Getting started with tooling

[John Halsted]

Is there a good guide/writeup somewhere that would walk me through all of the tooling needed to get a new lathe setup going? I understand there are nearly infinite varieties, but I expect for something like turning large green pieces of wood to finish, there is a minimum arsenal of tools/dies/mounts/rests/etc...

After buying a large lathe how much would you budget for acquiring a respectable tool suite?

[Brian Kent]

A good formula is Cost of Tools = Cost of Lathe.

[John Halsted]

A good formula is Cost of Tools = Cost of Lathe.

Heh, well another thread got me looking closely at the American Beauty. 3hp with long bed and tilt-away gets you up to around $9k. Hard to imagine spending that much on tools.

[Brandon Speaks]

It sounds like you are wanting to turn bowls. A good gouge with a swept back grind is pretty versatile, 2nd would add a scraper, and third a traditional bowl grind for bottoms. Even just the one gouge and a chuck and you are off to the races for bowl turning. Lots more stuff can be helpful but you can do it with that.

If you dont have a grinder you really need that as well to sharpen, a jig like a wolverine can be helpful.

[John Keeton]

John, there really is no limit to the list of toys one could want/need/buy depending on your interests. But, assuming you want to turn bowls the following would get you started, but by no means is representative of what most would consider "enough." It is safe to say that most of us have accumulated FAR more than this list. I think a rough total of this list is somewhere around $1500. I would be scared to total up my turning toys, and I probably have far fewer gouges than most experienced turners.

Chuck and insert $150-175
Couple of GOOD rests $130
4-5 Thompson/D-Way tools $350
D-Way/Thompson/OnewayHandles $200
Good Jacobs chuck $ 30
Grinder/CBN wheels/Wolverine $400
Sandpaper – sheets $100 (boxes of 25 in 4-6 grits)
Sanding discs and supplies $ 75
Harbor Freight angle drill $ 25
Finishes $ 35

[Reed Gray]

Chainsaw or two, gas can and fuel mix and files to sharpen, and extra chains, hand truck, log sealer. Bandsaw or two, smaller one for cutting circles, larger one, up to 16 inch cutting height and blades. Dust collection system. Truck to haul 'stuff' in. Compass/dividers to mark out circles. Place to store wood outside of the shop. Shelves for storing drying bowls. A shop to put it in. Only one chuck??? Only one grinder??? Wheelbarrow for hauling shavings away. Coring system,..... I may have a bit of a 'tool' collection problem, but not really, it is for research!!!! I used to think the cost was as much as the lathe, but figure it is more than double, but with the AB, you could get away with less.... You may end up needing a bigger shop.....

I have a bunch of videos up on You Tube, mostly about bowl turning, just type in robo hippy....

robo hippy

[John K Jordan]

I understand there are nearly infinite varieties, but I expect for something like turning large green pieces of wood to finish, there is a minimum arsenal of tools/dies/mounts/rests/etc...
After buying a large lathe how much would you budget for acquiring a respectable tool suite?

You can spend as much money as you budget just for turning green chunks of wood - besides the gouges, grinder, and sanding/finishing things you could add a very respectable captive hollowing system with laser or video, an expensive coring system. There is no limit.

HOWEVER, you can also do perfectly respectable work with just a few tools, perhaps one or two good bowl gouges, a negative rake scraper, and a chuck or two. If I had just one power tool besides the lathe, it would be a large bandsaw. Unless you plan to buy all your wood from someone else a chain saw is extremely valuable.

I recommend acquiring just a few tools and getting very familiar with them. You will slowly discover any limitations and add tools as needed. A valuable thing is to join a local woodturning club. There you may find a mentor with a wide variety of tools that you can try before you decide to buy. A club membership can give you access to lots of wood as well. You don't say where you live but visitors are always welcome in my shop.

Good lighting is a basic requirement. Don't forget the basic health/safety things too, such as a face shield and respirator.

JKJ

[David M Peters]

When I rough out green bowls I find myself only using a few tools:

• 5/8" bar diameter bowl gouge
• 1/2" bar diameter bowl gouge (each of these bowl gouges has the same grind profile, a fingernail grind with perhaps a 50 degree bevel - Tormek 65/A/4 to be precise)
• 1" round nose scraper usually for hogging out the bottoms, but more frequently for general outside roughing. Reed is onto something :-)
• Dovetail scraper, but you could just use a skew for this

These are not fancy tools, mostly Hurricane's budget line purchased from Amazon.

