New here

[Kevin Cole]

I'm new to this site and still fairly new to turning. I am 15 so I learned its an expensive hobby if you dont have much of an income. I got started last year when one of my teachers gave me his old lathe. I quickly got addicted. After turning quite a few things on that lathe I realized it was too cheap for what I needed it to do. I recently purchased a old Delta/Rockwell lathe for $400. I havent been able to use it because I havent gotten power to it yet. So Ive been having turning withdrawl:(.

[Tony De Masi]

Ahhhhhhhh... the next generation has arrived to the vortex.

Welcome to SMC Kevin..

[Jude Kingery]

Kevin, hang in there, buddy, you'll get there. Hopefully you can get your power source straightened out and get out in the shop again and turn on your Delta/Rockwell. One thing I might encourage you about is we did that same thing, have an old, old little lathe - and then bought a nice big lathe. I had to hire someone to do the 220 wiring on that one. So a bit of a waiting period of about a week or so.

Funny thing is, I still use both of them all the time, depending on what I want to do. Sure, most often now I use the big lathe, but the little one still hasn't lost it's usefulness.

Most importantly, have fun, and if there's anything we can do to encourage you, just let us know! Jude

[Mike A. Smith]

Welcome to the Creek Kevin! Here's to a life-long addiction!

[Kevin Cole]

Thanks Guys didnt expect such a big welcome. A family friend is doing the electrical so its taking a while but in the mean time I can gather wood and plan what to make, then.........Turn for whole days (stoping for food and sleep of course). Hope to learn alot from you guys.

[Von Bickley]

Kevin,

Glad to have you with us in "The Creek".....:D

[Bernie Weishapl]

Welcome Kevin. You are on your way.

[Bart Leetch]

Turning & turning the lathe goes round I can't help it my friend, spinning the wood it is so good to watch the chips fly.

But this little whatchamacallit isn't so fine & I need to turn the whole darn pine so it think some old heavy iron will do just fine.

A poet I am not nor am I a surveyor but I do have 2 square feet.

Welcome to the creek.

[Tom Sherman]

Welcome Kevin, it won't be as long now as it once was, soon you'll be turning up a storm.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Welcome to the Creek Kevin! The Vortex shows no mercy for any age group! It'll suck the color of the one dollar bill if you try to hold on to it too tightly!

[Pete Jordan]

Welcome Kevin!

Forget going to college unless you get a scholarship!

All the money turns to curlies.

[Neal Addy]

Welcome to the forum and the abyss, Kevin!

Have you got a turning club near you? You should check into it. You can learn an awful lot there and I'm sure there are folks who would be happy to help you along. Check the AAW site for a listing.

Look forward to seeing your work!

[Dean Thomas]

Neal beat me to it. Find yourself a turning club! If you live in an area where there are turners, you'll have wood and tools to fill the voids! The AAW chapters LOVE to share and to shower knowledge and "stuff" on young men and women your age.

We have a couple of teen males in our chapter who regularly show up at the Saturday "chips" sessions, getting there early enough to ensure that they have a lathe to work on. They have a nifty chunk of wood, or a neat new project in mind, often with no idea of how to do what's in their heads. They talk with a couple of folks who've been doing this stuff a while and get guidance and a couple of ways to make their vision into hardwood reality. They almost always leave with chips in their pockets and smiles on their faces.

Welcome aboard and to the wonderful world of turning. Expensive, but there are ways around that, too. Honest!

[Brett Baldwin]

While it certainly can be expensive, some of the great pieces come from the humblest of crafters. If you practice your ability to do more with less it will help you in so many ways that you will never realize the true power of it. Never let a lack of money get in your way. Money is just a tool like any other, there is almost always another way to do it.

Welcome Kevin and good spinning.

[Paul Heely]

Welcome Kevin. As others have said don't let lack of tools stop you. There's more than one way to accomplish something and you may just learn something new doing so.

[Neal Addy]

Kevin, one other question. What are you using (or planning to use) for safety equipment?

