What’s on your lathe?

[Tim Pollock]

I don't know where mine was made - I bought it new not long after we bought this property in 2003. Bought one extra section so it will handle a 16' log. The think came by FedEx! (We have 27 acres and lots of trees, and I've been taking down some by the house and driveway.) The first equipment I got was a Kubota tractor and used it for a log time with skidding tongs to pull logs (welded chain hooks on the bucket and drove backwards to maneuver through the woods.)
I had forks and could sent a log gently on the sawmill then offload the boards and slabs back onto the forks. Also used an old John Deere wheeled skid steer for a long time, then saved up 10 years to buy the trackhoe. Later added the tracked loader/skid steer. Life is good!

When friends who turned green bowls wanted short log sections cut into blanks, I devised a way to hold them to cut out the pith and make flats - make an L-shaped support from two 2x boards and some big lag screws. Lets me support and clamp short pieces for sawing. The end of "L" support is sacrificed but one is long enough to cut up a bunch of chunks.

View attachment 81893
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I love to turn cedar so when I'd get a nice ERC log I'd sometimes cut and sticker slabs, good for shallow bowls, platters, an zillions of spindles!
I'll saw thicker for wood to make hollow forms, vases, etc. I prefer to turn smaller things and almost always from dry wood. ERC us SO easy to dry and incredibly stable.
View attachment 81895
When cutting logs for making turning blanks to dry, I usually use the shop bandsaw. (Made a video on the process.)

But the real fun is when I get wood that turners from the club can use. A neighbor down the hill had a big maple taken down and even the branches were big enough to use - lots of nice crotches too. It's great to have the machine to hold a log for easy sawing, then be able to gently the chunks into their truck or trailer. I'm holding the log below at the far end so this friend could easily cut pieces all the way down the log.

I use the dump trailer in the background to bring the logs to the farm, stack them in my front field for easy access from the county road, the club sends out an email, and people start showing up. Makes anchorsealing the ends easier too. I don't always use the sawmill for this but it still puts wood to good use that would otherwise probably rot or be burned.
View attachment 81896
And occasionally someone who has never operated such a machine like this can get a lesson. (I find the most enthusiastic people are teen girls - for some reason they NEVER get the offers to learn to operate a skid steer or excavator! What a shame...)

JKJ

All the LT series mills are US made, all the LX series mills are Poland made. Something I was unaware of when I bought mine.
That's awesome that you are using the tools you've been blessed with to help others. I'm the same way, I love teaching, sharing and helping others get started in wood crafting.
I wish I was able to travel, I'd try to come visit you sometime. I have narcolepsy so 99.9 % of my time is spent here at home.
I made myself a short log jig too, very similar to yours.

 

[Gary Beasley]

Another cedar bowl on the lathe. This one has an interesting looking crevasse on the bottom side, should be interesting to see how this finishes out.

 

[John K Jordan]

I wish I was able to travel, I'd try to come visit you sometime.

Well, we do get out to Nashville occasionally - maybe I'll holler at you some time.

Hey, I like what look like wheel chocks to stabilize logs - I use a lot of wedges but never thought of small chocks. I have a box of new blades just waiting to spin. I also found out that the local bandsaw blade shop can make bandsaw mill blades cheaper than getting them from Woodmizer.

I spent several years unable to turn, play the piano, drive a car, couldn't do much but sit. - I'd pass out and quit breathing and I think my heart stopped for a while, always woke up hyperventilating and with an insanely irregular pulse - but I always woke up! (Needed CPR just once. ) Finally diagnosed with seizures, all under control with the meds but just have to deal with the side effects.

I'm thankful we have access to good doctors and nurses, ambulance drivers, hospitals, technicians, the people who build diagnostic equipment and develop medicines, and ALL the people who make everything work together - even the girl who answers the phone. I always make a point to thank them all for being there. Imagine how many people in the world have NO such access.

I love teaching more than anything, whether turning, music, welding, incubating peacock eggs, shearing llamas... Had a student here yesterday for skew, sharpening, tool control. My fee is a good story or a good joke. Hey, that last guy owes me a joke!!! Good clean fun

JKJ

 

[Ted Pelfrey]

Well, we do get out to Nashville occasionally - maybe I'll holler at you some time.

Hey, I like what look like wheel chocks to stabilize logs - I use a lot of wedges but never thought of small chocks. I have a box of new blades just waiting to spin. I also found out that the local bandsaw blade shop can make bandsaw mill blades cheaper than getting them from Woodmizer.

I spent several years unable to turn, play the piano, drive a car, couldn't do much but sit. - I'd pass out and quit breathing and I think my heart stopped for a while, always woke up hyperventilating and with an insanely irregular pulse - but I always woke up! (Needed CPR just once. ) Finally diagnosed with seizures, all under control with the meds but just have to deal with the side effects.

