STEP Chuck jaws

Who is using step jaws in their Chuck?
Are they as handy as they appear having 3 or 4 stepped jaws in one?
What about the smallest step at the bottom of the stack? Your tenion would need to be extended out so your work will clear the rest of the stepped jaws. Is this an issue?
Only the largest step can be used in a recess.
I have a Vicmarc 120 Chuck and considering getting one of their step jaws. Are their other pros and cons I should be considering?

http://www.vicmarc.com/default.asp?contentID=557


curt

Worthless to me. I can't see them being used for anything except tenons. So, for the biggest tenon that will fit into them fine, but for the others, they just don't work unless the curve of your bowl matches the curve of the steps, which mine never seemed to do, and you want a flat for the shoulders of the tenon to sit/register on. They gather dust on the shelves.... If you extend the tenon, you will get a lot more wobble, and a much bigger risk of the tenon snapping off.

robo hippy

I find them worthless. For the reasons Robo goes into, I bought a set for my Nova chucks
I tried giving them away and had no takers

I've got a set of the Raffan jaws for Vicmark - haven't found them useful very often for all the reasons Reed discusses above. When I got them I thought I'd just dedicate a chuck for them, but in practice they aren't used often enough to justify tying up one of my chucks for them. They live in the jaw drawer most of the time. I do use a tenon almost exclusively, but have chucks sitting there with #2, #3 and #4 jaws on them already. They get used the most and handle all my needs.

I have a set on one of my Supernova2 chucks.......I don't use them very often, but there have been times they came in really handy. I have used them when a certain piece of wood would not yeild a normal size tenon because of some punky area that had to be taken down smaller, or just for some odd sized tenons where the blank needed a smaller tenon to be proportional.

I bought my VM120 used, and it came with a set of step jaws. I wouldn't go so far as to say they are totally useless, I use them quite a bit for random sized small jobs like lids and such, but I wouldn't trust them to hold anything big, the steps are shallower than the one trick ponies,.... there is always a trade-off when it comes to "multi function" stuff....

The Vicmarc step jaws are intended for short spindle work, particularly end grain boxes etc. Not so useful for bowl turning as the other replies indicate.

Step jaws work well on footed vessels in which the outside is turned to completion then reversed and the inside completed. The foot can be sized in proportion with the vessel, and a suitable step can usually be found that won't damage the foot.