Howdy everyone

[Tim Thiebaut]

First off I wanted to stop in and say hi to everyone, I have been lurking here for a while now and have really enjoyed reading all of the posts, and seeing all of the pictures you all have posted here. I have done some very minor turning through the years, high school decades ago, and about 20 years ago I aquired a antique/vintage/junky old lathe that I turned on for years, just little things to amuse myself and my daughter when she was younger. I have also done a lot of flat work through the years, furniture/cabinet making etc...but have always loved turning, just didnt have any modern equipment to do it with.

Last week I noticed Rocklers was having a sale on the Jet 1220vs that I have been drooling over for more then a year now and I took the plunge, it should be here any day! I have a list of things I want to get before it does get here, Oneway Talon chuck, Sorby mini texture tools, a set of PS mini turning tools as I plan of doing small things at least to start, what I really want is a sorby thread chaser set as well. I received a 25% off email from rockler today, I was thinking I would go in and pick up the chuck tomorrow and use the coupon as it runs out tomorrow. Anyway, just wanted to say hi, and let you all know a little about me....Tim

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Welcome to the Creek, Tim! and....Welcome to the Vortex!

Take a photo of any money you have in your wallet. Get an 8"x10" print and frame it and mount it on the wall above your lathe. Then years from now you can look at it and remember what money used to look like!:eek::rolleyes:

Enjoy yourself!

Again..Welcome!

[Mike Willeson]

Welcome Tim. Great guys here...lots of good information and conversation.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Hi, welcome! Just my $0.02. Skip the mini turning tools. Get regular sized tools. You can turn small things with big tools, but you cannot turn big things with small tools...... My Jet mini came with a cheapo set of mini tools. I tried turning. Too much flex, unless you want to turn a lot of chess men. The mini texture tools should be okay though, although I don't own any.
Oh, goood choice on the lathe. Wish that was available when I got mine.

[Alan Trout]

Welcome Tim,

I sounds like you are going to have a lot of fun. Not sure what you mean by turning little things. Unless these are micro items normal sized tools will do as well or better on just standard small items. Just IMHO.

Good luck and congratulations.

Alan

[Billy Tallant]

Welcome to the Creek, Tim!

You are about to enter into a world or no return. Your pocket book will be kept empty. No matter the size of your shop space, you will be filling it up with chunks of wood. Small scrap pieces of wood that you would have normally thrown away will now start accumulating at a rapid rate. It's a wonderful world that we live in. Enjoy your new hobby. I started 2 years ago with a Jet 1014. I started with large size tools. I bought a mini set of tools also. The mini set is never touched.

[Robert McGowen]

5:30 am and 3 people already beat me to it. Skip the mini tools and welcome to the Creek. :)

[John Keeton]

Welcome to the creek!!! Great to have you jumping in the water with the rest of us. We are all drowning, but save yourself - we are too far gone!!:D

Agree on the mini tools. I bought the exact same set, used it once and sold it.

PSI tools (Benjamin Best) are very good tools for the money, and the 6 piece HSS Lathe set ($89.95) is a pretty good assortment for the money, though I would be more inclined to get the HF set for about $40, and add a PSI bowl gouge or two. You will get a few more tools in the HF set that you can use or repurpose. In particular, the square nose scraper and a larger spindle gouge, both of which come in handy. I believe there are two spindle gouges in the HF set, as well, but no bowl gouge.

I don't have the other toys you mention, so can't comment.

[David E Keller]

Welcome, and congratulations on the new lathe. I"m with the others on the mini turning tools... Even for small scale items, I don't think you'll find them all that useful. I've got the Sorby thread chasing set, and I've really enjoyed it. The texturing/spiraling tool is on my wish list.

Looking forward to seeing some roundish things from your new lathe!

[Roger Chandler]

The VORTEX claims another victim! :D Welcome Tim, you will have a great time here at the Creek..........lots of nice folks who can help you when you run into "how to" issues.

Don't worry about your wallet..........it's only money! ;)

[Steve Schlumpf]

Welcome to the Creek Tim! Looking forward to seeing the photos of your new lathe once it arrives!

I see you are from Littleton - great area! Lived there in the mid-80s!

[gary Zimmel]

Welcome to the Creek Tim. Hang on this turning thing is a wild ride...

[Bernie Weishapl]

Welcome to SMC Tim. Lots of good people and lots of knowledge. Congrats on the lathe. I have that one which is the Variable speed model and it is a great lathe. I agree with others about buying the mini set. I got one and sold it after using one tools. Did not like it at all. Handles to short and hard to work with IMHO. As John said the Benjamin's Best 6 piece set for $89 is a good set and was my first set that I still use most of them today. I also have the Sorby mini texturing tool and it is a great little tool along with the Sorby threaders which are 16 tpi. You can add detail spindle gouges, smaller spindle gouges, smaller bowl gouges from PSI as you go along and need them. For the money I think they are a great value and great to learn with. Have fun and enjoy.

