Dave van Harn
09-02-2012, 11:09 PM
I lost my job at the Santa Rosa Woodcraft store in Santa Rosa, CA 1-1/2 years ago when the recession killed the store. I went on disability to have both arthritic knees replaced, and couldn't find suitable work afterwards, so I decided to retire and move to Panama to live as an expat. I'm now renting a small casa at 4,500' elevation above the valley town of Boquete, Panama, about 50 miles south-east of the Costa-Rica border. Unlike in the U.S., here, I'll be able to live nicely on my social security - and I'll be able to resume my woodturning. I plan to set up a small lathe outdoors on my patio - under the overhanging roof to the right in the picture below. The temperature year around is minimum is typically 60°F and max 80°F - a cool green highlands paradise. I've been monitoring RH, and it's typically 50-60% when it's not raining, and, obviously, 100% when it's raining, which can be 1-5 hours during the rainy season , April-November, usually in the afternoon and very rarely, at night.
240370
240433
I have a Rikon mini-lathe in storage along with a lot other tools and several thousand dollars worth of of exotic wood that I will not be able to bring down until next spring. However, I did bring a collection of my best turning tools and chisels back in my suitcase last month. Wood should not be a problem, and I already have a couple of acquaintances who can get me great wood cheap, possibly even cocobolo, which is under heavy export control. Bloodwood and canarywood are also common local woods here.
I've been looking at my options for getting started before next spring, and want to buy a better lathe, but I can't afford a bigger lathe. After doing a lot of research here and elsewhere on the web, I've ruled out Delta because of it's terrible parts support (I had an 80 y/o customer at Woodcraft a couple of years ago who lost a whole year of turning because Delta didn't have a pulley he needed replaced - and at 80, a year is a lot of time to lose!)
Out of the current crop of mini/midi lathes, I find the Grizzly G0658 most appealing - low minimum speed, variable speed, a DC motor easily converted to reversing (Thanks, James Combs!). Add to that the Nova G3 reversible 4-jaw chuck, and I could do many of the types turning I enjoy - small bowls, platters, "magic wands" and bottle stoppers.
Unfortunately, I haven't found any stores 30 miles down the mountain in David, the 2nd largest city in Panama that carry stationary woodworking tools. Nor have I been able to locate suppliers in Panama City on the internet. I will call Grizzly on Tuesday and see what they can do for me, but I don't think they can have the crew toss me a lathe while the ship carrying a couple of containers of Grizzly tools is transiting the Panama Canal.:D It will probably cost me more than the price of the lathe to ship it here, but if I can get it to Colon or Panama City, I can have it delivered to Boquete (300 miles) for about $20!! I can probably pay for the whole thing - lathe, jaws and shipping by selling about 20 small bowls at the local expat weekly market in town - and there may be as many as 6,000 American, Canadian and European expats and tourists in the area.
Questions at this stage:
1. Does anyone reading this have experience buying stationary tools in developing countries with no distribution?
2. Anyone have experience shipping small stationary tools to developing countries? Is using a freight consolidator - someone who accepts stuff for shipping to a particular port until the container is full, thereby saving costs - a viable option?
3. Is it worth trying to get a few other expat woodworkers to join in make a quantity purchase? (I'll also ask that question when I call Grizzly. There's enough guys here interested in woodworking that I might be able to round up a few once a year or so, and get enough interest to make up a "bulk" order.)
240370
240433
I have a Rikon mini-lathe in storage along with a lot other tools and several thousand dollars worth of of exotic wood that I will not be able to bring down until next spring. However, I did bring a collection of my best turning tools and chisels back in my suitcase last month. Wood should not be a problem, and I already have a couple of acquaintances who can get me great wood cheap, possibly even cocobolo, which is under heavy export control. Bloodwood and canarywood are also common local woods here.
I've been looking at my options for getting started before next spring, and want to buy a better lathe, but I can't afford a bigger lathe. After doing a lot of research here and elsewhere on the web, I've ruled out Delta because of it's terrible parts support (I had an 80 y/o customer at Woodcraft a couple of years ago who lost a whole year of turning because Delta didn't have a pulley he needed replaced - and at 80, a year is a lot of time to lose!)
Out of the current crop of mini/midi lathes, I find the Grizzly G0658 most appealing - low minimum speed, variable speed, a DC motor easily converted to reversing (Thanks, James Combs!). Add to that the Nova G3 reversible 4-jaw chuck, and I could do many of the types turning I enjoy - small bowls, platters, "magic wands" and bottle stoppers.
Unfortunately, I haven't found any stores 30 miles down the mountain in David, the 2nd largest city in Panama that carry stationary woodworking tools. Nor have I been able to locate suppliers in Panama City on the internet. I will call Grizzly on Tuesday and see what they can do for me, but I don't think they can have the crew toss me a lathe while the ship carrying a couple of containers of Grizzly tools is transiting the Panama Canal.:D It will probably cost me more than the price of the lathe to ship it here, but if I can get it to Colon or Panama City, I can have it delivered to Boquete (300 miles) for about $20!! I can probably pay for the whole thing - lathe, jaws and shipping by selling about 20 small bowls at the local expat weekly market in town - and there may be as many as 6,000 American, Canadian and European expats and tourists in the area.
Questions at this stage:
1. Does anyone reading this have experience buying stationary tools in developing countries with no distribution?
2. Anyone have experience shipping small stationary tools to developing countries? Is using a freight consolidator - someone who accepts stuff for shipping to a particular port until the container is full, thereby saving costs - a viable option?
3. Is it worth trying to get a few other expat woodworkers to join in make a quantity purchase? (I'll also ask that question when I call Grizzly. There's enough guys here interested in woodworking that I might be able to round up a few once a year or so, and get enough interest to make up a "bulk" order.)