Amongst the bits and bobs that came with my new lathe, was a Longworth chuck. Home made and seemingly quite accurate, it looks like it could come in quite handy, given the larger diameters that I'm going to be able to turn.
I'm wondering whether or not any members have experience of them and how they perform. My main concern is that it 'grabs' the wood sufficiently.
For those (like me) who haven't come across these before, it's made from 2 discs of plywood with spiral slots milled into them. one disc has slots radiating in a clockwise fashion, the other goes anti-clockwise. When the discs are superimposed upon each other, at some point, each pair of slots reveals a gap right through the chuck into which is placed a set-screw with a rubber button on it and between the 8 of them, they form a perfect circle, just like the buttons on a normal bowl-reversing chuck. Adjusting the chuck, by revolving the discs one way or the other, results in the buttons making a larger, or smaller circle. This particular one fits bowls from just 4" diameter, right up to 15" diameter....can't wait to try it out!
Les