Newbie turner looking for tools

[Tim Solley]

Okay, so the Vortex has been pulling at me for a while now. At first it was just tugging at my shoe laces, then my shoes flew off, and now I've been sucked in completely. You turners really know how to ruin a man!

On Saturday I'll be heading down to San Marcos, Texas to pick up a lathe I'm buying from fellow SMCer Curtis Seebeck (Mr. Adoptwood). He's been kind enough to offer me some bowl blanks, pen kits, and some time with him on the lathe to get a jump start on turning. I also plan to buy some blanks from him to stock up.

So here I go, diving head first and loving it. I can't wait to get my hands on that lathe and start turning everything I can get my hands on. I plan to mostly turn bowls and eventually as I get better get into turning some hollow forms. I have very little interest in spindle work, though I intend to make some drawer pulls for a dresser project I'm working on. So I'll need bowl tools and some spindle tools.

On to the question. I need tools for the activities mentioned above. Where can I get some quality tools for a good price? I don't want to empty my bank account here, but I do want to at least get decent tools. No junk, but no $100 a tool stuff either. Any suggestions? All input welcome.

Thanks everyone. Okay, I'm going to go daydream about turning bowls instead of work now :D.

Tim

[Bernie Weishapl]

Tim my first set of tools was a set from Harbour Freight. They run $35 and turned out to be a decent set of tools to learn with. I would rather learn to sharpen and to turn on those than buy a $250 set and learn to sharpen. In fact I keep going back and using those tools even though I have a expensive set. They aren't bad.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Tim...........IF you have never turned before.........Hang On! It is a kick! I've bought tools from a couple of places. Here's the link to one that I bought my Sorby roughing gouge from. Good stuff ...decent price!

http://www.thebestthings.com/newtools/sorby.htm

No connection with this business other than being a happy customer.

Getting to work with Curtis should help lessen the grade of the learning curve too! Hang on! It is a total blast!

[Mike Vickery]

You might try P&N tools I just bought one of their bowl gauges and I am hooked. CSU has the best prices I have see but Lee vallet is close
http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/cgi-bin/shopper?search=action&keywords=pn-tool
Great tools at a very good price. They come unhandled so you can either buy a premade handle cheap at CSU (you will have to drill it)or it would be a good project when you see Curtis to borrow his tools to make your own handles . I have crown pm, sorby, and Henry Taylor tools as well but I will buy P&N from now on. I do not know anywhere else that you can get a high quality 3/8 bowl gouge for $33

You could buy one of the fancy interchnageable handle but I think halph the fun if making your own.

[Keith Burns]

Since no one else has done it, I will "Yahoo, ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST". Welcome to the dark side.:) Another good source for tools is www.woodchipshome.com (http://www.woodchipshome.com) . Great prices and great service.

[Daniel Heine]

Hello,

Good luck with your new lathe. For economical turning tools, look for Bejamins Best on Ebay, they've been selling for $15.00 - $20.00 each lately. Also, Woodcraft sells their Pinnacle line of turning tools that seem to be decent quality at a reasonable proce. Not cheap, but within reason. I'm saving up for some of those Hamlet 2060 tools myself.

Good Turning,
Dan Heine

[John Hart]

Welcome to the vortex Tim!!! As you can see from the picture below...you will travel in a circular motion, constantly increasing speed and intensity....until finally....it spits you out in tiny fragments all over the universe. Just thought you should know.;)

39824

Oh...and I agree that you should get some cheapos to learn sharpening then pick up the nicer stuff as you go.:)

[John Shuk]

I have a set of the Harbor freight tools. I have no problem with them at all. Just make sure you get HSS. I'm pretty sure Benjamin's best are made in the same factory. Just cleans them off with DNA first to get the film off of them. You will buy other tools over time but this is a pretty good set.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I forgot.....................



Hey Andy...........We got another one!

[John Shuk]

Here's a link to push you a little bit!
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=47066

[Don Baer]

Here's a link to push you a little bit!
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=47066

Yup that what I started out with. Now I just add to it as I find the need/funds..:D

Also if you don't have one think Band saw.
Bench grinder.
Chain Saw.

there all tools that you will find useful.

[Tim Solley]

Hey thanks for all the advice guys. The tips on getting the el cheapos from Harbor Freight sounds like good advice. I won't feel bad about grinding the heck out of a $30 set of chisels. I printed out a coupon and I'll swing by HF and pick that set up on my way home tonight. Maybe then I can just swing for a couple of larger bowl gouges, since the HF set looks geared toward spindle turning.

So John, that picture looked kind of like a black hole. You know....one of those things that has a pulling force so strong that not even light can escape it's grasp, let alone a woodworker? This is worse than I thought :eek:! Sounds good to me :D.

Good God man...my wife is going to kill me...that is if I can pull HER away from the lathe.

Tim

[Tim Solley]

Also if you don't have one think Band saw.
Bench grinder.
Chain Saw.

there all tools that you will find useful.

