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For years I've relied on a couple of coats (more if it soaks in quickly) of Rustin's danish oil on the bare wood after sanding to 320 or sometimes 400. I buff with Beall's tripoli only and no wax....

I turned some years ago. I recommend it. It's not easy to find 'logs', but it was great for small spindles such as mushrooms. Fine grained, close texture, turns nicely.

Those stringy shavings can block up a dust extractor, or at least reduce the air flow, if it has a grid/screen fitted. I took the grid off mine for that reason.

Welcome to woodturning John.
As far as I can tell, there is no limit whatsoever to the tools you may need or want in future.

But for now you probably have almost enough kit to get started. One...

I made a stand like an inverted L from scrap timber,. The leg of the L stands in a bucket of gravel on the floor behind the lathe. I added a bit of plywood to help anchor the leg. The horizontal arm...

There may be practical reasons to make the bowl thicker at the bottom, or as equal as possible, but I disagree about the feel. It's purely subjective, but to me a bowl feels better if it's a little...

For oils, I just fill up the can with water

Grant, how do you keep the oil free of water in use?

I'd like to use a protectant for danish oil cans. Speaking from absolutely no experience, I assume propane would displace air but might dissolve in the oil and cause a partial vacuum in the can. No...

I agree that variable speed is a great thing on a lathe. Although it's certainly not essential, I wouldn't be without it. You want VS that goes down to very low speed but still with torque. Also that...

It's not a typo. I have one, they are very nice lathes. Maybe it's so the tailstock ram can be bigger. It travels 8 inches.

Terry

I have Vicmarcs. I found runout on one but it disappeared when I made sure the insert was screwed right in. I thought I'd done that, but it hadn't quite bottomed out in the chuck body. The tommy bar...

It depends partly on the species and the shape of the item. The bigger the diameter, the more likely to split. 3-5 inches is pushing it, in my experience, but something like a mushroom could often...

I'd make several points.

Firstly, though carbide may stay sharp for longer than HSS, it blunts. Then the cost of replacement will probably mean the carbide stays blunt for longer too. Gritty wood...

I don't know that chuck, but check that the insert is meeting the register on the spindle nose when tight, and the chuck body is meeting the register on the insert. Sometimes the dimensions of what...

Those machines cause accidents and at least some normally have guards, or should do. It would be strange if there were no correlation between having a guard fitted and the number of accidents. I...

As Doug points out, the shaft is a hazard. Entanglement happens when something wraps around the spinning object, which may be easier with the smaller diameter shaft. I would think the guard would...

There's another reason for enclosing the wheel, which is to reduce the risk of entanglement. Long hair or loose clothing might get dragged in, particularly with a coarse grit wheel that would be more...

Are you scraping? That will take the edge off a skew or spindle gouge quickly. Dirty timber will also blunt the edge. I sometimes turn very gritty stuff that wrecks the edge in seconds. If the edge...

On shaped pieces it can help to chalk the corners so they are visible when spinning. And you can chalk the toolrest where cutting will start.

You are right, John. That's why i said as fast as is safe. The faster the piece spins, the easier the cutting, but the greater the potential for it breaking up. Centrifugal force, a dig-in or...

You will find it difficult if the lathe is vibrating. Spin the work fast but not enough to start it shaking.

Yes speed should be as high as is safe. Things to try: It is possible to use balancing weights to cut vibration and enable higher speed. A pin in the rest does help a lot to control the tool but...

Another promising thread!

I use bits of the textured non-slip plastic stuff that is sold for gripping and opening jars in the kitchen (and also as router mat). Indispensable for getting things off...

I've always stored my tools this way, with large holes right through, countersunk, and smooth-ended headless nails angled up a little. It works well. But I don't like it. It seems disrespectful to...

I made a couple of tools similar to these some years back, one by reverse-grinding a spare gouge (you could easily do that to try it, then grind it back again) and one by grinding a short flute into...