Adventures with the $10 lathe

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FredP

Fred
Corporate Member
google turning videos or jamb chuck. lots of info out there. a jamb chuck is nothing more than a hunk of wood turned with a slight taper to fit the inside of your bowl or box or most any hollow form. just mount a hunk o wood on a face plate and turn it to fit your piece, then jamn the piece over that and bring up the teil stock to hold it in place. for non hollow pieces just hollow out a hunk o wood so your piece jambs inside of it. there are a ton of you tube videos.
 

smallboat

smallboat
Corporate Member
Thanks - I saw those in the video and wasn't sure exactly how they worked. It looked too easy.
I guess you have to start turning your piece between centers to get a tapered base then put the block that will become the jam chuck on a face plate and cut a female taper to match. MAte up the two tapers and let friction do its thing. Then if it needs a little more grip hit it with a spot of hot melt.

Does that sound about right?
 

Rick M

New User
Rick
I saw videos of people using hot melt glue and thought it would never work but then I tried it and the stuff held tight.
 

Gotcha6

Dennis
Staff member
Corporate Member
Sounds like you're motivated like I am sometimes. I enjoy taking a 'less expensive' approach to woodworking and when I can refurb an old tool or make my own jigs or cutters it gives me as much pleasure and satisfaction as working with it later on. For lathe tools you might also consider the approach made by Chesspy here. He uses old screwdriver ground and filed to fit his purposes. They can usually be found in bulk at most flea markets. You could also make an Oland tool with a piece of mild steel a set screw, and a piece of square HSS cutting steel. Do a search of 'Oland tool' here & you may find a Thread or two about them.
 

smallboat

smallboat
Corporate Member
Thanks- I've been looking at the Chessspy videos
And I've seen a few descriptions of the oland tools- look pretty interesting.

I'll need to start turning handles!
 

Rick M

New User
Rick
Handles are a lot of fun. I'm a better woodworker than picture taker though.

Screwdriver with broken handle, let's fixer up.

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Crappy chisel with no handle I should have thrown away...

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smallboat

smallboat
Corporate Member
Nice!
What wood do you use for handles?
So far I've just been turning scraps and firewood.
I'm thinking that locust might work for handles.
 

Rick M

New User
Rick
Screwdriver handle is maple. The chisel handle is pine. Yeah it's a terrible choice for a chisel but that's a junky old chisel I never use and I had just got the lathe so it was practice. The little flare thing at the top was just for fun, if I really used it I would have cut it down. If it breaks, I'll just make another handle from our stack of maple firewood or the holly and apple I've been drying.

I started making a maple handle for an awl someone sent me but something went haywire at the end and a chunk blew out.

I'm sure locust would make a great handle, it's hard as heck. If I remember it may be prone to splitting so you might want to add a ferrule.
 

smallboat

smallboat
Corporate Member
Used the beetle and wedges to split some of the black locust this weekend.
Guess there's some poetic justice in that.

Mike- if you're interested in bowl blanks I have two pieces 12" wide x 6" deep x 22" long
would it make sense to split it off center to get one deeper section and one scrap?
I have a couple more chunks about 12" dia x 20+" long
One may be a little larger dia.
I could take a whack at it.
 
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