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Another Lathe Jaw Question...

Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2017 10:24 am
by slowroll
Hello all, I've just joined, find the info here fabulous. While turning my first stummel, carefully, since I haven't modified my 4 jaw chuck to sport taller jaws, I had a thought. Why is it that so many of the tower jaws you folks use tend to be so high? I understandwell the need for some additional length and especially width for turning a briar block, I notice that many turniing vids show the block in the jaws quite far from the face of the chuck in order to allow max briar surface for turning. I've always believed the best way to turn anything irregularly shaped is to bottom it against the chuck face. Are the Jaws made longer specifically to allow twisting the block for such things as oom pauls and other radical bents? Thought I'd ask before machining/welding up a set of new jaws. Thanks

Re: Another Lathe Jaw Question...

Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2017 12:33 pm
by sandahlpipe
The jaws are longer party to increase surface contact with the briar and partly to accommodate drilling bent pipes where the mortise angle requires the block to be at an angle. You can glue pieces to the block to bring it back to a clampable distance, but then you have to wait for glue to dry.

As for bottoming against the chuck face, not all blocks will be perpendicular enough to rely on that for alignment. I just draw my lines on the side of the block, mark the depth, then align the drill bit with the lines. To me, it only matters if the sides of the block are parallel, not whether they start off square.

Re: Another Lathe Jaw Question...

Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2017 1:15 pm
by slowroll
Jeremiah, thanks, I thought so. At the moment, since my chuck jaws are short, I've been cheating-- I squared the block on a milling machine with a fly cutter so I can bottom it; not so much for alignment, but for rigidity