Axminster Woodturning jaws.

I've had an axminster clubman chuck for a year or so and have only used it with the type C jaws. er, this is my first bash with an expanding chuck in case you can't guess from the rest of the post.

These have a dovetail on the outside and a lipped internal grip on the inside.

formatting link

one or two disasters with the expanding dovetail on bowls where i had left insufficient wood around the outside of the recess to withstand the forces - and that the internal recess can be left on the bottom of a bowl but its not a great feature - i have tended to use the internal lipped recess for most stuff and then take off the stub after finishing.

originally i would turn a stepped spigot to fit the lip - but i had one or two of those fly across the room with the "stepping" bit splitting. So i took to just doing a straight spigot.

But it tends to slip occasionally.

Two questions then - what does everyone else use - the inside stepped or the outside dovetail. If you use the inside stepped do you turn a stepped spigot or a straight one.

And would a different internal shape be better for bowls such as the serrated one on the type H Medium gripper or the dovetailed ones on the Type A ? (eg the kids don't know what to get me for xmas...)

Thanks

Ken

Ask over at rec.crafts.woodturning. But I'm an inside dovetail guy myself. Allows me the freedom to finish the bottom before I reverse to hollow. You can do a few cutsies or just leave the recess, wherever the muse takes you.

formatting link

serrated types have their own problem set. They gnaw the tenon, which itself steals depth from the bowl, and they're a PITA or impossible to get a bowl recentered once they do. With smooth jaws the force is widely divided, so you don't exceed the elastic limit of the wood.

Remember, you're not holding with a "grip" as much as you're holding with the nose of the jaws bottomed in the recess or against the shoulders with a dovetail tenon. Sort of like flat work, the dovetail just holds it from being retracted, the shoulder or end bears the load.