Starting A Bowl Blank Using A Drill Press To Create A Recess or Mortise

Reorganizing Shop for More Efficient Woodturning

In an effort to clean and organize my shop I had an area that had a Jet jdp-17dx drill press https://amzn.to/2QbHmGR, next to it was a cheap steel tool cabinet, purchased at Menards, and next the the cabinet was an exterior door.

Drilling Speed Guide For Metal,
Wood and Different Bit Types

Before I tell the story, I’m going to link to a drilling speed guide for using various drill bits with different materials. Might save you some time and aggravation when trying to drill steel versus wood, and if you are not used to differentiating between the two this chart will help you cut clean holes with the bits that you have. Drill speedchart

I do not drill a lot of steel, but since I started turning wood I’ve been learning and doing more steel work…..that probably does not make sense but if you start making turning tools or making hacks to your lathe it will be helpful to learn how to drill steel and cast iron.

Make a Drill Press Jig to Hold
Your Wood Bowl Blanks

It all started with the bowl blank jig I made for the drill press. Typically my bowl blanks are flat across the face and round, following the curvature of the tree on the outside, bark included.

drill press jig for creating a recess for a turning chuck like Nova 2 — Drill press jig from wood bowl waste that is used to hold new bowl blank to drill a recess for your Nova or Wooturning Chuck

For a standard bowl, I would drill a 2-1/8″ forstner hole https://amzn.to/37tfnbd in the center of the flat face of the bowl blank, I push then mount the bowl blank on my Nova Chuck https://amzn.to/36cE8br and push the live center into the back of the wood blank.

I would then shape the profile of the exterior bowl and put a tenon or recess at the bottom of the bowl.

I had a problem with the drill press. It is a floor model and I bolted it to a harbor freight moving dolly. That turned out to be very unstable so I shimmed it so the drill press table was close to level. It wasn’t level though and I always had problems so when I put my bowl blank jig in place the Forstner hole https://amzn.to/2QbrXpL was uneven and I had the shim the jig ….big pain in the behind if you know what I mean.

So, I decided to fix it. I drilled some concrete bolts, shimmed, and shimmed some more and secured the drill press to the floor. I moved my tool box next to the drill press and lo and behold…… I put the f’ing drill press in the wrong place!

I called it a night and approached it the next day.

Fresh Outlook with A New Day

I moved the drill press over, drilled some new holes for the lag and shields in the concrete and finally got my drill press in the correct location. The drill press table is as close to level as I could get, now I simply stick my roughly constructed bowl blank jig on the drill press table, level out the bowl blank and adjust so the laser cross hairs hit center and BAM!!!! only takes a couple of minutes to drill a hole for the nova chuck and get started on a new bowl.

What’s the Difference With My Approach to
Start Turning A Wood Bowl Blank

Many woodturners will start a new wood bowl blank with a worm screw. That is, they drill a hole in the center and place the worm screw in the chuck and twist the blank until it backs onto the jaws of the scroll chuck. There is nothing wrong with that, however, I found it easier and more accurate to drill the 2″+ hole for the jaws of the scroll chuck. I have more options and I think it holds the bowl blank more securely.

By the way, the tool chest fits in nicely. I had to replace the cheap ass wheels with some I had laying around. You get what you pay for, I might go and fight with Menards and see if they will flip for some new wheels …..I kind of know what they will say 🙂 …..although, legitimate returns are always handled well at Menards.

I’m talking about the drill press and woodturning because drilling a 2-1/8″ hole in a wood blank is perfect for the Super2 Nova Chuck jaws and is a fast way to get your wood blank on the chuck and turning. I use it all the time, I have a simple jig

Bowl Blank Jig — Hold bowl blank so you can drill recess for chuck with forstner bit

I set the blank in, drill 3/8″x 2-1/8″ hole for a recess and attach it to the Nova Chuck Jaws.

I usually pull up the tailstock to help keep the blank in place.

Then I shape the exterior of the bowl or project. I will leave the tailstock against the piece if I decide to turn a tenon, if I decide to form a mortise or recess I will pull the tailstock away and cut the tenon along with the dovetail profile.

Once again, everything depends on the original hole by the forstner bit (recess or mortise) to be squared to the piece as much as possible, that requires the drill press table to be level or leveling the wood blank by hand….a big pain in the backside……that’s why I spent so much time leveling my drill press!

Scroll Chucks and Jaws

What Are Scroll Chucks?

Learn about scroll chucks and jaws from Sam Angelo… good stuff!

This started as a test post but when I started watching Sam’s video on Scroll Chucks and Jaws for Wood lathes I thought it would be perfect to post here for anyone getting started or just trying to understand what these pieces of machinery really are.

When I got started I was really confused when it came to scroll chucks, I had to watch many, many videos and do a lot of ready before deciding which one I wanted ….I wish I would have found Sam’s video because it really clears things up. Anyway…. enjoy the video and thank you Sam!

In this tutorial Sam discuses important factors in the selection of scroll chucks and jaws. His collection of scroll chucks spans tenon sizes from 3/8″ to 5 1/2″ as well as many profiles for various projects.

