On Fri, 17 Jun 2005 09:24:04 -0400, "David C. Stone"
wrote:

Hopefully spinning up my lathe for the first time soon.

I was wondering if there is any particular wood that you'd
recommend for learning on? Judging by some of the
posts in the past week, I'm guessing that would NOT include
purpleheart or peach!

As a rank amateur myself, I recall turning my very first piece of pine
2"x2" and being very disappointed with the results. The second
material I tried was some 9/4 basswood, and it was a whole lot easier
to work with. Depending on what you've got easy access to, basswood
would be what I'd suggest. It's cheap, and easy to turn- it's also
soft enough to more or less prevent any major catches.