Woodturning Advice

[gregmcateer]

In my humble opinion, DEFINITELY get a couple of lessons from a pro, or at least join a club and find one of the members who seems to know what they are talking about, but is not a 'know it all' show off.
And do that before you buy - you won't regret it, in my view

 

[RoyWoodworker]

Thanks for all the good advice which I will take on board.
Before posting here I was looking at AXMINSTER CRAFT AC305WL WOODTURNING LATHE .
Would appreciate your comments.

 

[Normancb]

One of my friends, new to our club, bought the Faithful set and I sharpened them for him and tried them. The steel seems OK but it's a very odd selection of tools. There are two nearly identical continental style spindle gouges, a small circular section spindle gouge. two skews, a diamond point scraper and a round nosed scraper. There is no bowl gouge and no spindle roughing gouge. Far better to buy either a better chosen set or just a basic collection of individual tools.

If budget is really tight you can start with a roughing gouge and a parting tool with handles, buy the rest unhandled and make your own handles. Good practice and simple turning - use a bit of 22mm copper pipe to make ferrules.

 

[HamsterJam]

Basics to begin are…
Lathe plus a face plate and some centres (these are often included with a new lathe)
Tools probably a Spindle roughing gouge, spindle gouge, bowl gouge, parting tool, round nose scraper and maybe a skew.
Some method of sharpening the tools including a jig for the gouges
PPE - minimum full face shield and a proper FP3 dust mask.
Some instruction

After that you will soon want a chuck, more tools lots of wood etc etc and likely a bigger lathe and a bigger workshop…,,

 

[HamsterJam]

Thanks for all the good advice which I will take on board.
Before posting here I was looking at AXMINSTER CRAFT AC305WL WOODTURNING LATHE .
Would appreciate your comments.

Not used one but they do get good reviews and it’s not too dissimilar to to my JWL1220 which is a solid lump for its size. Just be aware you are limited in what you can turn on a small lathe but it will still be a great starter.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Every club lathe had a skew chisel, spindle, roughing and bowl gouges and a parting tool - that was deemed sufficient for 90% of all turning. Yes, it's nice to have other tools, but they're not often necessary and are often difficult to justify cost wise.

 

[Chris152]

Dust extraction/ ventilation is important.

 

[Adam W.]

Thanks for all the good advice which I will take on board.
Before posting here I was looking at AXMINSTER CRAFT AC305WL WOODTURNING LATHE .
Would appreciate your comments.

I think you get a free in store turning lesson with an Axminster lathe purchase. That was the case a year ago, anyway.

 

[Stigmorgan]

I spent years watching various YouTubers wanting to learn but was put off slightly but the costs involved u til I found my record power lathe on that tree of gum site for £30, it was a bit grubby but seemed to run well and just needed a good clean up, it didn't have any tools with it so I took my time cleaning it up then picked up a spindle roughing gouge, a bowl gouge and a skew at a show, I can do most of what I need with those, since then I've bought a chuck and a bench grinder for sharpening, my next purchases will be sharpening jigs, parting tool, scraper and possibly some detailing gouges for the smaller details.

 

[TomGW]

I bought my first lathe on Gumtree. A Record CL1 on the stand, complete with chuck, faceplate, selection of toolrests (including for outboard turning) at least 20 tools, Record drum extractor and an 8” Record grinder. All for the asking price of £275. The previous owner was moving into an apartment and was disposing of all his workshop.
I would keep an eye on Gumtree in January. Maybe someone will be upgrading as a Christmas present to themselves and letting their previous one go.

 

[Hutzul]

Variable speed is great if you can afford it. It saves me changing belts when turning off-balance stuff

 

[AdrianUK]

Agree with what’s been said already, all good advice, especially with some tuition and safety equipment - full face protection masks readily available, new eyes not so.

I returned to turning after nearly 35 years, acquired an vintage record bench top lathe and an Axi starter set of chisels, so as not to outlay to much whilst testing the water so to speak. Essentially confirming it was something I really wanted to get into. I soon sold the bench lathe, (for the same as I paid) it having confirmed that a bench top, whilst good to learn on, I would soon find restricting. After some research, I bought a record power herald which will probably do all I need it to.

I took a couple of lessons at the start, to cover basics, equipment, safety, sharpening etc, all very useful.
If you don’t have a turning club nearby, which I would advocate as your first point of contact as there will be a high level of experience, may be worth checking out your local Men’s Sheds. Both my local ones have a lathe, one has two, but, do check that there is good knowledge there also, ask polite but direct questions regarding experience to confirm your getting proper advise. However, as said already, paid tuition is best option in my view.

The point is well made ref’ what you need to start and how it can easily grow, restraint is definitely required. To see the danger lurking to your wallet, take a at some woodturners early YouTube workshop tour videos, then look at their latest tours to see how stuff has grown. Wish I had !

After the Lathe and turning tools, I would strongly advise to focus on a repetitive sharpening system, as not being able to maintain a sharp edge on chisels will quickly dampen your enthusiasm and can lead to safety mishaps. Yep, you can freehand, and some will tell you it’s the best way, but not for me and a great many turners.

