Richard Raffan using chucks without marking the wood.

[@OregonOldTimerWOODTURNING]

The Hallmark of Raffan videos: Good information, clearly presented, and no BS.

[@burnleyize]

This is getting RIDICULOUSLY informative! All of your videos are contributing SO MUCH to SO MANY! Thanks again.

[@RichardRaffanwoodturning]

Most of it's been in Turning Wood for nearly 40 years with new insights in the later pubications adn editions. www.richardraffan.com.au/books-and-dvds/

[@tricolorturners]

Well, there you go. That is a super informative and useful bit of information for all woodturners. Thank you for doing that in detail, Richard! I think that is my favorite to date.

[@RichardRaffanwoodturning]

And thank you, Matt, for suggesting the topic. The 'how to' will follow soon.

[@cyrilnorrie8450]

That’s great advice! Thanks for these tips, they will be very useful.

[@salchiarelli8998]

You are so good and informative. I have been turning wood for 11 years and metal since high school Brooklyn tech 76. I picked up so many pointers from you. Thank you for sharing your experience and expertise. Merry Christmas and happy year my friend.

[@paulinmt2185]

I have VM100 & VM120 with assorted sizes of the short & step dovetail jaw sets. You have illustrated just how valuable the long jaws are. Gotta upgrade my kit! Cheers!

[@MikePeaceWoodturning]

Another great video, Richard! I loved your article on the same topic that you published in the Dec 2010 American Woodturner. It really opened my eyes to being creative with chucking and I have taking advantage of that technique so many times when I had to make a correction to a turning.

[@Rigus208]

Richard your tutoring is so appreciated , so easy to learn from .great tip on holding by the bead .Ty 👍😇🇺🇸

[@shaunhayward]

I love your videos. You tell us how to make our turning better AND faster.

[@RichardRaffanwoodturning]

Effeciency is essential if we are to make best use of our vanishing time on earth.

[@stevenhansen8641]

Thanks for the time and effort Richard

[@lorriebuxton2041]

Thank you I just bought my first chuck came with dovetail jaws didn't realize why size is so important for grip

[@davidcrandell1172]

Great video as always Richard. Very informative.Thank you for posting.

[@marksturnings-everythingdi6570]

The best intuitive vid from the Master.

[@DougAgee]

Thanks for all the value you add to the turning community!

[@stevebrine4324]

Thanks, very informative. Now to upgrade my chuck jaws.

[@Mvdiverstuff]

Thanks so much for recording your wealth of talent and insight. The Willamette Valley Woodturners are sharing that you are doing all these videos. Good stuff! MV

[@jamescarter8813]

Thanks for sharing this Richard. I have done demo's where I hold the final piece in a long nose chuck and Had to field many questions about why I wasn't worried about marks on the piece. Great explanation and example of how this works.

[@hfbowerndesigns810]

Very good information Richard, thanks for sharing Take care Cheers Harold

[@glencrandall7051]

Very well presented. 👍👍Thank you Richard. Have a great day and stay safe. 🙂🙂

[@tomislavtomasicwoodturning]

Soo much can be done with chucks, great video sir, best one on chucks

[@dtork47]

Very helpful as always Richard, thank you and stay well.

[@MikeWaldt]

Excellent information well explained and demonstrated Richard.

[@bertdelisle393]

Great video Richard, I have used your technique a lot after learning it from you. I have changed all my chuck jaws to dove tail style and they work great. I have even removed the Beak on one set to make it a perfectly smooth dove tail for the reasons you mention. Sometimes I will use a burn line decoration on purpose to provide a chucking point, it seems to harden the fibres a bit, and I re-burn after holding to remove any minor chuck marks from a less than perfect circle. It’s quick easy and reliable, and only another turner knows what its really there for. Lol.

[@RichardRaffanwoodturning]

So Bert - you didn't need to watch this. I hope you've been spreading the word all these years.

[@LAZZY0001]

Great information Mr Raffan. Thank you.

[@rickbergquist2194]

Very informative! Thanks for sharing.

[@danielemanuele5827]

Thank you! Now to practice!

[@kenvasko2285]

Well done. You've made me rethink my approach to chucking. I think I've been a bit careless.

[@RichardRaffanwoodturning]

I've long enjoyed using decorative elements as chucking points whilst reduce the number of times it's necessary to remount a piece.

[@mikekischuk8990]

Thank you! That was very helpful.

[@annaredd2422]

Excellent! Thank you

[@jonsayre9404]

Thank you!! Very informative.

[@DiemenDesign]

Great information, that I'm sure a lot of us overlook. I'd like to know what those along the length are for as well. Vicmarc may have an answer for that question. At first I thought, maybe for strength of the jaws, but the narrower part would still be a weak area. Maybe to reduce weight of the jaws perhaps. Anyway, thanks for sharing Richard.

[@DiemenDesign]

I've just now sent a message to Vicmarc asking about those Ridges on the jaws on their Facebook page. I'll report back if I get an answer, as it has me curios now as well.

[@MarklTucson]

Very helpful, thanks!

[@garyjanes2358]

Excellent!

[@timofeyzhukov-khovanskiy9173]

So I knew the size of the tenon had to be quite close to ensure whole surface was gripping the tenon, but the steeper ange is a brand new trick for me. I think I'm gonna shape a quick little scraper from an old scraper I have picked up to see if I can get such an angle repeatedly. I think the bottom of the bowl and the foot are the parts of turning I should work the most on right now.

