On Jan 7, 12:32 am, "
wrote:
Building up your lathe tool collection has to start somewhere, and the
HF tools are great for learning how to grind, sharpen and use the
tools.

I bought a $20 bowl gouge from LV to go with the chuck. It's kind of
funny that it's still a "cheap" gouge but it costs almost as much as
all my other ones put together. Hell, I just spent $100 on
bubblewrap and packing peanuts, and that isn't going last more than a
month or two.

And as far as a cheaper lathe, it will allow you to identify the
features you want on your next machine. (You know there WILL be a
next one, right?) It can also help you decide how big you want to
turn. I have a Jet mini and a Nova 3000. But for the most part, I
turn on the Jet mini as it is really easy to make small projects on,
you know, the kind that get finished.

I do mostly flat work, I got a lathe mainly for a specific need for
some 2.5" diameter half-rounds. I could get 2.5" dowels in cherry
from Rockler, but I wanted walnut too. And being able to make it
myself I could get the half rounds much easier than having to cut the
dowel lengthwise, and cheaper to boot. But I *really* resisted
getting that lathe because I knew it was a slippery slope. Upgrading
the lathe, well it will happen eventually, but it needs to get in line
behind every other tool in the shop

For the most part I think I am staying mainly with the flat work, I
think I've gotten my skills up to where I am able to do most anything
I put my mind to and am having fun and doing I think some different
kind of work. I think to be able to do anything unique at the lathe
is going to take a very long time of building up skills and going down
well trodden paths. Maybe I will get there by accident eventually.
I have this idea to do a sunflower bowl, walnut bowl with a thick lip
that I can drill 1/4" holes around the edge for dowels, with
yellowheart or canarywood petals done separately. It's either going
to be cool or look ridiculous, I'm excited to find out which.

Now all you have to do is match up the rest of your equipment to match
your cool top line chuck.

Actually what I have to do now is wait for the bowl blanks to get
here And I need to make a box to give all the chuck parts a home.
And I have to figure out how I am going to finish the foot on the
bowls since all I have at this point is the #2 jaws. I have a
birthday coming up next month, I'm thinking about that dedicated bowl
finishing chuck from PSI another poster mentioned a while back. The
mini-jumbo jaws cost almost as much as it did does, so it seems like a
good option. Especially since I can already tell for each set of jaws
that get used regularly eventually that's going to mean another chuck
getting bought, so it's more like $120 vs $275 not $120 vs $100.
Eight screws! There may as well be a rubik's cube on there. At least
if I dropped it I'd be able to find it behind the lathe

Mostly I am just procrastinating from doing the final sanding and
first coat of finish on some boxes that need to get done this week.
Mother nature is helping out by covering the driveway in snow/ice/rain
soup, how thoughtful.


-Kevin