virgin!

[soscott]

Ok, here goes! I became interested in taking up wood turning this past summer while visiting North Carolina and seeing some beautiful wooden bowls in several craft markets. I live in South Florida and we have a lot of oak and melalueca. I want to buy a used lathe with whatever tools I would need to turn bowls from say 8" to 12". Any place that I can start looking? Anyone have a lathe for sale that would be a good starter. What sort of start upcosts am I looking at? Can't wait to hear from you!

Sincerely,

Steve Scott

 

[hockenbery]

Steve,

Check out the local clubs near you.
http://www.woodturner.org/community/chapters/members.pl?submit=Chapter+List

Call the contact person. Ask them what is available in your area. You can be sure whoever answers the phone will enjoy talking to you about turning.

Taking a few lessons will get you on the right tracks real quick.

Our clubs in Central Florida have lots of programs for beginners.

South Florida is a big place so I can't point you anywhere specifically.
You also have a lot more woods beyond oak and melalueca. But do cut every melalueca you find.

Also check out the Florida Woodturning Symposium. http://www.floridawoodturningsymposium.com/
This is a great opportunity to see how to use the tools and see different lathes up close.
They have hands on classes at this late date they are most likely filled

happy Turning,
Al

 

[Matt Meadows]

Being a newcomer myself, roughly a year, and turning a dozen or three bowls and other oddball items, maybe I can offer some advice.

Tools, major sticker shock, but worth it- usually.
Get a 1/2" or 5/8" bowl gouge from a reputable company like Crown, P&N, etc... This is by long and far the most useful tool you'll ever use.

Second, as soon as you can find one, take a good bowl turning class. WoodCraft often offers such. You'll learn more than you can imagine if the teacher is good, which they usually are.

Third, don't bog yourself down in fretting over finish options. Your first dozen bowls and such won't be something you'll be trying to sell to a museum, So I'd stick to either of these two simple finishes to gain some knowledge:
---Minwax Paste wax, the finer you sand the wood, the better it will look. Nice, clean, warm look. Will need reapplication after a while.
----Deft Lacquer (from Lowes), diluted 50/50 with lacquer thinner. Sand to 320 or so, mix up the thinner/lacquer mix, and wipe on (with lathe on low speed) a very thin coat with a paper towel. Repeat as many times as you wont. It will NOT build this way but will look better and have have more sheen than paste wax alone, will last much longer as well.

 

[arbud]

Look here

Go to page 15 of this forum. There are several threads that may be helpful to you. Also use the site search engine for specific subjects.

 

[bonsaipeter]

Order of Buying Things

Welcome to one of World's greatest addictions!

You are starting from scratch which can be a good thing if handled properly. Before you spend a dime, the suggestion that you contact a local chapter of the AAW, go to a couple of their meetings and talk to several of the members about what type of turning you are primarily interested in is very sound advice. Woodturners are great guys, but most have very definite personal opinions about lathes, tools, finishes, etc., therefore talk to several and weigh carefully what they tell you against your personal interests and budget. Once you have determined what type of lathe you want, begin your search for one. I am the assistant manager at the Woodcraft Store in Roanoke, VA and what I tell people who are starting out from scratch is that the order of purchasing turning equipment should be:

1) A Lathe, since you can't do any turning without one.

2) Shapening Equipment, turning tools dull in approx. 10 minutes of turning in dry wood and quickly becomes a study in frustration instead of a pleasure. With proper sharpening equipment you can resharpen your tools in less than 30 seconds and get back to your first love, turning. Don't minimize the importance of keeping your tools sharp!!! It's a one-time investment that will pay you back handsomely for years to come.

3) Turning Tools, You are much better off with a few good quality tools than a bunch of middle of the road ones. Always seek the heaviest duty tool you can get that is appropiately sized for the work you want to do. The heavier the tool, the less the vibration and chatter. You stated that you want to do bowls. You can get away with just a good bowl gouge and parting tool for openners. A roughing gouge is a good optional tool to have. Master the use of these basic tools and then you can add others as you wish.

Each of the three topics are studies in themselves. Take them one at a time and spend your money judiciously.

Most importantly, BE SAFE AND ENJOY.

Peter Toch

 

[Joe Fisher]

As a fellow nooooooobie...

...let me offer my insight by building on bonsai's post:

1) A Lathe, since you can't do any turning without one.

