Hi Gentlement and Ladies, I'm new to woodturning and I am in the process of buying a Vicmarc 300 Long Bed. I intend on turning mainly bowls and once I'm proficient I'll move on to vessels and more artistic work. I will probably have many questions at first so please bear with me! My only exposure to woodturning has been mainly through books and many videos. The last time I counted, I had 62 and it keeps on going up, I just ordered 2 more. Now that I know who the major players are and what techniques they are using, I feel confident enough to actually turn something! My first question? I watched Philip Moulthrop on one of the AAW videos recently and was wondering where he obtains his stock material. I live in Ontario Canada and even although I have not done a lot of research I don't think we have the variety of woods he and his father use. I really like the simplicity of their work. Where can I obtain some of the heavy duty tools he uses. They are not in the catalogues. Commercial operations that make large salad bowls always have intrigued me. What type of lathe do these operations use? Can they be obtained or do they have to manufactured specially. In order to be profitable I would think some form of CNC lathe would enter the picture. So many questions I have...sorry I don't want to dominate this site! I'll keep watching other threads for possible answers to some. Thanks very much, FM
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Newbee questions
- Thread starter Fernand
- Start date
If you're intending to focus on turning bowls, why would you want a long bed lathe?
Tool Issues
If you have interest in hand turning bowls, and 62 books you must have one by Richard Raffin. His bowl turning book is pretty good.
As for tools, you have carbon, high speed steel, and various types of fancy alloys. HSS is probably the best way to start, until you know what you want in the fancy alloys. Learn to handle the tools, which one for what etc etc, get your tool control down; then look at a specialty tool.
Welcome to this corner of the wood world.
Find and join a local wood turning club. Best thing I did to learn
how to turn -- is to join a local turning club.
Our club has demos, show and tell, bring backs, wood raffles,
workshops, a lending library and most important a mentoring program.
I signed up and received a mentor. We work together as I have time.
He looks at my stuff and shows me another way to do it; a better way
to do it; the right way to do it. He has taught me to sharpen. He
has re-taught me how to sharpen. Last Thursday he was teaching me how
to resharpen.
Find the local club listing on this website. Find a club or 2 near you and attend a meeting. Join one of the clubs, some of our members drive 2 hours one way.
John
Fernand said:
If you have interest in hand turning bowls, and 62 books you must have one by Richard Raffin. His bowl turning book is pretty good.
As for tools, you have carbon, high speed steel, and various types of fancy alloys. HSS is probably the best way to start, until you know what you want in the fancy alloys. Learn to handle the tools, which one for what etc etc, get your tool control down; then look at a specialty tool.
Welcome to this corner of the wood world.
Find and join a local wood turning club. Best thing I did to learn
how to turn -- is to join a local turning club.
Our club has demos, show and tell, bring backs, wood raffles,
workshops, a lending library and most important a mentoring program.
I signed up and received a mentor. We work together as I have time.
He looks at my stuff and shows me another way to do it; a better way
to do it; the right way to do it. He has taught me to sharpen. He
has re-taught me how to sharpen. Last Thursday he was teaching me how
to resharpen.
Find the local club listing on this website. Find a club or 2 near you and attend a meeting. Join one of the clubs, some of our members drive 2 hours one way.
John
I turn mostly bowls on my VL300 long bed. The reason I went the long bed route was, more weight for stability, I had the room for the longer lathe, and I might someday want to turn something long.
Don't rush into buying a big lathe now.
Knowledge and muscle memory are two different things. There is nothing wrong with aiming high. You have tall orders to fill. But watching NASCAR 24/7 is different than being on the driver seat at 250 miles per hour.
I would suggest buying a mini lathe, get your feet wet first. Most likely, you would change your mind on what area you want to pursuit. The price of a mini lathe is very minimal compared to the potential depreciation in case you change your mind on an expensive lathe. If you are certain your main goal is large bowls, then you should also look at and try out like VB-36, or Stubby.
Not being able to make pass the turn for fun level, I can't give any meaningful opinion on your other questions.
I won't worry about getting turning materials. When you can sell your works at galleries, buyers pay for them.
Gordon
Knowledge and muscle memory are two different things. There is nothing wrong with aiming high. You have tall orders to fill. But watching NASCAR 24/7 is different than being on the driver seat at 250 miles per hour.
I would suggest buying a mini lathe, get your feet wet first. Most likely, you would change your mind on what area you want to pursuit. The price of a mini lathe is very minimal compared to the potential depreciation in case you change your mind on an expensive lathe. If you are certain your main goal is large bowls, then you should also look at and try out like VB-36, or Stubby.
Not being able to make pass the turn for fun level, I can't give any meaningful opinion on your other questions.
I won't worry about getting turning materials. When you can sell your works at galleries, buyers pay for them.
Gordon
Newbee ?????
Safety First! Join a local area club or find a mentor to help you gain experience. Safety First! It doesn't really matter what size or brand of lathe. Safety First! If it seems like I have a one-track mind, that's experience!
Safety First! Join a local area club or find a mentor to help you gain experience. Safety First! It doesn't really matter what size or brand of lathe. Safety First! If it seems like I have a one-track mind, that's experience!
Best source of information is a local AAW chapter.
http://www.woodturner.org/community/chapters/members.pl?submit=Chapter+List#ON
http://www.woodturner.org/community/chapters/members.pl?submit=Chapter+List#ON
thanks so far..
I'm going with the long bed because when I turn vessels I'll be using a one-way laser guided deep hollowing system and long beds accomodate this system best. For the price of a one-way I can get the vicmarc and the accessories. One of my buddies has one, I've tried turning on it and it feels right. One-way is just a 45 minute drive away from me and for all of you one-way afficionados, I've even taken the factory tour! Maybe some day if this works out, I'll purchase the 2436 as well. My wife is feeling sorry for me since I was on my way to work and was hit by a drunk driver about a year ago. Woodturning will be therapy for me so my wife has no problem buying me quality products. Oh, and thanks, I do have the Richard Raffan and Del Stubbs tapes. I have been considering the VB but there is no way I can get that monster down into my basement. Thanks for all the great advice so far!
I'm going with the long bed because when I turn vessels I'll be using a one-way laser guided deep hollowing system and long beds accomodate this system best. For the price of a one-way I can get the vicmarc and the accessories. One of my buddies has one, I've tried turning on it and it feels right. One-way is just a 45 minute drive away from me and for all of you one-way afficionados, I've even taken the factory tour! Maybe some day if this works out, I'll purchase the 2436 as well. My wife is feeling sorry for me since I was on my way to work and was hit by a drunk driver about a year ago. Woodturning will be therapy for me so my wife has no problem buying me quality products. Oh, and thanks, I do have the Richard Raffan and Del Stubbs tapes. I have been considering the VB but there is no way I can get that monster down into my basement. Thanks for all the great advice so far!
turning in basement
look at your air flow.... vents and furnace how close to your work area
how close is the duct work you need dust masks and something for small dust molecules
before you sand anything consider these thing for yourself and your wife
i will try not to harp on these things
but BARK BARK BARK
look at your air flow.... vents and furnace how close to your work area
how close is the duct work you need dust masks and something for small dust molecules
before you sand anything consider these thing for yourself and your wife
i will try not to harp on these things
but BARK BARK BARK