I got a Jet Mini lathe a few weeks ago after many recommendations from this
newsgroup. I wanted to post some pictures of a few of my first turnings.
Look for them over in rec.binaries.pictures.woodworking.

They maybe not up to everyone's standards in this group, but certainly
enough to make this novice very happy! I've always heard that woodturning
was addictive and now I see how true that is. Great stress relief for me
every evening.

A big problem I have right now is learning how to finish properly. I find my
self rushing through the finish of what I'm working on so I can get to
turning on the next bowl. Just something about making those shaving fly!!!
I guess its ok now, but I realize at some point, I'll need to concentrate
more on finish.

I do have a couple of question, though.

First....I have an unlimited supply of oak where I live and that's what I've
been playing with mostly. When I'm sanding the oak, I seem to run into
problems where the grain bends over in the direction that I sand. If I run
my hand over it in the direction the lathe turns it feels very smooth, but
if I run my hand backwards across that grain, I can feel the roughness of
the grain. Seems like if I could reverse the lathe and sand in both
directions, it would be better. How do I handle this with my Mini being
able to run only in one direction. I'm not power sanding. Just by hand with
the lathe running.

Second...When shaping my bowls, sometimes the oak grain has a tendancy to
break off instead of cutting or slicing. It always seems to do this when
the grain turn direction in ther wood creating an endgrain on the side of
the bowl. Not all chunks of wook do this, however, when one does, there
doesn't appear to be too much I can do to stop it. I make sure and sharpen
tools and it continues to happen. What can I do?

Walker