[bob svoboda]

Welcome and congratulations on you lathe purchase. Don't ever look back....all you will see is a trail of $$$$ :D

[Greg Just]

Welcome Tim:

While I can't speak for the lathe, I did purchase the purple handled tools from Harbor Frieght. I like some of them and have re-ground some to my liking. For the price, you can't beat them for a beginning set.

Looking forward to seeing you post some of your work.

[Michael James]

Hi Tim and welcome neighbor. Im due south of you!
+1 again on the HF set - I got them both (dups) and prefer the ash handled ones, but they're the cheaper of the 2 sets..then as John K suggested PSI has some hi speed steel tools to get you started for bowl gouges, etc.
Also, I like to hollow little things too, and I bought the sorby micro hollowing set, and when I ditched their useless instructions on sharpening and just took em to the grinder, I was having awesome micro fun:D.
Get a grinder with good wheels or you will get frustrated fast. Until I got mine trued up, attempting to sharpen was a real pain. It truly makes all the difference in the world. Have fun, turn safely, and plz post your work!
mj

[Tim Thiebaut]

Wow I knew I would get all kinds of great advice from you all, the mini's are out, looks like I will use that money to invest in some tools from PS, thanks for the input on this! As for spending a lot of money on tools, I have spent the last 30 years of my life as a locksmith/safecracker and I dont know think there are to many trades out there that love their tools more then locksmiths..lol, so throwing money at tools comes easy for me, I should fit right in at turning! I did go and buy my chuck this morning with the coupon I received, I saved $60 bucks and got the talon chuck for $160!

I have always collected wood for projects around here whether it was for small furniture projects or other small projects I was working on, just not with turning in mind. Hard woods are not as widely avalible here in colorado as they are back home in maine, pine is the dominent wood here and that is not the greatest for turning.

Do any of you guys/gals use the Beall Tween Mandrel and if so what is your opinion of it, this has been on my wish list for long time as well but would love to hear from some that may already have it?

@ Steve Schlumpf, Hi Steve I live just a few blocks from South West Plaza if you know where that is. I spent many years working for Johns Manville at the World HQ in Deer Creek canyon, and then the past 21 for a major university close to here before I was forced to retire due to a spinal injury 3 years ago.

Again, thanks for all of the great input here, once my lathe actauly arrives and I can get to making some shavings I will post some pics as you all do, have a good weekend, T

[Tim Thiebaut]

Welcome to SMC Tim. Lots of good people and lots of knowledge. Congrats on the lathe. I have that one which is the Variable speed model and it is a great lathe. I agree with others about buying the mini set. I got one and sold it after using one tools. Did not like it at all. Handles to short and hard to work with IMHO. As John said the Benjamin's Best 6 piece set for $89 is a good set and was my first set that I still use most of them today. I also have the Sorby mini texturing tool and it is a great little tool along with the Sorby threaders which are 16 tpi. You can add detail spindle gouges, smaller spindle gouges, smaller bowl gouges from PSI as you go along and need them. For the money I think they are a great value and great to learn with. Have fun and enjoy.

I almost forgot, I wanted to ask you about the sorby thread chasers, is there a step learning curve on these, or is it as easy as the youtube video shows it to be? One thing I have really been wanting to make is small lided boxes and want to have them threaded and not just pressed on.

As for the texture tools, I have heard that with practise you can do a knurling pattern with them, and this is something I am very interested in is being able to make a knurl for knobs, wooden bolts..ie Beall style, so I am hoping I will be able to do that with these tools, if anyone out there knows of an easier/better way to make the knurling pattern on a good hard wood please let me know. Thanks to all for their input on my first thread! T

[Jim Burr]

Hey Tim!
Sorry...I'm a slacker! Didn't see any pictures, so I guess you didn't turn anything...bummer :( I saw your ? about thread chasers. Mike Mahoney uses one, and the biggest learning curve (other than doing them by hand) is the speed at which you chase...that will determine your TPI. There are some other considerations, chiefly the type of wood...wouldn't want to try that on some soft stuff. Grain direction if a factor as well. The tooth size of the chaser matters a bit of course, but speed is supposed to be the key. So enough of this heart and flowers stuff...go make some curly's and welcome!!!:D:D

[David E Keller]

I almost forgot, I wanted to ask you about the sorby thread chasers, is there a step learning curve on these, or is it as easy as the youtube video shows it to be? One thing I have really been wanting to make is small lided boxes and want to have them threaded and not just pressed on...T

You need a pretty dense wood for hand chasing. African blackwood, holly, lignum, boxwood, and others will generally work pretty well. I've had mixed results with bradford pear and hard maple. I'm told that PVC is great practice material, but I've not tried it. The Sorby sets come with a fixed TPI, and I'm told the higher TPI sets are easier to use. I've got a 20TPI set, and it's not too difficult. I agree with the notion that speed is critical. My set came with a DVD, and I've watched a Mahoney DVD that includes chasing. I watched them both and started practicing... If I can do it, it can't be that hard!

[charlie knighton]

hi Tim, welcome to the creek, enjoy