If you want to do spiraling and other fancies, an ornamental mill will
work with most any wood. At least my Legacy does, my first project was
a very nice maple pen with a rope spiral - no tearouts - and will be
soon working with walnut and oak. Since the legacy uses a router, the
power to cut doesn't go through the wood as it does in a lathe and the
surface is as clean as with any router work. No, it's not really
turning but the results are great and, although the process requires
much forethought, is fairly easy.