Pot chucks: workholding in the lathe

Attachment 34737

Attachment 34738

I would not have made so many of these, had not some pre-bored material had come my way.

Last year, Bob and I part cleared our late friend’s, Don Gill’s, workshop, on behalf of Tools for Self Reliance. Don was a very gifted craftsman, had contributed a good deal as a volunteer to TFSR, and had several of his projects published in “The Woodworker” magazine. Especially, he specialised in woodwind instruments, and amongst the old stock we cleared were some parts for oboes, recorders, etc, which appeared to be mainly rejects. I had the task of burning the wormy rubbish, but I had a brainwave and thought to utilise these parts as pot chucks.

All I had to do was to occasionally widen the bore, and they are ideal for holding previous turned spindles for finishing. Being slightly tapered internally, they hold by friction. They occasionally split, as shown in the example above.

At present, I have been turning more chisel handles, so these chucks hold the handle so that I can just remove a hair or two to fit the ferrule.