Your most used lathe accessories/chucks?

[Mark Canada]

I'm in the process of getting quotes for *everything* to setup a full wood shop. I haven't used a wood lathe since high school but want to add one to the shop for my own amusement (its been on my wish list for the past decade, but never had the space!). I don't really have any specific projects in mind except some pens, I enjoyed making those on my metal lathe years ago.

I'm looking at one of these: https://www.axminster.co.uk/axminste...r-stand-717616
It's their second largest lathe, but to step down from there takes you to a midi lathe. If I'm going to go for it I figure I might as well get something that's fully capable. This is the model they use in all the classes/show demos and seems quite capable?

So, to get to the point... what tools, work holding, accessories do you use the most?

I get to go tool shopping tomorrow, pretty excited to work on nailing down the list!

[John K Jordan]

So, to get to the point... what tools, work holding, accessories do you use the most?

Much of what you are asking depends on what kind of wood turning you want to do. Just pens and small stuff? Maybe some lidded boxes, goblets and such? Small bowls? Large bowls and platters? Hollow forms? Most people don't know what they enjoy turning until they get some experience.

As for the lathe, it doesn't look bad if you live where there is a dealer nearby. Otherwise, there are plenty of lathes to choose from including used lathes. For pens and other small things you can do very well with a mini lathe.

If you want to try out woodturning you might try starting slowly. (unless you just have a bunch of extra money to burn) I remember a series of posts from one guy who went whole hog and bought everything then some months later put it all up for sale.

My advice: Learn spindle turning first - many experts say it will teach you the fine tool control that will let you turn anything. Turning bowls from green wood is fun and incredibly easy to master. However, some people who start with that never do learn to turn much else.

My list of basic things to start with:
- lathe with drive center, live center, and tool rest
- some basic tools, such as: skew chisel, spindle gouge, spindle roughing gouge, parting tool, bowl gouge, round-nosed scraper
- a chuck with jaws
- inside and outside calipers
- sandpaper and finishing supplies
- a bench grinder for sharpening
- safety glasses and face shield
- respirator/dust mask
- pen mandrel (if you want to start with pens)

Very useful when beginning:
- a couple of good books. I like Raffan's Turning Wood and Darlow's Fundamentals of Wood Turning. There are others.
- a Wolverine sharpening system with a Varigrind jig
- cheap vernier calipers
- Jacobs chuck, twist and Forstner bits
- bandsaw
- drill press
- a beginning turning class or good private instructor (far better than YouTube videos)
- a woodturning club

Then later, on my very useful list:
- CBN wheels
- Some Hunter tools
- more chucks and jaws
- a set of hand scrapers (eliminates a lot of sanding)
- Beale or other buffing wheels
- a variety of tool rests (I like Robust)
- a larger shop with heat and air conditioning
- a larger lathe
- a good cyclone dust collection system
- chainsaw

After you are hooked on the "sport" you can go wild, there is no limit. I have five lathes, 16 chucks, over 100 turning tools, threading and sphere jigs, vacuum chucks, everything rubber chuckie sells, about 10 live centers, pneumatic random orbital sanders, 5 grinders/sharpeners, etc, etc, etc... in my new shop. However, I've been turning over 15 years and often have students and friends come to play on the lathe.

JKJ

[John Grace]

Before your cash is gone or credit card max'd out I'd offer an alternative idea. Purchase tools as you need them...not as you want them. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of turning tools, chucks, jaws, gadgets, widgets, etc and if you're like many before you, you'll purchase many tools and end up spending most of your time using only a few. So you've asked the group what tools do they use the most? OK...but how do you know those are the same ones you'll use the most? You mentioned pens...suggest getting what you need to turn pens and then let your turning dictate what comes next. Trust me...the stores and shops won't run out of tools for you. Good luck...

[Mark Canada]

Thanks John & John, very helpful.

I've always enjoyed turning, but for the past 10+ years all i've had is metal lathes. I agree that I'm not sure what I want to make, or what Sam (the guy joining me on this adventure) will want to make - he did his first wood turning a couple of days ago with some tools he's making from old rasps on a little mini lathe he bought. He's having a blast (he's a farrier by trade).

