Parting is such sweet sorrow...

If you have a dovetail on the tenon and the chuck jaws are parallel you are only touching a very small portion of the tenon when you tighten the chuck. I'll stop and make a drawing.

This puts the pointy part of the tenon parallel and into a groove in the chuck. This gives about zero resistance to turning when anything puts drag on the wood.

Sorry about that. I didn't mean to do a black and white scan.

Enjoy,
JimB
 
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Well Roger look at it this way, when you get another chuck that has dovetail jaws, you're already ready for it already :D

Sounds like maybe just a smidge tighter was the answer. I don't think it'll probably ever hold quite as well as a dovetail jawed chuck would but tightened up and light cuts should be ok for small stuff... I'd probably avoid bowls of any size hased on this experience though!!
 
Thanks for the drawing, Jim, but I did understand this, which is why I turned my dovetail back into a tenon before putting it back in the chuck. I have finished my salt and pepper shakers, which are going to my daughter and her husband in Toronto, and made another candlestick, and am turning my first bowl. I was able to cut a recess into the bottom of the bowl and tighten the jaws into it, and it is holding the bowl very securely.

Thank you all! The information you have given me has been VERY helpful!
 
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