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Roughing It (With Apologies to Sam Clemens) |
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| As I look at the complaints and questions of
new turners on the various turning sites, there are certain recurring
problems. Answers to these seem to favor purchase of this or
that piece of equipment as a solution. If a beginner is blessed with
a tolerant spouse and a generous employer, it's certainly possible to
acquire a lot of equipment at once, and hope that technique follows.
I have, as I mentioned elsewhere, a collection of turning tools and
gadgets acquired over the past 15 years, of which I use a half-dozen
regularly, a dozen irregularly, and a half dozen seldom if ever. So,
with the caution that this advice is worth every cent it cost you, my
method of roughing almost anything wider than it is long. The equipment at my house is a Delta 46-204 medium duty 12" lathe, equipped with two Nova Chucks and a Super Nova, as well as a Nova tail center. I keep the pin jaws on one Nova, the 50mm jaws on the second, and one of my external grips on the Super. I would strongly recommend anyone interested in anything other than spindle turning get a chuck, as the endless fussing with faceplates, backers, centering and such are reduced to one quick remount on the chuck. Having two means no interruption in turning at all.
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Pin jaws for the Nova chucks feature a 1"
grip and 7/8" of usable depth. There is a curved area at the base of
the jaw which is almost impossible to use, and can be a real liability if
you forget about it, so don't bore deeper than 7/8" or remember to widen
the recess for the splay.
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