If you don't already have them you really need to get a face shield and some kind of dust protection. Please don't turn without these!

Excuse my question if you already knew this. Not knowing what your experience level is I just had to ask.

[Dennis Peacock]

Welcome to SMC Kevin!!!!! Glad to have ya wading about the waters here.

How about giving us a list of all the stuff you have...like faceplates, chucks, tools, "faceshield"...etc...etc......Turning can be even more lonely if you are kept from turning because you are having to heal up from an injury while turning. Get a faceshield if you don't already have one. ;)

[TYLER WOOD]

Welcome!!!! Soo you want to get turning! (cough snicker cough) well congrats on the new (old) iron. Some of the better lathes I have turned on are the old ron. The heavier the better. I hope your family member gets you up and running soon. Please let us know what you got in the inventory or turning! Good luck and let us see what you have already turned. WE LOVE PICTURES!

[Bruce Shiverdecker]

Welcome Kevin.

You have already received a lot of good information, so I won't pile on, except to say that you'll enjoy the vortex.

Bruce

[Paul Engle]

Welcome Kevin,
What you will discover is turning is not a competition, it is a way to relax , enjoy, express how life comes at you. Solving lifes mysteries it won't , but what it will do is show you more of lifes mysteries than you can imagine, and a way to enjoy them. Glad to have you here, may perhaps we can learn a thing or two from each other.:D

[Robert McGowen]

Hi Kevin, having 4 children that happened to all be teenagers at the same time, I suggest the following. Go tell your parents that you know many youths of today that are getting into all sorts of various trouble. Mention how expensive lawyers can be, time off from work, increased car insurance, missed school, etc. Tell them that all you really want to do is turn a piece of wood from square to round. Look sheepish and grin. Bam...... new tools, power, safety equipment, wood. Give them first thing off the new lathe as a gift.
Your set for life..........;)

Oh yeah, welcome to the Creek. Everyone is very helpful!

[Dick Strauss]

Kevin,
Welcome, welcome, welcome! If you let us know where you are located (city and state only), we might be able to help find a local club to help you. A few of us might also have tools that we no longer use. If you can tell us what you have, we can help you figure out what you need and how we might be able to help. I know I've probably got a few things to help.

What diameter is the tool rest? What is the headstock spindle measurement (both diameter and threads per inch (tpi)). Any other info that you might add like the lathe model number, etc, would be helpful.

Dick

[Kevin Cole]

Thanks for the support guys.
Right now I have:
A faceshield (with replacement visors)
A 3/4 Henry Taylor roughing gouge (not much left of it because i got it used)
A set of Marples chisels: 3 gouges(don't know dimentions right now)
Parting Tool
1/2" and 1" skew
Picked up that set for $45 (Not that great)
And the Lee Valley cheapy bowl gouge (works and holds edge good)
I have yet to pick up the live center from Lee Valley
Going to get the Faceplate from Busy bee
Still trying to decide on drive center.
I am in Canada so I cant get much without ordering through mail order.

There are turning clubs around here but the closest one is 45 minutes away and on a school night.
Have no problems getting wood around here. Farmers cut down fruit trees (cherry, peach, pear) full of burls and will give them to you for free. Then there are plenty of normal trees around. Mainly maple and oak.
So I can't wait to get turning again.

[Christopher K. Hartley]

...I am 15 so I learned its an expensive hobby if you dont have much of an income. I got started last year when one of my teachers gave me his old lathe. ... I recently purchased a old Delta/Rockwell lathe for $400. I havent been able to use it because I havent gotten power to it yet. So Ive been having turning withdrawl:(.Welcome to the Creek Kevin. I must admire you; the first big purchase I made at your age was a 1956 Chevy Belair two door with 36,000 miles. I paid $250.00 and thought that was a lot of money. I noticed you said something about a teacher gave you your old lathe. Any chance you could do some turning in the school shop until you get your power dilemma fixed? Hope it comes together soon for you.:)

[Jude Kingery]

Kevin, you've got a great start! That's outstanding. I think you've made excellent decisions on prices and tools. Some guys like screw chucks (with regard to a drive center?) but I prefer just a spindle drive if I'm doing something smaller, then face plates and reverse chuck on tenon to hollow for bigger stuff. You can do a whole lot with just a 3/4" bowl gouge (my favorite tool). Sure thing, you're well on your way. Now just to get your power source settled and you're off like the wind! That's cool. Keep us apprised! Again, anything we can do to help, this is a great site with great folks and sure thing, we'll encourage you!