Sadly there are not many stores around Norfolk (UK) that sell lathes - We drove to one of the 3 Axminster stores that are closest today, all of them are 2.5hrs drive away. I'm going for the "all in" approach as we're working on a package deal for about US$30k of equipment + promotional consideration for our YouTube channel (currently no woodworking content really, I'm only just joining the channel). If I buy the lathe now, things like chucks and such might just get thrown in or heavily discounted. I'm also working on applying for a government grant that could cover 20% of my capital expenditure, so spending more now rather than later is better!!

Space isn't an issue, we'll have about 2000sqft or more of unused shop space to start with if we can secure the unit we're negotiating a lease on.

After talking to the regional rep who met us at the store (spent 4hrs there today!) he thinks that the lathe, the chuck we're looking at, and the set of tools we're looking at (mid range set) + the pen turning stuff is probably going to do pretty well for a wide variety of projects.

The main reason I'm asking for input of people's tools/accessories is to get an idea of what is used for a variety of projects. I'm very appreciative of the huge knowledgebase of this community and the quality advice that is shared.

Thanks for splitting up the list, that does help figure out what to budget for later vs now.

* The tools I'm looking at are these: https://www.axminster.co.uk/crown-ax...ool-set-900468 - they are rather short handled but Sam will forge a new set of tools in time, and we'll make handles for them with these
* This is the chuck i'm looking at: https://www.axminster.co.uk/axminste...747?sel=502668 - with the dovetal jaws listed in "frequently bought together"
* I'll have to add calipers to my list, all my I have are my Mitutoyo vernier calipers but I know thats not what you mean.
* There are literally box loads of sandpaper in our list and I have a full range of turning finishes - generally I just go through bucketloads of danish oil and urethane, so I have the shellac and wax such added.
* We have a belt grinder already for Sam's knife making, he claims that is better for edge shaping/correction and sharpening than the bench grinders, so I'll trust his judgement there.
* Face shields are a check
* 3M 7500 series with organic vapour filters are in the list for the spray booth!
* Pen mandrel (the good ones) and a pen press and a centering clamp thing for the drill press are in. I can build the last two, but with the govt grant, discounts and tax refund on the items they are under half price, cheaper than I can make them!

* Will add the books! Thanks for the suggestions.
* I'm looking at the Tormek T8 with wood turning tools sharpening accessory package for sharpening.
* Have very expensive vernier calipers.
* Are the hand scrapers like what you would use for cabinetry - or are they turning specific? I have neither.
* Getting buffing wheels, it's my primary justification for the lathe, being able to run large buffing wheels for my main products. Sales rep said for our uses running big wheels on the lathe will be much safer than running small wheels on a grinder, so that's good - he took the grinder for that off the list.
* Oh, a drill chuck for the tailstock? Hell yes - forgot that one! Drill bits are in the list
* I have the biggest industrial bandsaw they sell on the list, I do a lot of resawing. We were looking at the 16" one as an upgrade from the 14" i had in Canada which wasn't really sufficient - but the giant one (20") isnt *that* much more expensive.... so I talked myself into it after seeing it. https://www.axminster.co.uk/axminste...bandsaw-501218
* Biggest drill press in the trade range.. check. I don't use it for many of my products, but when I do, I absolutely need the capacity it offers. https://www.axminster.co.uk/axminste...r-drill-102555
* Closest classes are 2.5hrs away, but the rep said he'd happily come and hang out with us for a day or two to teach us some stuff as well as teach us the Tormek system.
* No woodturning clubs near by
* Hmm.. I hope I don't need a larger shop, the current one is a stretch for the budget with 3600sqft on the ground (about 35% office) and 2800sqft of mezzanine! Shop has heat, no aircon - we're in the UK... so not really necessary.
* Dust collection is sorted - we were going to go with a decent sized cyclone, but health and safety will get involved if we do ducting. So for now we're going with 3x 2HP systems on wheels (no cyclone) so we can get into production rapidly then we'll build our own 5kw system after we get caught up on orders, and can deal with the health and safety paperwork.
* Chainsaw? For cutting up fallen trees or something? Sounds like fun to me!