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

The absolute minimum can be pretty basic. The things that make like easy, a lot more. The things that might be nice to have twice in your life, (Did you win the lottery?) A truck to haul wood, f 450dually diesel, for those really big bowl blanks, $75,000.00

[Bill Blasic]

A grinder to sharpen your tool, a parting tool and a Thompson 1/2"V or 5/8"V Bowl Gouge. Then practice, practice, practice. By the time you become proficient with the bowl gouge you will have a good idea of what else you will need. 90% of what I do can be done with one of those bowl gouges.

[JohnC Lucas]

Here are the tools I use for 90% of everything I do. I have well over a hundred tools because I like to play and some are better for certain task. Top to bottom. A parting tool, a 1/2" bowl gouge, a 1" spindle roughing gouge, a 3/8" detail gouge, a 1" skew, a 1" round nose negative rake scraper, a John Jordan shear scraper. With those tools there is almost nothing I can't turn. When doing Christmas ornaments I have a smaller skew and thin parting tool. I do have hollowing tools when you want to start hollowing. Can't do that with the tools I've shown.
Now just for fun here is a set of tools I picked up at the flea mkt. I assume this gentleman turned a lot of stuff based on the design of the tools. The fact that he started playing with High Speed steel cutters tells me he was at least reading up on the newer styles of turning.

[John K Jordan]

Love that Thompson parting tool.

It would be fun to see a photo of the tools you use for the other 10% of turning!

JKJ

[carl mesaros]

Is there a good guide/writeup somewhere that would walk me through all of the tooling needed to get a new lathe setup going? I understand there are nearly infinite varieties, but I expect for something like turning large green pieces of wood to finish, there is a minimum arsenal of tools/dies/mounts/rests/etc...

After buying a large lathe how much would you budget for acquiring a respectable tool suite?

As stated below a pretty accurate rule of thumb Tools=cost of the lathe.
I would also add, try to purchase the best quality tools and equipment first. I'm finally at the point where I've replaced all of my "good enough" hand and power tools with the best quality I could find.
A couple of my favorites, others will have theirs.
D-way turning tools, Vicmarc Chucks, Robert Sorbey sharpening system, precision industries screw chuck assembly, Robust tool rests, Holdfast vacuum chuck. All of these have been outstanding for me.
I turn on a Laguna 24-36 lathe with bed extension and before tariffs I paid about $3800.00. Adding up all of my lathe tools and stationary equipment I an well over double that amount.

[Alex Zeller]

I'm assuming you are new to turning and have no experience (since you are asking about tooling). If so join a club. A club will get you access to people who know what you want to do and hands on training to get you where you need to go. If you plan on making bowls then you will need at least one bowl gouge. While it's not impossible to learn watching on-line videos it's much easier in person. A gouge will hold an edge for a little while so you could sharpen it at a club member's shop until you figure out which grinder combination is right for you. When it comes to bowls you are most likely going to be turning "side grain" blanks. If you do it wrong you are going to end up with lots of end grain tear out and it'll cost you a fortune in sand paper or worse it'll catch and dig out a chunk of wood. It'll also discourage you. So learning all the correct ways to use a gouge is step one. Again having someone show you, for example, what "riding the bevel" is in person will take a lot frustration out of the learning process.

If you stick with it you are going to have, as others have said, as much (if not more) into tooling than the lathe. This sport seams to be like golf, there's no limit on what you can find a desire to have. For now I would suggest a 4 jaw chuck with dovetail and bowl jaws. Between it and the face place you can do the basic things needed to make a bowl and build up your skills. A scraper is very nice but it will require a sharpening system of some sort at your house because it'll need sharpening very often. Most people that turn green wood rough turn it then let the bowl dry before finishing it. If that's your plan then you can get buy with just a gouge for now. You could buy a set of tools but I prefer to pick and choose what I think will work for me. Seams like those who have been doing it for years have a few "go to" tools and lots of ones they use on rare occasion. A set seams like a great way to end up with extras you rarely use. A parting tool is also something you will want right off.

You will also need safety equipment. At the minimum a face shield and dust mask. Also good lighting is a must. Not expensive stuff but they shouldn't be over looked. As someone who has only been turning for a few weeks this is my best advise.

[Brandon Speaks]

If you are really looking at that AB to just start getting into turning then I wont offer a budget or minimum kit type of suggestion as it is likely not what you are looking for. I will say though that there is some merit to getting only a few tools and getting really good with them before building up an arsenal. It will also help you learn what you want in future tools.