I started off by finding a 1953 ShopSmith ER10 at a garage sale for $175. I'm still using it to turn, and have done bowls up to 12" with it, with only a little bit of fear

I'm glad I was able to find something inexpensive to start with. This allowed me to find the direction I wanted to go (I've fallen in love with bowls), so I was able to make an educated decision when it came time to buy a big lathe.

You can get a Mini lathe for < $200 to get started. That'll let you do pens, ornaments, small bowls, goblets, boxes. Or, as other posters have mentioned, find a club so you can play with their machines for free.

2) Shapening Equipment

Absolutely. I have a 6" Delta vari-speed grinder, for which I made my own Wolverine-style jig from King Heple's plans. Most people will recommend an 8" grinder. It's definately better, but not neccesary.

The important thing here is not to fear sharpening. Once you do it once or twice, sharpening touch-ups at the wheel only take a few seconds. And as bonsai said, a sharp tool makes a WORLD of difference. I was trying to figure out why my roughing gouge wasn't roughing. I changed my grip, changed my stance, presented the tool differently, nothing worked. Then the light bulb came on, I spent 30 seconds at the grinder, and the chips were a-flyin.

3) Turning Tools, You are much better off with a few good quality tools than a bunch of middle of the road ones.

Well, I'll half agree here. While this is good advice, it's hard to know which tools you'll want to buy if you haven't used them. I picked up a $30 set of Buck Bros chisels at HD to start with, so I learned what a skew does (besides catch), how a gouge works, etc.

That said, if you've decided you just want to do bowls, a good 1/2" bowl gouge and perhaps a scraper would be all the basics you need. I use my bowl gouge almost exclusively when I turn bowls. For around $50, you can get a very high-quality bowl gouge that will last you a lifetime. I just purchased a Crown Pro PM 1/2" gouge from Tangboy5000 for somewhere around that price. I can't wait to play with it

Most importantly, BE SAFE AND ENJOY.

Hear, hear! Turning is absolutely the most fun I've had with a piece of wood, next to skateboarding

And be sure to post pictures of your work, both good and bad. It's always a learning experience.

OH! How could I forget? If you want to make bowls, grab Bill Grumbine's DVD. I read this advice over and over again in the forums, and said, "How good could it be?" Then I was fortunate enough to get a lession with Mr. G, and bought his DVD while I was there. Best $30 I've spent in my turning career. If nothing else, for the dry humor

-Joe

 

[dkulze]

Hi Steve,

Will go out on a limb here and suggest a settup that will cost you about $1000 and cover you for a couple of years.

First things first: Face shield and 3M cartridge respirator. Total investment of about $45 that is an absolute necessity. Remember, goggles don't stop chunks from taking out your nose and teeth, and dust masks don't stop the small stuff that kills ya. It's the biggest stuff and the smallest stuff that'll get ya.

Lathe: Jet Mini (non VS) $200. Most versitile and bomb-proof little beast out there. You'll still be using it for years after you get a big boy.

Tools: Woodcraft has a nice set of Pinnacle tools on sale for $159. It's an 8 tool set that contains a good selection of gouges, a skew, and a couple of big and thick scrapers. The 5 piece on sale for $99 is a bit short on gouge size (1/4 inch vs. 3/8). Will be all you need for a few years unless you get into deep hollowing.

Chuck: a nice little Nova Midi for about $120 or Grizzly/Penn State for $89. I like the Nova cause it's a good, solid chuck and jaws will be interchangable if you upgrade to a larger Nova. Folks complain about needing 3 hands to use a tommy bar chuck but, if you use the tool rest close in to brace one bar, it is easy to use with 2 hands.

Grinder setup: $80 for a nice little slow speed grinder, $25 for a low heat wheel, and $130 for a Wolverine setup and varigrind attachment. Worth it's cost 10x over for quality of turning, shortening learning curves, safety, and lengthening tool life.

Band Saw: El Cheapo 14" or slightly nicer used saw, $200. This will pretty much cover you for milling and resawing for quite a while and will keep you from spending beaucaup bucks on processed wood.

All this leaves you $50-100 for sandpaper, eurythane oil and wax, and your $20 membership to the nearest AAW club.

How's that?

Dietrich

P.S.(almost forgot, another $500 for the new stove/washer/linen set/earrings to appease your wife)