# Finishing bottom of bowls?



## Dutra (Jan 5, 2012)

For the people here who make bowls how do you finish the bottom of your bowls?

I have been looking at the Nova Mini cole jaws, but see that they have some pretty bad reveiws so im not sure if they are worth getting...
(thought I would get the Nova G3 Promo kit from WC which comes with these)

So I just wonder if the are even nessasery...
Does anyone have experience with the cole Jaws?


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## Don Wade (Jan 5, 2012)

i have made  many bowls   and most i have finished with a jam chuck.

Also often i finish the bottom first.


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## tumbleweed676 (Jan 5, 2012)

I mostly turn the outside first.


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## Jim Burr (Jan 5, 2012)

I finish the outside before I reverse it to core out the inside...just easier while on the chuck


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## TellicoTurning (Jan 5, 2012)

Dutra said:


> For the people here who make bowls how do you finish the bottom of your bowls?
> 
> I have been looking at the Nova Mini cole jaws, but see that they have some pretty bad reveiws so im not sure if they are worth getting...
> (thought I would get the Nova G3 Promo kit from WC which comes with these)
> ...



I use Cole jaws, Longworth chucks and jam chucks to finish my bottoms... I use the Cole on mostly smaller bowls.. up to about 8 inches.. the largest my Cole jaw will handle.  I have really good luck with them, just don't turn them over the recommended speed.. about 600 rpm.  If you're nervous about them, use your tail stock to secure the bowl in the jaws.... I always keep the tail stock up for the Longworth and Jam chucks.


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## bitshird (Jan 5, 2012)

Jamb chucks are OK but they tend to get in the way, and take up space, although they are cheap they still take up room.
  I have about 15 or more, The best for finishing a bowl bottom in my opinion is a Longworth Chuck, these can be made with out too much trouble and very little expense. here is a thread by William O Young about one he just made http://www.penturners.org/forum/showthread.php?t=91092.

Another good way is a donut chuck, here are some notes from Keith Larrett, a very accomplished turner http://syzygypens.com/blog/2009/02/22/donut-chuck/

I've seen Longworth's for sale at a couple of symposiums that will hold up to 20 inch bowls. 
And for small bowls, the Nova Cole jaws aren't too bad, I have two sets, and my only complaint is they don't go big enough.
 But the Donut you can make one back plate and as many front sides as you would like to have, Longer bolts will also allow for larger bowls with a Donut.
 From there it just depends on the size of your lathe, But I'd rather have a nice Longworth Chuck.
 Look at Mr Young's thread, it's pretty easy to make one, and the work and are pretty safe.


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## keithkarl2007 (Jan 5, 2012)

If you have a spare faceplate, fix a disc of ply to it and turn it as big as the lathe can allow. True up the face and glue neoprene rubber to the face of it. After you have turned the outside of your bowl, before reversing it to hollow, mark the centre of the foot or spigot with a skew chisel. You want to make a small dimple or hole to bring up a cup centre on the tailstock to centre it on the disc to turn the spigot away. Turn away the foot slowly, speed would need to be slow also, around 500rpm maybe a little more. Turn it down as much as you can and pair the last little nub with a carving chisel or other chisel. If you have a sanding arbour 2" or 3" you can place this in a jacobs chuck in the headstock and sand the bottom of the bowl.


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## nativewooder (Jan 5, 2012)

I use the larger "cole-type" jaws that I bought from Jet with my lathe many years ago.  I prefer using them because I can shape, sand, and finish 90% of the bottom without any interference from other factors.


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## lorbay (Jan 5, 2012)

Dutra said:


> For the people here who make bowls how do you finish the bottom of your bowls?
> 
> I have been looking at the Nova Mini cole jaws, but see that they have some pretty bad reveiws so im not sure if they are worth getting...
> (thought I would get the Nova G3 Promo kit from WC which comes with these)
> ...



I do a lot of larger bowls 16" to 24" and I do all of mine on the vacuum chuck most of the others won't work for me as I do a fair bit of detail on my bottoms.

Lin.


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## Linarestribe (Jan 5, 2012)

I basically made this on a smaller scale. Works pretty good and pretty cheap.

Here's an example: http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&h...7&tbnw=182&start=0&ndsp=28&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0


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## nava1uni (Jan 6, 2012)

I use Cole jaws and have made many bowls without any problem.  Just don't go over 600 RPM.  Even if using a Longworth chuck you can't go over 600 rpm.  I have made extra tall holders for taller items.  I also use the tailstock with a custom piece so that there is no hole in the bottom of the bowl and only take it off at the very end.


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## AlanZ (Jan 6, 2012)

I started with jam chucks and they worked fine

Then I switched to Jumbo Jaws for my Oneway chucks (like the Nova Cole jaws)

Finally I installed a vacuum system... it changes they way one looks at workholding. Here's my setup with photo and notes.


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## TellicoTurning (Jan 6, 2012)

bitshird said:


> Jamb chucks are OK but they tend to get in the way, and take up space, although they are cheap they still take up room.
> I have about 15 or more, The best for finishing a bowl bottom in my opinion is a Longworth Chuck, these can be made with out too much trouble and very little expense. here is a thread by William O Young about one he just made http://www.penturners.org/forum/showthread.php?t=91092.
> 
> Another good way is a donut chuck, here are some notes from Keith Larrett, a very accomplished turner http://syzygypens.com/blog/2009/02/22/donut-chuck/
> ...



Ken, Psi has a cole jaws extension that will open to about 16 to 20 inches... my lathe is only a 14 inch, so they're actually too big for me to use over the ways, so I'll turn the headstock 90 degrees and work off the side... it's a little funky because of the nature of the tool rest extension that came with my lathe, but it does work.  My main complaint is they aren't metal, but a high impact plastic.  Don't know if they will fit the Nova jaws, since it's a PSI extension... they fit my Jumbo jaws from PSI.


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## David Keller (Jan 7, 2012)

I don't turn a ton of bowls, but I generally use a jam chuck for smaller bowls(less than 10 inches).  I've made donut chucks, but I don't care for them...  They're just a bit too cumbersome for my tastes.  The longworth looks interesting, but I don't have any experience with them.  For larger bowls, I've got a set of cole jaws that will manage up to about 18"...  If you are turning near the capacity of your lathe, a little lip near the inside rim of the bowl will allow you to mount the cole jaws in expansion mode which will let you max out the swing of your lathe.


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