George - a couple of questions if you don't mind.
Are you using some kind of English/Swedish/German made pin chuck, or a Taiwanese model sold at Craft Supplies and Penn State?
I went to a demo about 6-7 years or so ago where the demonstrator used his pin chuck for roughing all the time. To show us, he took a chunk of log wood and drilled a hole in it with a spade bit and cordless drill, then mounted it on the lathe and pushed the tailstock up to it as an assist through roughing. He claimed he only used the drive spur for spindles after he started using the pin chuck.
Worked great, and it was probably a 15# piece of wood. I was really impressed. That little bitty chuck held like a claw.
His point was that with all the roughing he did he was tired of sharpening his drive spurs only to have them slip around on the bark and green wood anyway. So the pin chuck was his solution. The problem was at the time that the one he used was about $140, so I figured I would just keep a file handy for my spur.
But last week someone posted a link on WC that had Amazon advertising them REALLY cheap. Check this out:
If I could locate a taper only at a good price I would probably buy a couple jaws and tapers.
Any thoughts?
Anyone else? Know of a good source for tapers?
Robert