In woodworking the saying goes "You can never have too many clamps" - in
turning it appears it's "You can never have enough turning tools!"

I'd better learn to be ambidextrous - when turning close to the chuck, I
keep rapping my knuckles on it. Not fun.

I need to find a use for all the left over stubs cut off from my practice
pieces.

Catches are scary

I find it easier to turn between centers when the speed is up around 1800.

Question:

What is a good way to get a high polished finish? I turned a walnut finial
and sanded it to 400 grit. Put some shellac on it and followed up with
Johnsons paste wax. Got a really nice hand rubbed look but I was looking for
something with a little more shine. I'm guessing I could remove it from the
lathe and spray it with a gloss finish but I wondered of there were any
finishes that could be applied while the piece is on the lathe. I skimmed
through a few online catalogs but what saw looked just like the same
products I use for my woodworking projects - urethane, waterlox, etc.

Having fun and just turned my two first projects - a small lidded box and a
finial that I plan to use as a knob on a box.

Vic

--
There are 10 kinds of people - those who understand binary and those who
don't