I'm thankful we have access to good doctors and nurses, ambulance drivers, hospitals, technicians, the people who build diagnostic equipment and develop medicines, and ALL the people who make everything work together - even the girl who answers the phone. I always make a point to thank them all for being there. Imagine how many people in the world have NO such access.

I love teaching more than anything, whether turning, music, welding, incubating peacocks, shearing llamas... Had a student here yesterday for skew, sharpening, tool control. My fee is a good story or a good joke. Hey, that last guy owes me a joke!!! Good clean fun

JKJ

Ambulance drivers! We prefer EMTS ! Lol

 

[Tim Pollock]

Well, we do get out to Nashville occasionally - maybe I'll holler at you some time.

Hey, I like what look like wheel chocks to stabilize logs - I use a lot of wedges but never thought of small chocks. I have a box of new blades just waiting to spin. I also found out that the local bandsaw blade shop can make bandsaw mill blades cheaper than getting them from Woodmizer.

I spent several years unable to turn, play the piano, drive a car, couldn't do much but sit. - I'd pass out and quit breathing and I think my heart stopped for a while, always woke up hyperventilating and with an insanely irregular pulse - but I always woke up! (Needed CPR just once. ) Finally diagnosed with seizures, all under control with the meds but just have to deal with the side effects.

I'm thankful we have access to good doctors and nurses, ambulance drivers, hospitals, technicians, the people who build diagnostic equipment and develop medicines, and ALL the people who make everything work together - even the girl who answers the phone. I always make a point to thank them all for being there. Imagine how many people in the world have NO such access.

I love teaching more than anything, whether turning, music, welding, incubating peacocks, shearing llamas... Had a student here yesterday for skew, sharpening, tool control. My fee is a good story or a good joke. Hey, that last guy owes me a joke!!! Good clean fun

JKJ

Holler any time John, it would be a pleasure to meet you sir!

Yeah I'm new to milling so I've been trying all kinds of things. LOL Some work, some don't but I'm learning. The most important part is that I'm having fun.

Sounds like we have a lot in common, I play a little music myself but not as much as I use to. Glad to hear they got you sorted out with the seizures. I know that's rough, my daughter in law has seizures bad and it's scary to see it happen to her. That's one of the reason I rarely get out, people that aren't familiar with it tend to freak out when they see me have a narcolepsy attack. It took 5 years for me to be officially diagnosed, mine is an unusual case since it was caused by an accident rather than genetics. I was an equipment mechanic for TDOT but also ran an electrical wiring business and suffered a serious shock to my head.

 

[Tim Pollock]

A cherry crotch log I milled today.

 

[David Wyke]

A morning without a lot of time so second turned a small white oak, maple, and medium size birch.

 

[John K Jordan]

...people that aren't familiar with it tend to freak out when they see me have a narcolepsy attack. It took 5 years for me to be officially diagnosed,..

Freak out for sure. My first seizure was in the JFK airport and I woke up on the floor to a woman slapping my face saying "wake up - I'm a doctor - wake up". My friend said everyone on that crowded hallway to security had stopped and they all looked freaked out. They probably thought they just saw someone die!

I think an extended time for diagnosis is a hard thing - not knowing for sure. I don't know anything about narcolepsy, but for me they couldn't prescribe anti-seizure meds without the diagnostic proof, and that seemed to take SO long - even though it was only a year of tests! And then a while to adapt to side effects.

But back on the topic of "what's on your lathe", after what seemed like forever I could finally put wood on the lathe again! And spin it! And use tools! Yay!

 

[Tim Pollock]

Freak out for sure. My first seizure was in the JFK airport and I woke up on the floor to a woman slapping my face saying "wake up - I'm a doctor - wake up". My friend said everyone on that crowded hallway to security had stopped and they all looked freaked out. They probably thought they just saw someone die!

I think an extended time for diagnosis is a hard thing - not knowing for sure. I don't know anything about narcolepsy, but for me they couldn't prescribe anti-seizure meds without the diagnostic proof, and that seemed to take SO long - even though it was only a year of tests! And then a while to adapt to side effects.

But back on the topic of "what's on your lathe", after what seemed like forever I could finally put wood on the lathe again! And spin it! And use tools! Yay!

Turning definitely helps keep me sane. It's my therapy.

And now back to our previously scheduled programming... and my apologies for taking us off track.

The last two items to come off my lathe before my milling adventure started.

 

[Joel Daniels]

After not turning since May due to building a new shop, finally got back at it. Fresh off the lathe. Small oak bowl: 5 3/4” x 2”.

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

I don't know where mine was made - I bought it new not long after we bought this property in 2003. Bought one extra section so it will handle a 16' log. The thing came by FedEx! (We have 27 acres and lots of trees, and I've been taking down some by the house and driveway.) The first equipment I got was a Kubota tractor and used it for a log time with skidding tongs to pull logs (welded chain hooks on the bucket and drove backwards to maneuver through the woods.)
I had forks and could sent a log gently on the sawmill then offload the boards and slabs back onto the forks. Also used an old John Deere wheeled skid steer for a long time, then saved up 10 years to buy the trackhoe. Later added the tracked loader/skid steer. Life is good!