You don’t need anything too to fancy to start, a bench grinder, but DO swap out the grey wheels to cooler cutting types, grey wheels generate lots of heat and not suited to HSS tools, (pink or white aluminium oxide wheels are fine to start) and a couple of jigs that will allow you to quickly repeat the same edge each time with minimal fuss.

I started with my small bench grinder, I purchased the wolverine system, ( approx’ £150, plenty good for me as a start off system, not overly expensive and easy to sell on when I wanted to move up a step. Now use Sorby pro edge.
Apart from the basics, add what you need when you need it. Just a faceplate can get you going, but a chuck will be on your radar very soon and will make things much easier.

 

[SteveBartley]

Good advice all round here. I’m a newbie myself. I joined a 12 week course at a local college in the evenings. Invaluable. I had bought nothing prior other than join this forum and took their sage advice. The course gave me a range of lathes to work on, a great selection of tools to use each week, a skilled instructor, a range of other participants with widely varying experience. The course cost me £170 but the tuition, support, advice and skills I got access to has been worth every penny and probably saved me more. Stopped me making some potentially bad choices. I’ve since bought a lathe and many other essentials through the Market section on the forum. And 11 weeks into the course am in a good place to start turning at home in my little workshop ( well shed really).

 

[Dave Moore]

Seen a few pre Christmas offers on Wood Turning Lathes, but as a complete beginner, I am not sure where to start.
Also if I brought a Lathe what else would I need? Any help or advice appreciated.

There’s plenty of cheap secondhand lathes. I bought a Myford ML8 and a cheap set of chisels and just made shavings. I was lucky that Chris Scott lived local to me so I did a two day course with him. His favourite saying was just make wood shavings. Be careful as you can spend a fortune and then find out you perhaps didn’t need a certain tool. I’ve made plenty of pens just using a 1/2” cheap skew and used the same tool for lots of other things. Just enjoy making loads of shavings and you will soon be perfect at it, well making shavings anyway.
Regards,
Dave

 

[Sideways]

A lathe is a nice thing to have in the shed. It can let you make something presentable, maybe useful and quite quickly.
I owned one for a couple of years, enjoyed it and sold on intending to trade up. In the event, I traded up to a metalworking lathe !
Some thoughts from the journey so far.
I don't think of myself as very artistic, but really enjoyed looking and thinking about the shapes of bowls. That was my thing. I wasn't at all interested in "spindle" turning between centres, kids toys or the like. Your particular interests mean that some lathes will suit you better than others. They also affect the turning tools you need and use most, and the same for chucks etc.

Although not bothered about spindle work, it was very useful being able to knock out handles for stuff, from machine handles to turning tool handles to a new one for the potato masher !

I got into pen turning and spent a fair few pounds on a mandrel and micromesh pads and the like so that I could make a bunch of pens in diamondcast resin. Had a blast making some really pretty pens but after a dozen and a half, I'd scratched the itch and I've put that away for a while. I'll probably go back to it in a year or two if I see some pretty pen blanks.

It was great watching demos by the visiting pros at the local club and at the nearerest Axminster. Good motivation. My wife IS very artistic and we teamed up with me turning bowls for her to paint and stain.

Here's a link to one of many youtube videos I found interesting.

Jump to 1min 30 sec in.
Ashley Harwood learnt from Stuart Batty, the son of the late Allan Batty, a well known turner. She's a good bowl turner herself, but this video shows her taking on a production turning job where she had to knock out a great pile of legs, accurately, consistently and on a v short deadline.
You don't see so much about production turning and I found it enlightening.

Have fun !

 

[Wood&StuffLtd]

Seen a few pre Christmas offers on Wood Turning Lathes, but as a complete beginner, I am not sure where to start.
Also if I brought a Lathe what else would I need? Any help or advice appreciated.

When I suggested to my family that I would like to take up woodturning on retirement they suggested going on a course run by Axminster Tools. I did and was completely hooked. I came away with basic skills which you develop by doing. The lathe and tools you aquire is entirely dependant on your budget and what you want to make. If there is a local club, joint it. It is also worth buying some books to get ideas, many books are second hand on eBay. I use Youtube to ideas especially for advanced technigues. I take safety seriously and never turn without dust control and PPE in place, especially a Trend safety mask. An afternoon spent in the eye hospital is no joke! Two years with no holidays away has helped my hobby and kit purchases without too much complaint! Good luck.

 

[KT -andy]

Don't forget your ppe !
Of all the bits and bobs I've bought , the trend airshield is the best bit of kit . It'll save your lungs and your kisser !

 

[kinverkid]

Some great advice here, wish I had it when I started many years ago. The idea about joining a local club is a good one. You may find you've got people there that will be willing to give, lend or sell you stuff they've no use for. Plus, there might be someone willing to part with some blanks for you to practice on. Just so happens that this week Rex Kreuger started a series on buying kit starting with a new lathe this week.

Gary