Hello Everyone. 12 years ago over Thanksgiving I was looking for something in the back of my dad's barn and found a lathe. At the time I had very little interest in woodturning. I asked him about it, mostly because it was just sitting there rusting away. It was not particularly fancy - a Delta 04-651. His reply was "what lathe?" The bed was fairly rusty and it was missing the drive belt. I plugged it in and tried it and the motor still worked. Most of the tools were basic and cheap but there was a Sorby skew and a small hollower. At the time my plan was get it home, get it back operating and then sell it. I got it home, got the rust off and got it in operating condition, then decided I needed to try it out. After I turned a few small things (not well) I was hooked. Unlike flatwork, if I didn't like the way something looked a few more cuts and the piece had a different shape. Also I discovered woodturning fit my lifestyle then. With young kids and remodeling our house I didn't have a lot of time. I could put something on the lathe and make a lot of progress in 30 minutes, whereas with flatwork it would take several minutes to set up a cut, and I didn't have to tear down a lathe setup to use, say, my tablesaw for a home improvement project. A year later I took a turning class through the local community college. My kids are older now, one will be going away to school this year. In anticipation of having more evenings and weekends free I am going to try to spend more time at the lathe, including just practicing, things like finally really learning to use a skew. I still use that lathe. Here is some recent work
Maple, 10.5" diameter, 6" deep
Hickory, 8" diameter.
Maple, 10.5" diameter, 6" deep
Hickory, 8" diameter.