PS - yes - here's the same way - nearest club is 90 miles away and meets on weeknights, great folks, but not real feasible to drive down late. That's ok, that's another nice thing about today's technology, you can get tons of information at the touch of your fingertips and computer!

Sometime tell us what you like to do? Anything in particular? Bowls, spindle turning? Or all of it!

Take care,

Jude

[Kevin Cole]

Hey Robert thats a really good excuse, but I'm already being supported. But i can't have everything given to me, that would be too easy. I have to work to get my money for certain things. I've been given a thikness planer (It was being given away and was industrial), table saw for my birthday (Craftsman contractor saw), bandsaw (Craftsman 12"), and a quite a few other smaller tools. The deal is all I have to do is make stuff and have fun doing it (and of course give to my supporters).
I will go find out more info on my lathe a little later. And if I remember I'll take some pictures.
I haven't turned a whole lot but had a lot of doing it. I turned 3 baseball bats (only one broke so far). And a few bowls. One was a cherry burl but is still not completed because i preety much broke my old lathe with the next bowl. This bowl was a crotch piece with maybe 5 branches meeting. I picked it up from the dump while dumping other yard waste. It was cut down the day before so it was still really wet. Id say it weighed about 30lbs. So I got tuning after i trimed it up with the chainsaw. This lathe was very cheap so I had to have my mom flick the switch on and off so it didnt go to fast. Once I got it rough turned I place it aside (still drying) probably get to it in december, Its about 11" wide. But I went to put the cherry burl back on and it wasnt even close to being centered. The beech bowl bent the drive spindle:mad: . Lucky me. Oh well. Ive turned other practice bowls before those but those two are the best so far. And ive tried caputured rings and was preety much just trying to waste time. And ive tried a goblet wich went flying but i was nowhere near its flight path and i could see it going but couldnt do anything about it. It's all part of the learning process.
Oh and Christopher my shop class is the last place I'd go to make something. They dont take care of any of their tools. They have two lathes but I doupt they know where the parts are. Some kids probably stole it. It really disapoints me on how poorly everything is maintained.

[Kevin Cole]

Im trying to post pictures of my lathe but theyre all too big and dont know how to reduce them. But I was looking around and my lathe is very similar to Jason Christenson's lathe. Mine is a Delta/Rockwell 46-200.

Can someone tell me how to figure out the tpi I know its one inch diameter but I think its 8tpi not 100% sure.
The tool rest is 1" in diameter.
I can't stop going on this site now its always being updated. And everyone is very helpfull.
Thanks Again.

[Dick Strauss]

Kevin,
Measure 1" into the threads and you should have crossed 8 threads (or 4 crossings for a half inch).

[Christopher K. Hartley]

Im trying to post pictures of my lathe but theyre all too big and dont know how to reduce them. ...
Try this website the program is free and works great. http://www.irfanview.com/

[Kevin Cole]

Ok then with that information it is definitly 1 inch diameter 8tpi.

[Allen Neighbors]

Hello and welcome, Kevin!!
All the advice you've received so far, is good stuff. I only have a little comment.
I bough a cheap Craftsman lathe back in 1972, and never turned anything on it. When I first began turning in 2003, I had no training to begin with, and I put a pretty large chunk of Mesquite on my lathe with a face plate. Turned it on. Bent the headstock spindle. Had to buy a new lathe.
I discovered the tailstock is there for a purpose. Use it at least until the wood is balanced. :)

[Kevin Cole]

Hmmm.... I wonder why I didn't think of that at the time.
Thanks for that tip.
I would hate to break another one.