Lathe Chuck question:

The Stronghold is a well-named chuck and is indeed bigger than the Talon. I think a Stronghold weighs in at about 8 lbs. It is a fine chuck that will take a lot of abuse. A downside is that it is bigger than the Talon and a lot of turners will tell you that the smallest chuck that will do the job is the best one because it hides less of the workpiece so you can work a larger area. People with smaller lathes will also use up some of their limited power to spin the heavier Stronghold. Unless you have a big lathe (>14" swing or so) then the Talon is all you should require. In Bill Grumbine's tremendous new DVD he uses a Talon on his big Poolewood to turn a fairly good size bowl. Billh

hmm... the shopsmith claims 16 1/2" swing, but I can't imagine ever turning anything that big... of course, until last night, I never thought that I'd turn a bowl out of firewood and leave exposed bark, either..

Your comments will influence how high I go on the bid, Bill... If the Stronghold would be better for me than the Talon, my plan was to bid up to the sale price of the talon for the used stronghold...

Not sure now if I'm willing to go quite so high for it, now.. thanks for the quick reply!

"billh" wrote: (clip) People with smaller lathes will also use up some of their limited power to spin the heavier Stronghold. (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ People with smaller lathes may worry about using up a little more of the room between chuck jaws and tailstock. Power consumption by the heavier chuck is higher only while the lathe is coming up to speed, and even then the difference is trivial. Don't worry about it.

If the auction doesn't turn out for you, consider getting a refurbished Nova (of whatever model you want) from Tim Geist. His phone number is in a previous post by me on the Nova cast iron legs.

-- Andy Barss

well, I have like 36" to play with and I can't imagine turning something that long.. lol I bid $180 for it, I'll know tomorrow night.. thanks for the info, Leo..

Cool... I'll know tomorrow.. the plan was that if I didn't get the one on ebay, I'd buy the talon on sale at shopsmith, but I'm open to refurb... I always buy refurb or reconditioned if I can.. my feeling is that they get more quality control on the way out..

Hello Mac

Mac if you do not make turnings bigger than say 16" D you will in my opinion be better off with the Talon, the shaft size on the Shopsmith is only 5/8" D., I think, Right ? And I would not put on more weight than needed, it takes away from the weight and size of the wood you will be able to turn, The steadiness of the Shopsmith is not that great to start of with, I understand ? And yes the Stronghold is one heck of a chuck, if you want/need more holding power, go for the Stronghold.

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

mac davis wrote:

Snip

The price is $199.99 for it.

yeah, I saw that, Bob.. still 8 bucks more than the sale at shopsmith.. $191 including the adapter and the stuff you mentioned.. Give me a few weeks, and I'll probably know what all this s*it means.. lol

The Stronghold is mostly about being heavier, as the max jaw diameter is only about 3/8" bigger than the Talon. One drawback: the Stronghold and Talon use different size inserts and jaws, and are not interchangeable. On the other hand, all of the OneWay vacuum chuck setups use the Stronghold inserts. Take your choice.

I hope by heavier you also mean heavier duty. The body is more robust than the Talon even though the design is similar. You can buy a larger jaw set for the Stronghold that isn't available for the Talon plus collets and mega-jumbo jaws. For the average lathe the Talon is more than enough. Billh