Fixtures and Chucks for Woodturning: Everything You Need to Know to Secure Wood on Your Lathe (Fox Chapel Publishing) Advice, How-Tos, and Wood-Gripping Projects for Both Beginners & Advanced Turners

This is a little bit of an odd book. As the title suggests, it goes into great detail on how to attach the work to the lathe, how to make steady rests etc. At first I was a little nonplussed when reading because the author goes into detail on everything except the actual turning, even the turning that you might have to do to make a jig. However, this focus is actually the best part of the book. The reader probably already knows the basics of turning and would, in any event, be better off with a more general book on the actual woodturning techniques for this part. The author has spelled out a number of creative and useful ways to inexpensively increase the capabilities of the wood lathe and to get around some of the problems turners will probably encounter. Further, he often spells out several different ways or jigs to do similar things so the reader has options. I particularly like the examples of the bowl and spindle steadies. I followed his plans for a bowl steady and saved more than the price of the book by making one. (It works great by the way.) The biggest problem I had was deciding which of three plans would work the best for what I wanted to do. This would not be a good first choice if you can only buy one book on turning. But while there are multiple good books on other aspects of turning, this book has fairly minimal overlap with others. I therefore recommend it as part of every woodturner's library.

What stands out in this book is the clarity of the instructions and pictures. There are many projects in it, but I bought it primarily to learn how to build a vacuum chuck, and the results were outstanding. That set of chapters alone is worth the price of the book. Wood turners love to learn from one another, and it is clear that Doc Green loves to turn, loves to teach, and has the gift of making the complex look simple and easy. It's an outstanding book on a subject few but wood turners can truly appreciate, but it does the subject justice and provides a world of practical information in the process. Really well written and illustrated.

This book widens one's perspective and options for mounting wood on a lathe. The comparison of commercial solutions to 'build it yourself' provides some more economical answers to mounting. Great book for the woodturner's library

Excellent survey of some of the standard tricks and techniques for turning the unorthodox. There's enough information here to do most of this yourself; I'll be able to use a lot of these techniques pretty quickly and I am a beginner. If you get very far in turning, I suspect you'll need more than a couple of these... If you're quick you'll look at the pictures and read a little of the text and have the epiphany... no more reading required! In some cases you might require a few more details, and will find a very careful reading to be crucial as some of the explanations could have been better edited. For example, Page 52 Waste Blocks and Glue Blocks: "A glue block serves a similar function but is typically much larger and meant to be reused..." with no further explanation of how one might achieve this reuseability... perhaps he means "I *intend* to reuse this thing I just glued to my bowl, but must cut it off the work and alter it"... which some might not regard as reuseable... and so what is reuseable? I really liked the projects and think they'll be very useful, although the pictures and text don't seem to synch... until you realize that the picture was taken either before or after one of the intermediate steps in the text. aha. I see now. after the third read. In my book, these are mostly minor gripes that belong more to the editor than the author, and which can be overcome by careful reading. Obviously this is not always the case. I also found two chapters on vacuum chucks overkill, but you may not. Overall, I think this is a very good book that fills an important niche. I am not aware of a better, more complete book on the subject. I consider it a very worthwhile purchase.

This book was exactly what I was looking for. Loaded with pictures and information, it is well worth the purchase price. Woodturning books often spend the first quarter or third reviewing information that the reader already knows. This book is more precise in it's focus, which I find super helpful.

This book was a wonderful surprise at the quality of information, far beyond my expectations. Doc Green not only explained and illustrated a wide variety of techniques to hold the wood between centers, face plates and scroll chucks techniques but also includes projects that demonstrate these methods such as goblets, balls and other nice things to make. The real clincher that makes this book a must have is his chapters on making your own fixtures and chucks if bought would cost you hundreds of dollars. Such items as jam chucks, cole jaws, longworth chucks, collets, mandrels and vacuum chucks. He tells you what to look for if buying and how to make your own if you wish. No matter your experience level there is so much to gain by owning this book.

Really good book. I haven't purchased a lathe yet and wanted to know more about the accessories that either came with a lathe or you'd need to really do the work. Turns out, I learned a lot about chucks and now realize that when you get home with your new lathe, you might be surprised about what's not included in the box. While the book does a good job of explain commercial accessories, it also shows you how to make a number of jigs and fixtures. While many experienced turners might find the contents of the book to be common knowledge, for me, it cleared up a lot of my confusion. It's a keeper.

I really like this book and wish I would have bought it before now. I've been turning for some years, but I don't consider myself to be a pro or even have a lot of in depth experience. There are many ways to hold and support your projects on a lathe and this author shows you many alternatives. Instead of recommending you go out and pay hundreds of $ for all the various chucks, he has a lot of suggestions for making your own jigs, etc.. The book has many photos with notes at the bottom. Since I'm a visual learner, I really have benefited from this very comprehensive book.

This is a comprehensive guide and contains loads of good information. Will be a good guide for the future. Not just for beginners.

Written by a real woodworker with practical solutions

This book answered a lot of my questions regarding holding workpieces.

Bon livre plein de techniques et d'explications pour utiliser les outils de tournage.

Very informative and helpful for new woodturners like me.