When friends who turned green bowls wanted short log sections cut into blanks, I devised a way to hold them to cut out the pith and make flats - make an L-shaped support from two 2x boards and some big lag screws. Lets me support and clamp short pieces for sawing. The end of "L" support is sacrificed but one is long enough to cut up a bunch of chunks.

View attachment 81893
View attachment 81894

I love to turn cedar so when I'd get a nice ERC log I'd sometimes cut and sticker slabs, good for shallow bowls, platters, an zillions of spindles!
I'll saw thicker for wood to make hollow forms, vases, etc. I prefer to turn smaller things and almost always from dry wood. ERC us SO easy to dry and incredibly stable.
View attachment 81895
When cutting logs for making turning blanks to dry, I usually use the shop bandsaw. (Made a video on the process.)

But the real fun is when I get wood that turners from the club can use. A neighbor down the hill had a big maple taken down and even the branches were big enough to use - lots of nice crotches too. It's great to have the machine to hold a log for easy sawing, then be able to gently set the chunks into their truck or trailer. I'm holding the log below at the far end so this friend could easily cut pieces all the way down the log.

I use the dump trailer in the background to bring the logs to the farm, stack them in my front field for easy access from the county road, the club sends out an email, and people start showing up. Makes anchorsealing the ends easier too. I don't always use the sawmill for this but it still puts wood to good use that would otherwise probably rot or be burned.
View attachment 81896
And occasionally someone who has never operated such a machine like this can get a lesson. (I find the most enthusiastic people are teen girls - for some reason they NEVER get the offers to learn to operate a skid steer or excavator! What a shame...)

JKJ

In 1998 my brother and I purchased a 1982 LT-30, which I still have. The mill is primarily used to cut lumber but I sometimes use it to split logs for bowl blanks, as shown in this photo from summer 2024.

 

[Kent Reisdorph]

All the LT series mills are US made, all the LX series mills are Poland made. Something I was unaware of when I bought mine.
That's awesome that you are using the tools you've been blessed with to help others. I'm the same way, I love teaching, sharing and helping others get started in wood crafting.
I wish I was able to travel, I'd try to come visit you sometime. I have narcolepsy so 99.9 % of my time is spent here at home.
I made myself a short log jig too, very similar to yours.

View attachment 81902

I was going to run some stuff over to JKJ's place to mill one of these years. You are about 2 hours closer.

 

[Kent Reisdorph]

Ambulance drivers! We prefer EMTS ! Lol

Is that your second job? I noted you said you had two.

 

[John K Jordan]

In 1998 my brother and I purchased a 1982 LT-30

That's one healthy machine! I knew a guy who had one, milled a lot of lumber and sold very inexpensively - I bought a bunch of 8/4 and 10/4 for turning, species I didn't have.

In the corner of the building was a pile of burls. He said when he got logs with burls he cut them off and threw them in the pile. He said people would come and get them - didn't know why but it saved him from having to burn them.

 

[Ted Pelfrey]

Is that your second job? I noted you said you had two.

Yes been in EMS for over 20 years now. 2 years as a basic EMS then 17 as a paramedic been gone for about 6 years now back as an AEMT . Or as John calls us ambulance drivers! Lol

 

[John K Jordan]

Ambulance drivers! We prefer EMTS ! Lol

On one nice trip to the ER (no injury but on the advice of my tele-health RN) there was a guy driving and a girl monitoring vitals, making notes, etc. The "ambulance driver" was crazy, IMO. And no, I wasn't fuzzy headed, hallucinating - I had walked from the house to the vehicle myself, climbed on the gurney. Even the girl seemed to think he was not driving reasonably by her glances when cornering, swerving around traffic. Who knows, maybe she drove the same way, if they took turns!

But got there without ending upside down in the ditch and having to call for three more ambulances!

On another, longer ride from one ER to another, the pace was, it seemed to me, quite reasonable - quick, smooth, and efficient.

But I'm thankful for all of them! Hey, if I ever need another ride I try to schedule it for when I'm in your area and you are on duty.

JKJ

 

[hughie]

The Chess set slowly builds, the white is made of pine. I was going to use Holly, but its badly checked.Its been a somewhat drawn out project with Holidays and family commitments, but the end is in sight.

 

[Tim Pollock]

I was going to run some stuff over to JKJ's place to mill one of these years. You are about 2 hours closer.

Holler at me anytime Kent, I'm always here. It sure is nice to have smooth/flat sided blanks to round out on the vertical bandsaw instead of fighting with uneven surfaces from milling with the chainsaw. Much safer too!