On Wed, 7 Jan 2009 12:09:52 -0600, wrote
(in message
):

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.

yeah, and once you turn some stuff you like... well, you will be learning new
skills to add to your flat work skills

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

well, of course... and remember that the line is liable to change and shift
from time to time.
Resistance is futile...


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.

so, who cares about unique? Do it because it is fun and satisfying and you
can make useful stuff and you can learn things - the unique will come when it
comes, kinda like love, and you can't force it or measure it or schedule it
or predict it. You will know it when it happens and then you can nurture it.
Just make sure you are safe when you do it.

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.

exactly!


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.

that might be me. The PSI chuck has a capacity of 8 inches, if you are
clamping onto the outer rim, surface, or edge of a thing. It has two sets of
screws for doing the grabbing... short ones, about an inch long and longer
ones, about double that length, with tapered rubbery somethings on them to
enhance their grip. I have not yet tested the holding abilities of the longer
screws yet. I did do a little experimenting with the shorter screws, to see
what it would take to launch a piece of semi-dry unbalanced birch a couple of
inches thick. Mainly, I think this chuck is for putting the finishing touches
on something that does not need a lot of heavy cutting. The force of the tool
on the wood has to be less than the force of friction which is holding the
wooden object to the chuck. Overall, I am satisfied with this chuck, even
though I have not begun to really wring it out, yet. Like any other tool I
have, I try to learn its limits and work more or less within them.

tom koehler


--
I will find a way or make one.