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chuck

I currently own 2 Nova’s, Vicmarc, Oneway and a couple of Chinese models of chucks. They all have there strong and week points. With that I like the Oneway the best for holding green wood and roughing work. The jaws hold extremely well and appear to be designed and best suited for this task. As too which Oneway chuck, I chose the scroll model as I have a spindle lock on my lathe so I can use it one handed and I am not much of a fan of the chuck key system that the other Oneways have. My Super Nova has this and I find it annoying versus my Vicmarc Allen key.

This is my opinion based on extensive usage of the different chucks I own. Other people’s opinions will vary.
 
I have the Oneway Stronghold chuck with #2, #3, flat, and jumbo flat jaws. The chuck has over 500 hours on it, and maybe over 1,000 hours. I am amazed that it has almost no play in it after all the abuse it has suffered. Most of the chucks in that price range are probably of similar quality.

One suggestion for your new chuck. Take a file and round off the sharp edges all around the chuck body. That way if you accidently touch the chuck while it's moving the damage is reduced. ...not that I would actually know that from experience..... :cool2:
 
I also use the Oneway Talon. I had other chucks in the past but the Talon is eaiser to use, holds great and has the best woodscrew I have seen.
I have a review of the Talon with photos and more on the features (nice jaw setup also) at the link below if that might help.

http://www.newwoodworker.com/reviews/onwytlonrvu.html
 
Get a GOOD chuck

You have gotten a good lathe and have identified your main use of it. You want a good strong chuck for holding green bowl blanks. There are two candidates that deserve consideration:
1. Stronghold from Oneway
2. Vicmarc VM120 (5")

Both chucks can be found at Packard or Craft Supplies USA.

The Oneway Talon is an excellent chuck (I have 2), but I would choose the Talon's big brother for the task or the Vicmarc.
 
I use Oneway's Stronghold, Vicmark 100 and 120 and Axminster's Super Precision chuck, and I'm pleased with all of them.

Not sure if you get the Axminster over there.

Regards....Mike
 
Don't leave out the SuperNova2 or TITAN from TeknaTool, in fact I would recommend a TITAN to go along with your titan of a lathe. 😀 TeknaTool no longer uses tommy bars for their chucks, it's a T handle like OneWay's now. I like the fact that the inserts are interchangable between all of their chucks, new and old, and the jaws fit all of their chucks plus some other manufacturers as well.
 
Most important chuck, in my opinion, is the pin chuck. With one available, any blank mounts with a hole bored to the proper depth. Reverse to your favorite flavor to hollow - mine are Novas - but leave the pillar with the hole in it in the middle so that you can take the dry blank, punch the hole circular, and mount the thing again to begin finishing the same way you did the roughing - between centers. bestwoodtools.com will make them for you if you don't have a local source. You have to call and ask.

I'm also an "innie" fan for reversal, using the smooth dovetail jaws as the wedged tenon they are to hold my piece without a "foot" or with, at my discretion, but always without sacrificing more than a 1/4" of depth to the hold method rather than an entire tenon length. The between-centers method of turning makes that possible with stock up to the 15 3/4 maximum size on my lathe. Since you can trim out and sand an innie on a dry piece prior to reversing to hollow, you may save even more time and fuss on that part of the turning.

External holds with smooth dovetails are also advantageous, because they are self-bottoming, non-destructive, and more friendly on wet wood than serrated types. With the load distributed evenly and the shape of the tenon intact, they can also be finished quickly as "feet" on final turning.

The dovetail preference is what keeps me away from chucks with jaws featuring corners and ribs to dig in and advertising "grip strength" as if it were an asset. Anything over the resistance of the wood to distortion is excess. Look for available jaws with broad faces to distribute the load and increase leverage against the bottom of a mortise or the shoulder of a tenon as you shop.
 
I'm a fan of the vicmarc chuck. I have 2 of the 100's and so far it's handled anything I've wanted to turn on my 3520. The biggest bowl I've turned so far was an 18" oak bowl about 8" deep. The vicmarc didn't have any problems with this. I haven't been doing large hollow turnings however. If I was doing that I would probably use a faceplate but If I didn't I would go with the Vicmarc120.
 
I also use the PM 3520. The first chuck I purchased was the Oneway stronghold with #2 jaws. At that time I was doing a lot of green wood turning and it held the wood extremely well. Now I'm turning mostly seasoned wood, but still like the stronghold. I've added #3 jaws for turning up to 20" bowls. Was looking to add the spigot jaws for smaller work, so I recently purchased the Oneway Talon chuck with #1 spigot jaws. With the extra chuck, I don't need to keep switching out jaws. I like the Talon also. It is very strong and capable, but better suited to downsized work like pepper mills. The only other chuck I considered was a Axminster, but understand they can rust.
 
I have a few chucks. Mostly Stronghold chucks. I have a Vicmarc 5 1/2" which is a big chuck that I have the HUGE button jaws on. I very much like the fact that the Vicmarc with button jaws can hold the outside of a 19 1/2" platter. I very much dislike that the Vicmarc chuck can and does dismount when stopping the lathe.

The axminster is a supurbe chuck which is hard to get on this side of the pond (the dealer either has the chuck or you can forget about getting it).

The key for the Nova works backwards and the largest insert is 1 1/4" (the 33.5 mm spindle found on so many lathes is to large for the Nova line of chucks..

That leaves the China knockoffs. PennState sells the Baracuda 2 but the insert doesn't fit your lathe. Grizly sell a Vicmarc 3 1/2 knockoff for a terrific price but that chuck night be a little small for working big green wood.

There are a few specialty chucks which work okay but are mostly limited to the task those chucks were made for.

For your lathe the Nova Titain, Oneway Stronghold, Vicmarc 120 (5 1/2") or the Axminister precision 4 jaw. are all good chucks. If I was given any of those chucks I wouldn't trade it in for any of the others. If I was buying I would get the Stronghold.

Good luckwith your quest
 
I have two Axminster chucks - love it. It is heavy and there is a fair selection of jaws that you can get. The down side is that it sticks out a bit further than most wood turning chucks - therefore the work is that much further away from the head stock. I have turned 15" vessels using the chuck. I have not had any problem getting the chuck or jaws - Craft Supplies carries it.
Hugh
 
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