so the screws would seat better, but they have worked well for $20 vs. $75 for the Nova set.

 

[monophoto]

I've used the Barracuda 'utility' chuck (the one with tommy bars) for years and have been very pleased with it. It cam with both 2" and pin jaws, and also cole jaws. I later bought 3" jaws and the deep jaw set. In the last year or so, I have found that I rarely use the standard 2" and 3" jaws - the additional working space afforded by the deep jaws is really welcome.

Jaws can work loose on any chuck. It's important to periodically check that the jaws are tight, especially when roughing because that process causes lots of vibration, and vibration is what causes the jaws to loosen.

The other thing to be aware of with any chuck is threading. The chuck screws onto the spindle of the lathe, and the direction of rotation causes that connection to tighten. So you never should force the chuck onto the spindle threads - finger tight is good enough. But be aware that the chuck is fairly heavy and if you are spinning the lathe at high speed, there's a lot of intertia at play - so if you stop the lathe from high speed, it is possible for the chuck to unscrew from the spindle. DAMHIKT. Causes my wife to freak out as the loose chuck bounces around the shop. There is an argument here for wearing steel toe shoes.

Some people don't like tommy bar chucks, and they can be a bit fiddly to use. But if that's all you have ever used, you really don't know any better. But in reality, they work just as well as chucks with ratchet mechanisms.

 

[Chaz]

Nova. 'Nuff said.

 

[donstephan]

Yes, Vicmarc is more expensive but the hold is phenomenal. Over time I became comfortabe with shorter tenons, leaving a bit more wood for the bowl and less to remove before finishing.

 

[Mike]

I have the Nova G3 as well. No experience with others. No issues with it so far.

Mike

 

[dogcatcher]

I have Nova, Vicmarc and Barracuda. Best bang for the e buck is the Barracuda. Best overall is the Vicmarc.