[@SirBenJamin_]

Thank you for this video. I've just been doing some searching and it seems like a lot of the manufacturers add the chamfer to the dovetail. It seems especially apparent on the NOVA jaws, where the chamfer is really quite large. I wonder why that is?

[@DiemenDesign]

I'd like to know this as well. The Vicmarc's aren't as bad. I was looking at making my own jaws once I get hold of a metal Lathe to produce nice sharp dovetails, but after this video I think there's a reason there's the small chamfer across the inside and outside edges of the dovetail, to do with marking the work piece as Richard pointed out.

[@MikePeaceWoodturning]

The tiny chamfer on many of the Nova and Record Power chucks may not be as ideal as the Vicmarc jaws. But this is still a valid technique if you size the detail correctly as Richard Points out. My experience is that there is still minimal marking that is hardly noticeable on hard wood turnings. Sometimes I will use painters tape to minimize the marking.

[@SirBenJamin_]

@@MikePeaceWoodturning Its not really a "tiny" chamfer. Take a look for example at the NOVA Long Nosed Jaws. Although perhaps the images are deceiving?

[@MikePeaceWoodturning]

​@@SirBenJamin_ I do not think the Nova long jaws have a bigger chamfer than their normal 50mm jaws. I have the Record Power long jaws and they do not have the chamfer like the Nova or Record Power 50 mm normal jaws. The Record Power Bowl jaws do not have a chamfer. From a picture of the Nova Bowl jaws, it does not appear to have a chamfer. The Nova Power grip jaws have a tiny chamfer but the Record Power equivalent I have, does not. The Record Power jaws are interchangeable with the Teknatool ones. You just swap the 2 and 4 jaws since the old Teknatool chucks tightened in the opposite direction.

[@josephpotterf9459]

Thanks I think ill try a vm120 and look at a shark jaw sizes

[@craigpennifold3498]

Great video with clear information. It looks like you are using Vicmarc shark jaws. Are there other brands of jaws that work as well?

[@RichardRaffanwoodturning]

These are indeed Vicmarc chucks. It's a few years since I've been teaching overseas where I was often forced to use Oneway or Nova chucks whose jaws usually marked the wood and only occasionally enabled me to do what you see here. It wasn't all bad as it gave me a chance to demonstrate jam chucks.

[@tomcoker9882]

Thanks for the detailed explanation. The removal of one jaw gave a very good graphic demo of the hold. BTW: what brand/model is the chuck and jaws? Thanks again for the video. Cheers, Tom

[@DiemenDesign]

In case Richard doesn't get an opportunity to answer. I'm pretty sure he's using Vicmarc Chucks, which I picked up from another of his videos when he mentioned the model number (VM100 from memory). His Lathe in case you are wondering is also a Vicmarc.

[@RichardRaffanwoodturning]

Diemen Design is correct. All my chucks are Vicmarc bercause you can do a lot more with them than any other of the dozens of chucks I've used through my 52 years as a professional turner.

[@RichardRaffanwoodturning]

@@DiemenDesign Correct!!

[@tomcoker9882]

@@RichardRaffanwoodturning Thanks for the info. Cheers, Tom

[@burnleyize]

Mr. RAFFAN, do I understand that you do NOT need to precisely match the dovetail tenon on the bowl to that of the jaws? Have I been wrongly assuming that the angles MUST match?

[@RichardRaffanwoodturning]

Correct, you do not need a matching dovetail and the diameter of the tenon or, groove, or bead being gripped can be slightly smaller than the machined diameter of the chuck jaws so only the center part of each jaw contacts the wood. However you do need jaws like those on my Vicmarc chucks with crisp rims devoid of chamfers or square sections.

[@pradesbernard9211]

Intéressant, comme d habitude ..qui est le fabricant de ces mors ? Merci pour vos videos

[@RichardRaffanwoodturning]

C'est Vicmarc.

[@pradesbernard9211]

@@RichardRaffanwoodturning merci , je viens de trouver un fournisseur, Auprès de mon arbre , apparemment je peux monter ce type de mors sur mon mandrin ‘chinois’ Bonne journée !

[@711motorsport6]

Hi Richard,, what do you think of the Record Power SC4 chuck system.?

[@RichardRaffanwoodturning]

I've not used them but see the inner lip of the standard jaws is chamfered, unlike the dovetail jaws. For that reason alone I'd stick with Vicmarc chucks. But of top of that I've never geared chuck keys anything like as easy to use as hex keys and the teeth seem to get damaged. My advice to chuck buyers is always to buy Vicmarc.

[@milasiroky3301]

Can these Vicmarc shark jaws be used on the Recor Power SC4 chuck please? Thanks.

[@RichardRaffanwoodturning]

I don't know the answer to that, but I suspect not. If you machine or grind away the top of the Record jaws you can remove the chamfer and end up with a crisp dovetail rim.

[@milasiroky3301]

@@RichardRaffanwoodturning Hmm, I was waiting for this answer, but thanks for the quick answer to my question.

[@eegaugh]

Presumably, the jaws with the square ridge would grip a work piece with a corresponding groove.

[@RichardRaffanwoodturning]

Possibly, but I can't think of a situation where I'd have a decorative squared groove for a chuck to grip. All the jaws on my Vicmarc chucks have crisp rims devoid of chamfers that fit nicely into vee grooves and corners. I'm wondering which chuck you're using.

[@manojdushantha5176]

How deep is your chuck?

[@RichardRaffanwoodturning]

The first two are 34mm deep, the smallest is 28mm deep.