Newbie help (Lathes)

[Darren Landis]

Hey everyone,
I'm sure this is an old question but just looking for some help on getting a Lathe for making pens and smaller stuff.My stepfather has a Shopsmith it just way to big for making pens.I recently joined the close them club and move to Mexico crowd,so i need something to keep me from going crazy.thanks for any help Darren Landis:cool:

[George Summers]

First, the fallacy in your thoughts, you can turn small stuff on a big lathe but you cannot turn big stuff on a small lathe. No lathe is too big to turn small items like pens on.

Second, and there will be lots of discussion here, I think that a good starter lathe is the Harbor Freight 34706 (an almost exact clone of the Jet 1236). It is currently on sale for $199. A lot of people will recommend the Jet Mini and it is a good lathe but it is still a small lathe.

George

[Bill Grumbine]

Hi Darren

What part of Berks are you in? My address says Kutztown, but I am in western Lehigh about 0.4 miles from the Berks line. I might be able to help you with a small lathe.

Bill