Ol' Blue, my Delta 46-204, has a lowest uncountershafted speed of ~500, and
a capacity of 12" over the bed. Fortunately he is also belt driven, and
when roughing a lumpy blank, I can slow him down by keeping the tool in
contact with as much wood as possible.

I do not cut with the nose of the gouge up, however, but running along the
toolrest toward the tailstock. That way my bevel can really rub what's
fresh cut, slowing the whole thing down, versus bumping and jumping and
possibly tipping in for a catch.

I also move the toolrest in toward the work several times on the average
turning to lessen the piece's leverage.

"william kossack" wrote in message
news:OF4Mb.20081$5V2.33475@attbi_s53...
One of the reasons I've been looking at the Nova is that the Jet and
Delta lathes in the $5-800 range turn too fast for turning unballanced
pieces of wood. It seems that you have to go to a lathe around the
cost of the NOVA DVR to get a slow enough turning speed.

I try my best to trim and shape a blank with either my little electric
chain saw or my bandsaw but there is always something left so it is not
perfectly round. I would typically work for an hour or more rounding
out the chunck before increasing the speed and starting to have fun with
it. All the time watching how much of a bight I'm taking because the
Grizzly would bolg down too easily