Hello all,

It's been a while, but I've been working two jobs all winter
(construction for the boss, and construction as a freelancer on nights
and weekends) and haven't had much time to cool my heels. Of course,
killing yerself has it's advantages- I recently got myself a pretty
nice gloat for a guy I built a shop for the year before last. He
recently opened his own hardwood supply store and became a lathe
dealer, so he was unloading his secondhand machine for a sweet price.
I ended up with a Delta 12" variable speed with a couple of brand new
link belts for $675. Lot of machine for that price (the sucker weighs
400#)- and my first piece of big iron. Add that to a ton (give or
take) of weeping willow burl I got from a customer who was having a
giant willow cut down, and a new chainsaw, and I'm set for a while
with the lathe.

Of course, the march of progress never ends, and I recently saw a
technique I hadn't considered on the DIY network- metal spinning.
Looks like a terribly useful thing to be able to do, and I'm planning
on having the local machinist/welder/small engine repairman (I live in
a small town, so there's still one of those guys around) make me a
tool rest with posts and a "spoon" for doing this. The guy's prices
are pretty good, and he's got the stuff to make whatever I decide to
go with, but I figured it couldn't hurt to see if anyone here has any
first-hand experience doing this to help me get the right stuff.
(For those of you who don't know what this is, here's the link-
http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/wt_too...552588,00.html)

My thought was that I should get the tool rest made of steel flat
stock 1" x 1" x 12" long with 10 pin holes in it (one per inch leaving
out the ends) that are about 3/4" deep. Not sure how long the pins to
go in those holes should be, so there's question one- I'm also
wondering if anyone has a ready-made source for the spinning tool, or
if this is best custom-made- and if so, to what dimentions?

He also used a lubricant on the piece being spun that he said was a
vegitable-based soap. There were no specifics given about this, so
I'm kind of in the dark. Will any old soap work, or must it be a
specific type- and where does a guy find something like that?

All in all, it looks like it might be a fun thing to try out, so any
good advice would be appreciated.

Thanks!