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Will this work?

Well I finally got into the shop today and finished up the lil bowl I started last night at the last minute right before the sun set. I rolled my lathe out to our patio because our garage is still full of our household kitchen contents from the flood we had over the summer. Even with the shop empty of foreign items, this is an outside process right now. So I just had about 15 minutes last night before it got to dicey to be turning in the dark. I was able to mount a chunk of walnut onto my Easy Wood Tools 3.5" Diameter Faceplate and get the outside of my lil 5" diameter bowl turned, then I shut it down. Woke up this morning ready to roll and finished up the bowl in about a half hour, it was so fun I went for another! I am finally getting a chance to get to know my Laguna 16-43 Lathe. I love it. The first image is my bowl roughed out while mounted to the Easy Wood Tools Faceplate. In order for the Easy Chuck to work, I have to shape a bottom or base that will be the base of the bowl, and it has to be angled slightly in order for the jaws to grab. A by-product of this being the case is, it looks good too, I like the base the bowl ends up with. In order to be sure the Easy Chuck was going to be a good fit I did a test run before moving on to the next step. I mounted the Easy Chuck to the base just to make sure. I also hollowed out the bottom ever so slightly to ensure that it would sit flat. It took me about 15 minutes to sand through the grits to 600, basically burnishing the outside of the bowl to a nice sheen. Once I was satisfied with the outside of the bowl, and after the test fitting of the Easy Chuck at the base, I removed the bowl and flipped it and chucked it into the Easy Chuck, I love this chuck! We are ready for hollowing. After I hollowed out the bowl, I hit it through the grits again to 600, and brought it to a nice sheen. While it was still chucked up to my lathe, I applied BLO, I know there are better alternatives for a finish, but I am winging this right now, I don't have much knowledge yet in this skill, nor do I have the proper tooling, at the ready. But I am learning. My first bowl finished. My second bowl did not take as long, I am already feeling very comfy on my lathe and the tools I use, by the way I used the Easy Rougher and the Easy Finisher, two tools to complete these bowls. My second bowl below. I am starting out small guys, I am not confident with the big stuff yet, both these bowls are 5" +/- diameter. Bottoms Top I really had a fun couple of hours with these guys, I can see myself coming home after work and gravitating to my shop for a quick bowl. I can see why this is do addicting now. Also I am using the Easy Wood Lathe Tools, they are a joy to use, I have no frame of reference to compare them too, but for this newbie I experience only a couple digs and that was because I was rushing it, other then that they worked flawlessly, and for this knuckle head to be able to jump into this as easily as I had, that says a lot about those tools. The Laguna 16-43 Lathe is smooth and nice, I love the variable speed lever it comes with, the lathe is heavy, and solid, and I can't wait to get some big stuff on there, thanks for sharing my first bowl adventure guys.

Well I was at work today getting together the tools for our Easy Wood Tools Loan and Review project. We will be shipping this case of tools out to our members to use for two weeks before they forward them on to the next user, each user will be asked to post a review here on The Patriot Woodworker. I worked on a used aluminum case today that I procurred to install the tools into. The case will then be shipped out to our first tester and reviewer Lew Kauffman, and after he is finished he'll ship them up the line to the next woodworker. The program will be in effect shortly, we still have a few more logistics to get down, but in a nutshell, this will cost the user nothing. All shipping fees are paid to and from the user. All you have to do is just use them! The following images are the Easy Wood Tools on loan to our members and guests by Craig and Paul Jackson of Easy Wood Tools, I still have to cut out the foam to fit the tools, but they are laid in place how they will ship, and there is plenty of literature and videos on disk for you guys to watch and read too. This is going to be fun and exciting. Each user will be able to grab an Easy Wood Tool pencil and EWT cool looking sticker to put on the rear window of your pickup truck! Stay tuned for updates as we get closer to getting these wonderful tools in your hands! Final set of tools as shipped

The Easy Wood Tool package arrived and over the next couple of weeks, I will share with you my impressions and experiences with these amazing tools. The very first thing I noticed was the weight of the case in which the tools were shipped. Even before opening, it was apparent these were no lightweights! I’ll concentrate on the Easy Chuck this week. This is my first experience with a quick release jaw chuck. I must admit, I thought that quick release jaws would be something of a luxury and not really necessary. I changed my mind in a hurry! The overall fit and finish of the chuck is impressive. This monster weighed in just north of 4.5 pounds and that’s without jaws! The quality is evident from the get-go. I really like the “zoom†ring and its ability to quickly reposition the jaws without the needing to use the chuck key. The ring turns smoothly with practically no effort. Jaw changes are made via a spring loaded quick release mechanism. Simply inserting the release tool into the chuck release port allows the jaws to be detached. Replacing the jaws requires no tools, they simply snap into place. I found the jaws locked securely with no slippage. Once a work piece is positioned and the jaws snugged down with the zoom ring, a hex key tool is used to securely tighten the jaws. There are two hex key tightening locations 180 degrees apart to create balanced pressure. A really nice touch is that all of the adjustment directions are engraved into the chuck. Easy Wood Tools has a wide variety of chuck jaws available and included most of them in the loaner package. If I could make any design changes, they would be engraving a reference mark on the chuck body and engraving numbers on each chuck jaw. This would ensure reassembly in exactly the same orientation. But, hey, a good old Magic Marker can do the same thing- if these were mine. Edit: As pointed out by Craig (see below), I should have mentioned that any jaw will fit into any of the slots so numbering isn't necessary for correct assembly and use. My comments were more for assuring that, when remounting a workpiece, everything is positioned exactly as it was in a previous operation. To help get a better idea of the chuck/jaw system, I videoed the operation which I hope helps enhance the previous explanation. Next time I’ll show you how I am using the different jaws and tools to create a project. A BIG Thank You to Easy Wood Tools for this opportunity!!!!!!!!!!