Chucks

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RustySplinters

RustySplinters

Member
Joined
May 8, 2011
Messages
264
Location
Oklahoma City
I've recently come across a bit of extra money that I won't be putting towards presents and instead will be gifting myself :wink:.

I have no chucks at all and have a drill press, mitre saw, mini lathe, grinder, and band saw.

I want to make bowls, bottle stoppers, and pepper grinders. What kind of chucks do you guys use/i need to make these?

Also, what accessories/tools in your shop do you swear by? It's time for a couple upgrades.

Thanks!
Michael Russell
 
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There's lots of good ones out there and other's with a wider experience will certainly chime in with their thoughts. I started myself out with a lower-end, lever operated Baracuda to start my experience with chucks. I wanted to try a usable one (and it's just as usable as the bigger key operated ones), but didn't want to invest a lot starting out. I also figure I'll have more as time goes on, set up for different puposes, so the next one can be a "bigger badder" one with the bells and whistles.

At this point it's going to depend on what you want to do. If you don't know for sure you'll be like using one and turning the bigger projects, then there's something said for starting out with a lower-end good name model, and using the rest of your windfall to add some other tooling you may also need. That's my 2 cents worth (well maybe 5 cents).
 
I own several chucks. My favorite is a Nova Midi chuck. I perfer it over my other Nova's. I DON"T NEED a "key" to operate this chuck. If fact, a key is a hinderance to me. My lathes have index locks and a "knock out" tool that fits the hole in the chuck. This makes chuck tightening a "one handed" operation.

I perfer NOVA, simply because all jaws fit all of their chucks (not so with many other makers).

I am saddened, because usually this time of year, one of the "big box" wood stores puts the Nova midi with 4 sets of jaws on sale for $99. With 4 chucks each having a different set of jaws attached, changing "jaws" (changing chucks, actually) is as simple as making 8 counterclockwise turns (this takes seconds, changing jaws takes several minutes).

So far, this Holiday season, I haven't seen my $99 deal:( . One more chuck and I can work on 4 projects WITHOUT EVER unchucking!

Respectfully submitted.
 
My vote would be an Oneway Talon or Stronghold depending on the size of your lathe. Myself I have a Talon and love it. It's held on to everything I have put in it. Just my thoughts
 
The Nova G3 was on sale at Woodcraft last month with FOUR sets of jaws for $179.99. Our store still (Birmingham) has a few left over and they're still at that price; this is the best deal I know of out there and I love mine.
 
I have a Nova and a Talon and they both work great.I recently, 2 months ago, bought the Nova with 4 sets of jaws for about $100 at Woodcraft. I like the Nova Midi because it's jaws are smaller then the Talon and work well for small items.
 
I like the Barracuda PSI chucks and they have a set of lathe jaws used to drill pen blanks on the lathe. These only have a 1" x 8TPI head stock thread so are only useful on lathes with a matching thread. PSI has adapters for these, but the adapter makes the chuck stick out further from the head stock.

Hope this helps.
 
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