I have a bench grinder and a Grizzly 14" band saw. I'll need to buy the riser block set. I do not however have a chain saw. That leads me to a question: Where do you guys get raw logs that you cut up to turn pieces? How many of you out there do this as opposed to just buying blanks ready to turn?

Tim

[Don Baer]

TIM,
Make sure you get the 8 piece set from HF It says HSS on them. They have another smaller set and I don't think that they are High Speed Steel.

[Jim Becker]

Packard Woodworks house brand is very nice and reasonably priced. I know a lot of folks talk about the HFT sets, but unless you are going to be doing a lot of spindle work (which most of the set tools are) you'll be better served, IMHO, by buying a nice bowl gouge and parting tool to get started.

[Curtis O. Seebeck]

Tim,

For what you want to do, I think I would agree with Jim. I will teach you the same method of bowl turning that an experienced turner taught me and all you will need is a god bowl gouge.

I have a nice 6 piece set of Sorby tools and the only one useful to me from that set for bowls is the bowl gouge. I do use some of the others for pen turning and such, however. The only other tool I use when doing hollowforms is a Sorby Hollowmaster. I will show all of this to you when you come on Saturday.

I will also show you how to make your own wolverine clone sharpening system and possibly help you make one if we have time.

The other thing you will want to get as soon as possible is a chuck. I am giving you an insert for a Teknatools chuck such as a Supernova 2 so that will save you a little. Although, the best prices I found on a Supernova 2 is from Woodchipshome.com and they include the insert in their price. What I would do is order the chuck from him with a 1 1/4"x8 insert. it will not fit the lathe you are getting from me but it will most likely fit the lathe you will upgrade to if you get hooked like the rest of us!

Other than that, plan on being here at 10 and we will go from there! I have all day set aside so please allow as much time as you can se we are not rushed. That way you will get a really good jump start on your turning adventure!

[Scott Fernald]

Where do you guys get raw logs that you cut up to turn pieces? How many of you out there do this as opposed to just buying blanks ready to turn?

Tim

With a chainsaw and a truck I don't ever see paying for blanks (until Curtis O. sends me some of that AdoptAWood we talked about a while ago! :) ).

Check your local Craigslist, FreeCycle, and local log/brush dump for free wood. And once you let friends know what you're looking for the wood may just bury you! I've got a pile of cedar, cherry, osage orange, and maple...and odds and ends like spalted maple burls, walnut crotchwood. I've got buddies who will pull something gnarly out of their wood pile, or who will let me know when they are cutting something down (I have one friend who agreed to wait until the fall to take down some large mulberrys and an apple tree just so I can have time to deal with the wood!)

I just picked up a 16" diameter silver maple in 5' long logs on Monday because I couldn't pass it up. It's stacked next to the wood pile along side the pile very large hickory I got the previous weekend! it's a sickness...good thing I like splitting my own wood...and goodness knows I need the exercise!:rolleyes:

and the summer thunderstorm season is just starting!;)

[John Hart]

Yep...I agree with Scott. I think you'll find that once you get going, you'll start to notice all the trees lining the streets. If you think about it, Austin has LOTS of trees!!! I figger that the landscaping and tree services will lend a hand in pointing you to where they dump their stuff. A real gold mine.

[Dick Strauss]

Tim,
Scott nailed it on the head! I have more wood from friends/neighbors/family than I can keep up with. As I like to say " the best kind of wood is free wood". Check with the local dumps as well as all of the other ideas posted by John and company.

Once you get better at turning you might want a type of wood not available in your area. Then you have two options...

trade/get a piece from a creeker...or buy some!

As far as tools go, I bought the HF set first. I found I'm more interested in turning bowls after learning on a variety of things. My HF set really doesn't work well for bowls so I bought some of the Benjamin's Best bowl gouges and scrapers from PSI (Penn State Industries). These tools offer excellent value for the money IMHO. Some folks have had good experiences and some bad with PSI (mine were good). I see that their website currently has many tools listed as being "out of stock" so you may have to wait a while if you decide to go that route...

Welcome and good luck!!!

[James Duxbury]

Tim,

I found that if you join a club at this point you will get many pointers, see demonstrations, learn techniques, and even find second hand tools. I belong to two clubs now and have found them to be a great resource of information. Ask around at the local wood stores etc. I am sure you will find one. Just attend a couple of meetings to see what's happening. You don't have to join the first thing.

You'll be hooked in no time!

[Curtis O. Seebeck]

James,

Excellent point and one that I will drill into him when he comes to pick up the lathe tomorrow! I actually belong to the same club that he would/will join. He will leave well engrained in the need to join!

[Ernie Nyvall]

I don't want to empty my bank account here....

Tim

Too late, and welcome.

Ernie

[Tom Sherman]

Tim, tighten up anything that is loose and hang on dude, the draft is strong. As to your wife being close by that's a good thing except for having to share time on the spinny thing, mine (wife) got hooked about the same time I did. Have fun most of all.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Well if she hogs the lathe to much I guess there will be another lathe in the shop. :eek: :D Only way I know to keep fighting over it. My wife and I were always trying to use the bench top bandsaw. So I gave her that one and bought a big grizzly. Now we be happy. :p