I have been working wood my whole life but am brand new to woodturning. I had a shop set up in Wisconsin for quite a few years that I heated with wood, which provided me with a good use for my scrap. A few years ago my wife and I moved south, and now the scrap has a tendency to pile up. My day job is building wood car bodies, and occasionally some wood boat work, and I always start with a load of rough sawn lumber of at least 8/4 and sometimes heavier. The odd size and shape pieces I use leave me with a lot of cutoffs that it seemed a shame to burn. I tried giving them away but nobody seemed interested. Well, I thought, if nobody else wants to make anything out of my waste, maybe I can. So, I bought a small benchtop lathe and am in the process of collecting a useful set of tooling. The nature of my scrap seems to lend its self more to bowl turning than anything else. so thats the direction I have been going. After grinding a stick or two into dust just to try to get a feel for the tools I managed to turn out a few small bowls. I would show them to you but my wife gave them away.... either because someone else wanted them, or because she didn't, I'm not sure which. In my younger days I would have taken the hard headed brute force approach and figured it out by doing it, but I'm going to try something new and see if I can't benefit from the experience of others. I tend to read more than write, but I imagine you will see my name pop up occasionally.
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February 2026 Turning Challenge: Cookie Jar! (click here for details) -
Congratulations to Chad Eames for "Red Tines" being selected as Turning of the Week for February 23, 2026 (click here for details) -
AAW Symposium demonstrators announced - If the 2026 AAW International Woodturning Symposium is not on your calendar, now is the time to register. And there are discounts available if you sign up early, by Feb. 28. Early Bird pricing gives you the best rate for our 40th Anniversary Symposium in Raleigh, North Carolina, June 4–7, 2026. (There are discounts for AAW chapter members too) For more information vist the discussion thread here or the AAW registration page
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David Martin
- Thread starter David Martin
- Start date
Howdy and welcome from Texas!
Welcome from Ohio. Sounds like you have a great source for hardwoods. Think about segmented woodturning. See segmentedwoodturners.org
Hi David, welcome from Chattanooga! I'll warn you that once you get the woodturning bug, the other types of woodworking tend to become secondary haha 
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Welcome to the forum. Think the closest club to you will be in Dothan . If you want to find some help clubs are the way to go.
That does look interesting. I have tried pieces of 1/16"mahogany veneer or thin layers of mahogany up to about 3/8" stacked in with thicker pieces of Ash or Maple.
Going to have to keep that bug under control, the other types of woodworking are paying the bills.Hi David, welcome from Chattanooga! I'll warn you that once you get the woodturning bug, the other types of woodworking tend to become secondary haha
I'll have to look into that, Dothan isn't terribly far away.
Welcome and way to get rid of the cutoffs.