Woodturning Online

I am trying to figure out bowl turning more. I get the idea of turning a tenon that you can chuck to hallow out your bowl. When I try chucking the bowl I end up with dents in the tenon that I have turned that I want to use as a foot rest. How can I avoid denting the wood? Thanks for any help.

More metal on the wood. Match your dry tenon size carefully to your jaws. Less force at any given point. No serrations, of course.

Use your tailstock until the very last, when your piece is at its lightest and most circular. Leave a pillar in the piece to accomplish this. Mine's an artifact of the pin chuck, you can use a woodworm or even a spur drive to start and leave a good center. Sanding doesn't stress much. http://s35.photobucket.com/albums/d160/ ... Inside.flv

Consider a mortise, that way the outside of your "foot" isn't involved at all.

Thank you for the reply.

I can't disagree with Michael but would point out the design restrictions imposed by always making mortices or tennons to suit your chuck jaws. All your pieces of work would then have the same size base or foot, no matter its size, shape or proportion.
If you bite the bullet and explore the world of reverse chucking you will be able to modify or even do away with the base your chuck called for and the whole of your project would then be governed by good proportion rather than chuckjaw availablity.
Hope that's of some help
All the best
Brian

Only if you lack imagination. http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d160/ ... G_2236.jpg

Second from center is the hold.

Same jaws.

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d160/ ... ark-up.jpg

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d160/ ... rofile.jpg

et cetera

Then there's the question I pose to all of these "fancy bottom" types. What does the bottom of a salad bowl look like? Mess of spilled lettuce.

You might even buy another size or two of jaws....

Dents in the tenon from your chuck can be removed on most woods by applying warm or hot water to the foot. You don't need to immerse it, just dab water on it and let it dry. If they are really deep, you may need to repeat the process. This won't work if there is a finish on the wood.

The process also works anywhere on the turning where you may have a dent, as in oops! I dropped it, or the cat knocked it over. I have never tried this on really oily woods, so I can't vouch for it working in this instance. Sometimes a steam iron can be used.

Hope this helps.

I have found that the more I learn about turning the more ideas I get, especially from websites like this. There are many different kinds and sizes of chucks, some expensive, some home made. As I have learned about Cole Jaws, vacuum chucks, donut chucks, jam chucks, etc my turnings seem to have a more finished look about them. With many options available I am able to do reverse chucking, sometime back and forth, to get the lines I am after. Working only with a tenon, or recess, significantly limits your options. Sure new chucks are expensive but most allow you to buy separate jaws that give you some flexibility and of course making a donut chuck or jam chuck is pretty cheap. Anyhow there's more than one way to skin a cat so keep reading and watching. I have found You Tube to be a great source of visual ideas.

Stu

Any broken or torn grain will still be visible using this method, a standard in woodworking, so it's not a panacea. Don't dig those corners in. Which is easily avoided by matching sizes of jaw and wood.

If it's a large turning, I normally don't worry about a couple of little dents in my tenon. I plan the tenon size to be a touch larger than what I want for my finish turning and afterwards just reverse chuck it and clean up the foot.

And since I want to fancy up my foot after almost every turning, (lest I be thought a beginner turner ) I have explored most of the reverse chucking methods. This really has expanded my abilities to hold my work onto the lathe.

Now if it's a small turning, I may finish the foot first and then either use double sided tape or expand my chuck jaws into a recess to hold the blank on the lathe for turning.

I hope that provides some new ideas for you!

Dennis

what about using a homemade longworth chuck to finish the bottom?