Sad beginnings

[pat from Marck]

A sad beginning it's been 5 weeks now since I was given a lathe after a friend passed away. Due to circumstances of the previous owner it had fallen into a fair bit of neglect but got stuck right in with leaning the lathe renovating both the lathe and tools watching YouTube videos and getting advice from my mentor and friend Pierre. Even popped back over to England for a work related course and in the process visited Stiles and Bates in Sutton Kent for some much needed parts and tools. Lovely little shop out in the sticks so to speak and boy did I feel like a kid in a candy shop. So for the last four weeks keeping it simple I've started practicing making mushroom shapes with old cypress wood that I an abundant access to. Not exactly brilliant stuff, as all the knots and cracks are reaching me what can and cannot be used. Then this last week changed to making birds nest/boxes and during this stage whilst finishing off the first of three boxes the drive belt wheel from the motor suffered a catastrophic failure. Thank goodness for the motor and belt cover. Anyway whilst researching for new parts I've come across this forum so thank you inscribing me and a hello from Marck in the north of France

 

[Bingy man]

Hello and welcome, if you post the model number and name of your lathe I’m confident there will be members of this forum that can help and advise you. Also photos of your lathe.

 

[Stigmorgan]

Welcome to the asylum, woodturning is a wonderful journey, as a beginner myself (a little over a year in) I would say that soft woods can take longer to learn with, it's harder to get a clean cut and can lead to frustration, a lot of my early practice wood was silver birch as I had a massive amount of it, then I moved onto Oak and Sycamore which were a lot easier to work with even though they are harder woods.

 

[pat from Marck]

Welcome to the asylum, woodturning is a wonderful journey, as a beginner myself (a little over a year in) I would say that soft woods can take longer to learn with, it's harder to get a clean cut and can lead to frustration, a lot of my early practice wood was silver birch as I had a massive amount of it, then I moved onto Oak and Sycamore which were a lot easier to work with even though they are harder woods.

Thank you for the encouragement my mate has given me a box of speckled beech or birch off cuts to work with which I plan to get straight into after I've repaired the lathe and finished my nest boxes

 

[Jameshow]

Welcome to the asylum, woodturning is a wonderful journey, as a beginner myself (a little over a year in) I would say that soft woods can take longer to learn with, it's harder to get a clean cut and can lead to frustration, a lot of my early practice wood was silver birch as I had a massive amount of it, then I moved onto Oak and Sycamore which were a lot easier to work with even though they are harder woods.

I don't think you can really still describe yourself as a beginner!

 

[Stigmorgan]

I don't think you can really still describe yourself as a beginner!

Stick my best next to @Lefley worst and I'm definately an amateur
Having watched a few of the demonstrations at the world woodturning online sympsosium I am feeling very motivated, one that I really liked was called "barely there" he takes an elbow shaped piece and turns the outside half away forming a negative space bud vase, they're amazing and has given me some ideas for a few of the pieces I got last week.

 

[Lefley]

Stick my best next to @Lefley worst and I'm definately an amateur
Having watched a few of the demonstrations at the world woodturning online sympsosium I am feeling very motivated, one that I really liked was called "barely there" he takes an elbow shaped piece and turns the outside half away forming a negative space bud vase, they're amazing and has given me some ideas for a few of the pieces I got last week.

Well I'm glad you were able to catch a few demos. They do get you motivated and advancing very quickly. And I agree, your definitely not a beginner anymore!

 

[Lefley]

Well I'm glad you were able to catch a few demos. They do get you motivated and advancing very quickly. And I agree, your definitely not a beginner anymore!

Wow, I missed all the demos, had to work, but going to watch all recordings. The barely there is cool!

 

[Stigmorgan]

Wow, I missed all the demos, had to work, but going to watch all recordings. The barely there is cool!

Yeah 100% gonna try it out myself, have a couple pieces that may work well for it.

 

[Homeless Squirrel]

Hi Welcome