I saw it on Rockler Woodworking and Hardware

Rockler – Search Results for lathe chucks

Couple comments from
the video on Scoll Chucks

Have you ever consider of buying wood lathe chuck quick change system like those two: 1- Barracuda 5 Quick Change Jaw Chuck System with FREE Pen Blank Drilling Jaws 2- Nova Infinity Quick Change Chuck System (you can also buy only some parts to make your old Nova2 chuck/jaws to make it/hose a quick change system). I’m starting looking and I think I’d buy the Barracuda 5 because it is seems to me to be a faster quick change system and I like to have many jaws options (4 sets of jaws and a central screw are included. The only thing with this choice is, after the price issue (I am in Quebec Canada), for the sake of security and speed, I would rather like to have an hexagonal wrench for jaws tightening instead of having a key that penetrates the chuck.

Hi Sam, I want to turn very small items. Down to 8mm or possibly even smaller if I can. I want to use the central machinery 10×18″ lathe from harbor freight. Could you possibly suggest which kind of chuck I should use?

WYOMINGWOODTURNER 1 month ago

Kmsan I think what you need to look for are “pin” jaws. You could buy a number of small scroll chucks, with or without the jaws: (Body only). Pin jaws can hold very small items. You can check the dimensions in the description of the jaws. Something like this—– http://www.rockler.com/nova-mini-spigot-jaw-set?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=&utm_content=pla&utm_campaign=PL&sid=V9146&gclid=CjwKCAjw2s_MBRA5EiwAmWIac-ULDzE5ddBVrvWdBIkljuUoN-eQ1l5NK5VX6Y0tvE_4Rji9xOARzRoCPeQQAvD_BwE

Home Made Wood Lathe Scoop Chuck

Home Made Wood
Lathe Scoop Chuck

I really enjoy woodturning and the longer I’m at it the more cool stuff I find out you can turn and tools you can build. In this article I’m going to show you how to make your own set of scroll wood chuck jaws that will fit any woodturning chuck.

Maybe you’ve had some questions on wood lathe chucks, sometimes called “scroll chucks” such as which one to buy or which would be the best lathe chuck for the money.

Now Using a SuperNova Scroll Chuck

I ended up getting the SuperNova 2 wood scroll chuck, it uses all the jaws that Nova makes ….I think 🙂 I only have 2 sets of jaws as I write this but I’ve discovered that some guys/girls actually build their own custom jaws for their wood lathe chuck.

Turning Wooden Scoops

A while back I remember watching a guy turn a wooden scoop. Pretty difficult when you think of it, you have the scoop part and the handle part, both on different axis’s. You could probably make it a 2 piece project, in other words you could turn the scoop and handle seperately and then figure out some way to attach the 2 pieces.

I’ll cut to the chase because I was watching Alan from the youtube channel “As The Wood Turns” and he builds a set of jaws that can attach to your wood lathe chuck and works perfectly for turning the scoop after you have turned the handle.

Video on How to Make A Home Made Scoop Chuck

Watch how to Turn Wooden Scoop with Home Made Wood Lathe Chuck

Here are some of the better comments

This scoop is actually my Vicmark vm120 body with wood jaws mounted to the body. The jaws are made from an 8″ by 8″ by 1/2″ piece of Baltic birch plywood(the good stuff). The standard jaws were used as templates to mark bolt holes. The holes were then counter sunk and stabilized with thin CA glue.

The jaws are attached with bolts a little longer than the standard bolts to allow for the additional thickness of my plywood.

On top of the plywood, I glued 2″ thick cedar since that is what I had available. The wood can be anything stable and readily available. This wood is miter cut similar to a picture frame, drilled for outer bolt access, and glued to the plywood.

The jaws can now be customized to hold the current project. For my scoop, I drilled out the center a little smaller than my scoop bowl and removed two opposing jaws.

When the time comes that I have removed too much of the jaws for my then current project, I can either make a new set of jaws or tool off the cedar and glue on new wood pieces. As with any home made tool, please be careful and use your head. Start slow then increase speed to where you are comfortable then dial back a little. As with any home made tool, you are the sole person responsible for its safety and your own safety.

From Charles
I chose your design because it looked the safest. However when I tightened the jaws, the screws pulled the plywood apart. I tried three different ply woods and had the same problem. Still like the design, would like to offer a suggestion for those folks with a Nova chuck. For $19.95 you can purchase a ‘NOVA 6021 Soft Chuck Accessory Jaw Set” from Amazon and mount your wooden jaws on the jaw set instead of PLY wood. The nylon jaws are made to modify for any configuration you need.

Alan comments:
Let me summarize this discussion for others who read this thread. Charles’ original jaws failed because the screws pulled thru the plywood. He found a great solution with the NOVA Soft Chuck. So he is off and running.

Why did his plywood fail? Not all plywood types are equally strong. Some types are very weak and should not be used.

1. Common fir plywood has few, thick plies and many voids. This should not be used for this project
2. Most Hardwood plywood is similar to fir plywood. The only difference is the outer plies are hardwood. This should not be used here.
3. Hardboard, particleboard or MDF core plywood is heavier and no voids. However, the core does not have the strength for this application.
4. Baltic birch (or other similar names) has many thin plies and no voids. It is significantly stronger than the other woods noted. However, it is still wood and not as strong as aluminum or steel. It was adequate for my jaws but I applied CA to the screw holes and am very careful not to overtighten. Then use only at low speeds and avoid standing in the rotational plane.

If your chuck is a Nova chuck then use his solution.