A question about chucks

Can't give you a personal comparison but I have 2 Talons and they are fantastic. The Oneway jaws really hold well and there is good selection of other jaws for it. Very well made and capable of holding much larger pieces than your Jet Mini can turn. Has an adapter system so you can upgrade it to fit a large spindle if necessary just by getting a different adapter. Oneway chucks aren't the only ones that offer this. billh

I use a SuperNova II. It took me a while to pry nearly as much from my wallet for a chuck as for the lathe itself. But it holds very well, and like the Talon, is upgradable for new lathe acquisitions. It comes with a chuck mountable woodworm screw, and I like the improved, quicker acting jaw mech which uses a single T-handled ball head hex wrench. Teknitool has an extremely broad selection of jaws available.

The number of available jaw-sets and their slight price advantage were factors that finally sold me on the SuperNova II. I understand that it will also allow use of many Oneway jaws with a slight modification.

FWIW,

Greg G.

The Oneway Stronghold are the best it has a 5 to 1 clamping ratio. For smaller lathes the Talon is next. The Stronghold is pricey but you get what you pay for. It can't be beat.

Tim

You might check the Grizzly site too. They have a couple that are reasonably priced and work well.

Brian

The Talon also has a 5:1 ratio as well and I wouldn't be surprised if most key driven chucks are around the same. However, I do have a lot of faith in the Oneway jaws for holding. I also have a Stronghold and you are right, it is fantastic but somewhat big for his lathe. What I like about the Talon is its small size which makes it easier to do more complete shapes of bowl bottoms while chucked. To the original poster, any quality chuck will serve you well be it a Oneway, Vicmarc, SuperNova. billh

the advantage of the oneway jaws over the vicmarc and supernova is that they work well for more than one diameter because of oneway's special profiled jaws. but if you can get a less expensive chuck body from another company that the oneway jaws would fit onto that would be the best. ~BHB

I have both the Stronghold and the Talon. I use the Talon more often, simply because the majority of my things are either bettter off with a recess of 52mm (Talon) instead of 62 mm recess (the Stronghold). For turning between centers I also seem to prefer the Talon, simply because it has less mass, and is easier to stop.

But, for the heavier work, the Stronghold can probably not be beat.

Bjarte

Based on comments in other forums, it seems they are a bit of gamble. Some people have been very happy some haven't but you can't expect the same level of QA for something that much cheaper. I used a $65 cheapie with my first lathe and to be honest, it worked reasonably well. Having used the Oneway chucks now, I wouldn't want to go back. billh

OK.. biases opinion from someone that has only used the Talon: Buy it, you won't regret it!

I bought the Talon for my shopsmith, bought the 1-8 adapter for the Jet Mini when it came along and use it on the Jet 1442 with the same adapter... I recently bought a 2nd Talon so that each lathe had it's own chuck...

Easy to use (it was my first chuck) and well made... very versatile, etc...

A really good tim that was passed on to me by Jim Pugh was to NOT buy the smaller ( #1? ) jaws... Get the "spigot" jaws and you'll do more things with them and be happier...

They're like the smaller jaw set, but have longer jaws... more holding in a small size...

I've turned a few hundred things on my Talon and have had only have one problem... I somehow managed to force the jaws open too wide and broke the pin out of #1 jaw that prevents you from opening the jaws too wide... (not recommended by me or Oneway, it makes the jaws fall out on the lathe bed and puts a nasty scratch on the chuck face) I smoothed out the face and replaced the pin and went back to turning...

IMO, this chuck is the "honda gold wing" of chucks... it just keeps going and going even if you forget to maintain it.. YMWV

mac

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Chucks are over priced and not needed to turn a bowl. I turn up 24" bowls with no chuck and no tailstock. The bottoms of my bowls are conclave and nicely finished.

cm

I quite agree that a chuck is not essential. IMO, though, it makes a lot of tasks more convenient and it is useful for holding small spindles such as icicles for ornaments as well as face work. A chuck is just a somewhat universal jig and there is nothing to stop you from making your own purpose-built jig to do any task - I would just sooner use a chuck. billh

A chuck is a tool. You can fiddle and fuss and get the job done, but it sure is nice to have the proper tool.

I'm Novas, standard and Super. The most-used jaws on mine are the pin jaws, followed by the 50mm. I also keep the power grip jaws mounted for those times I want to cut something hanging way out.

What you need is a good mate on the jaws when closed, smooth symmetrical operation on opening. "Grip" and how fast they open or close are so unimportant as to be inconsequential.

You will probably find that most of the people in this group prefer the Oneways, for your Jet Mini, a Talon would be appropriate. I have a Jet Mini and have no problems at all with the SuperNova. This chuck also has interchangeable adapters, so when I bought my Stubby, all I had to do was buy a $24.95 adapter. I think you will find that Nova has a more expansive range of jaws than Oneway. As for whether the Oneway grips tighter........I really can't say. I'm thinking about try a SuperNova II, which replaced the SuperNova. Reviews have bee good on this chuck. Barry

There are alot of good chucks out there. Truth be told, you will probably be happy with any of them.

I have never used a multistar, but I have herd they are the best (they are the most expensive, so that makes sense).

I have a pair of vicmarc 120's that I reach for first ( the 120 may be a little big, the 100 may fit you better).

I have the oneway talon and stronghold. They are both great checks, and hold rough pieces well.

The vicmarcs seem to be better machined, then the oneways, but are more expensive today (I bought mine several years ago when the Aussie exchange rate was very favorable).

I like the extra jaw designs on the vicmarc, but any of them would do the job.

I have not used the supernova, others could give you good feedback.

I would:

- pick the type of turning you do

- determine if specialized jaws would help you with this style of turning

- find a good dealer, see what they sell

Make sure the conveyance of the chuck is worth to cost, if yes, buy it and start turning with it:-)

Happy turning, and Merry Christmas to all.

Back to the shop to finish working on those presents :-)

Mike

Barry N. Turner wrote:

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well, we don't all have a set of shirts with a big "S" on 'em, cm... Some of us wimps need help holding stuff..

mac

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yep.. lathe chucks are just another tool... lathe chisels are an option, also... hell, why use a lathe? Just spin the wood real fast and hold an ax out... *g*

and who the hell needs a drill or screwdriver that's powered???

(umm... that'd be me)

mac

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Well it does take a little creativity to easily hold your work on the lathe without a chuck. I never imagined there would be any of that lacking here!

I'm just a poor boy gettin by......

Craig

You can read everything I know about chucks at the following address:

There have been some new and less exopensive offerings on the market since this article was written. So far may opinion hasn't changed. If there are some prejudices showing in the article, so be it.

Chuck - Who wondered who that was following me around.