Looks like I will have to do some research on the CBN wheels, Hunter tools and such.

[Clint Bach]

Did you consider the truck (lorry?) to haul all the wood and a place for wood storage?

Chaps for using the chainsaw... Hearing protection... Steel toe boots... Hard hats?

[John K Jordan]

You need particulate filters when sanding, the 3M P100.

Tormek is good - I've used one for a bunch of years and I use it for all my spindle gouges (with a 1200 grit CBN wheel)

You can travel to take classes. Glenn Lucas in Ireland has private and group classes. Other turners do as well.

I think cheap vernier calipers are best for sizing. I round over the tips like the one at the top of the picture so they won't catch on the wood. I keep a drawer full.
calipers.jpg

I use a lot of hand scrapers. I've been preaching them for years but until recently no one seemed to care. I can use much less sandpaper if I use scrapers first. Here are some of what I iuse:
scrapers_.jpg

For most turning I like sandpaper in rolls. I mount them on a long wooden shaft above the lathe. I cut up a roll of paper towels and put a short roll there with the sandpaper.
lathe_PM_cu2_IMG_5751.jpg lathe_wall_papertowel_IMG_5.jpg
I seldom use sheet sandpaper except for 600 grit and finer and then I cut it in to about 1"x3" strips for use at the lathe.0

You might read Reed Grey's article on CBN wheels: http://www.robohippy.net/featured-article/

For 1st class sanding forget power sanding with a drill. Far better, in my opinion is a Grex pneumatic random orbital sander.

You might put your location in your profile. Someone near you might know of clubs or lessons.

JKJ

[Mark Canada]

I've specced the same part number as the P100 filters I'm used to, they have a EU based certification name here but the same part no. Love the 3M filters and masks!

I'll definitely look into the CBN in the future, looks like it would need a lot less dressing than a stone wheel?

Interesting idea for the tips on cheap calipers - makes a lot of sense! Great tip!

Do you make the scrapers yourself?

Love the little paper towel, it's so cute.


Any particular reason for pneumatic over electric ROS?

[Mark Canada]

Did you consider the truck (lorry?) to haul all the wood and a place for wood storage?

Chaps for using the chainsaw... Hearing protection... Steel toe boots... Hard hats?

I think that truck is definitely a "wait till later" item I have storage space for wood as I'll have probably half a ton or more of beech and walnut on hand - luckily for that stuff they deliver it free! It's not a lot of space I can stack the volume of trees you seem to think I'll bring home though hahaha.

Everyone should be wearing steel or composite toe boots in the workshop anyway... right?!

I think the chainsaw will be a "later" item as well. For now I'm just wanting to do interesting things with laminated/mosaiced pieces of beech/walnut/exotic wood offcuts. After doing the same part 300 times in a day, I figure it's likely to be a good way to keep enjoying woodworking and keep the creative aspect of it going.

[John K Jordan]

... CBN... looks like it would need a lot less dressing than a stone wheel?
Do you make the scrapers yourself?
Love the little paper towel, it's so cute.
Any particular reason for pneumatic over electric ROS?

CBN wheels require zero dressing and in fact cannot be dressed.

I buy hand scrapers and grind new shapes as I need them.

I've never thought of the mini paper towel roll as "cute" but it is incredibly functional. Most of the time I only need a small piece at the lathe. The idea to cut up a roll is not mine but the idea to mount one on my sandpaper roll dispenser over the lathe is mine.

Without an electric motor the Grex ROS is a tiny thing. I use 1" and 2" sanding disks. I don't know of an electric ROS that will use the small disks. The ROS action is far gentler than the rotating electric drill everyone else uses for power sanding. (I have an angle drill for this but haven't used it for years.)
grex_ROS.jpg
I also use a pneumatic 3" palm ROS for larger things like platters. This can also be gentle. Like most air tools, you do benefit from a substantial air compressor. I use a 5hp 60 gallon compressor with air lines plumbed through the shop to outlets close to where I use air: lathe, welding shop, machining, maintenance area, outside.

JKJ