First try on a lathe

[Ian James Webster]

Hi all,

I was given an old Craftsman lathe by my father a few weeks ago. I posted a few questions here at the time and received some great advice. Thank you all. Well tonight I finally got around to putting the lathe on the stand and trying it out for the first time. Here are some pictures of the result.

http://s684.photobucket.com/albums/vv205/ianjwebster/First%20lathe%20project%20Nov%202009/

I would greatly appreciate your feed back / comments.

I learned two lessons:

1. A small block of wood makes an amazing amount of wood shavings.
2. I need to learn how to sharpen my tools!

Thanks again for all the previous help, advice and encouragement.

[Judy Kingery]

Ian, from your pictures I'd say you're coming along just fine and fine! Good work! Yep sharp tools are key and I sometimes get my husband to sharpen mine. I can do it, but he's better at it than I am. So hey, enjoy, your first results look great.

Jude

[alex carey]

impressive first piece, nice shape to it, sharp tools is the answer to 95% of the problems turners have.

[ROY DICK]

Ian,
That looks a lot better than my first bowl did. (show off lol).
Keep up the good work.

Roy

[Mike Golka]

Great first bowl, your well on your way!

[John Keeton]

From one newbie to another - Great Job!

[Keith Harrell]

Looks better than my first bowl which was really a bucket in shape.
Look at some the the jigs to help with sharpening like the oneway varigrind-2 or the sharp fast system. They really make it easy or you can build one but sharpening is an important point as you found out.
Good luck

[Bill Arnold]

Ian,

Very nice work! Looks like you're well on your way into the vortex!


...
I learned two lessons:

1. A small block of wood makes an amazing amount of wood shavings.
2. I need to learn how to sharpen my tools!

Thanks again for all the previous help, advice and encouragement.

Sharp tools! After hearing that from everyone on several Forums, I got the Wolverine system and a variable-speed grinder. My lathe is mounted to one of my workbench/cabinets with the grinder/Wolverine two steps to the left. The sharper I keep my tools, the more confident I become. ;)

[gary Zimmel]

Welcome to the Vortex Ian!

I too am quite new to this spinny thing.
And have quickly found the slope very steep...

Nice job on that first bowl.

[charlie knighton]

very nice....

[Ian James Webster]

Thank you all for your kind words and encouragement. This is worse than crack cocaine (allegedly) - one hit and I'm hooked.

I already have a Jet slow speed wet grinder and was thinking of getting the gouge jig for that. Is this a good way to go?

I was also looking at the Easy Wood Tools Ci1 - all the reviews seem positive- what do you all think?

Thank you again.

Ian

[Cyril Griesbach]

Looks better than my first bowl which was really a bucket in shape.
Look at some the the jigs to help with sharpening like the oneway varigrind-2 or the sharp fast system. They really make it easy or you can build one but sharpening is an important point as you found out.
Good luck


I have a student who bought the Vari grind 2. After looking at them with several turning friends at the Ohio Symposium, we felt it was easier to use but overly restrictive in bevel and wing choice. My student returned it and got the original vari grind. Still, it's your choice.

[David E Keller]

Nice looking bowl. Ditto the varigrind/wolverine comments.

One suggestion, please post the photos directly onto SMC... That way, the photos will always be available with your post.

Great job on a first bowl... Thanks for posting

[Ian James Webster]

How do I post the picture directly to SMC? I clicked the button and it asked for the pictures URL? - No idea what to do with that!!! 8-)

[Bernie Weishapl]

Good looking bowl. In the boxes above the one for the URL you can post pictures from your computer. I have mine saved to a folder and I click the browse button and find the folder with the pictures. I then click on the pic's file and tell it to upload. You can do two pictures at a time and only post 5 pic's. Unless you open another post then you can do 5 more. This will tell you more.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/faq.php?s=&do=search&q=How+to+post+pictures&match=all&titlesonly=0

Go down to attachments and images.

[Matt Ranum]

I learned two lessons:

1. A small block of wood makes an amazing amount of wood shavings.
2. I need to learn how to sharpen my tools!


As a newbie myself this sounds strangely familiar.;)

Sure turned out nice though.

[Ian James Webster]

Got it - thank you