New Turner

[Scott Welty]

Hello -
Since I'm locked down here in Chicago and have no baseball to attend, I thought this might be a god time to get into wood turning. I've always wanted to anyway. I'm experienced wood worker with a fairly complete shop. I've done a lot of research on line and given my shop I've focused down on The Delta midi lathe along with a set of carbide tools. I understand the back and forth about traditional tools and carbide but I think carbide might be good for a rookie and allow me to NOT also have to buy sharpening wheels and that whole set of sharpening skills. Maybe at another time I can expand into that area.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Books for project ideas and skills?

Thanks gang,
Scott Welty
Chicago

[terry mccammon]

Let me encourage you to reach out to a local turning club. The Chicago Woodturners is of course not meeting in the physical sense, but are having remote meetings, including one next Tuesday, May 12. Here is the link for their website http://www.chicagowoodturners.com/

[Scott Welty]

Terry=
Thanks and yes I've already found them and plan to join.
Scott

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Have you heard of the Delta lathe parts issue(s)? I have turned on the Delta and I must say it is a very good to outstanding lathe. However, some are dead, due to the power switch and/or controller board failure. I am unsure if Delta has gotten their stuff together and now have replacement parts. I have heard that they have replacement switches, and I have heard no replacement switches available. If it were not for the parts issue, I'd probably would have bought one, and I already had 2 lathes at the time, a 10 and 16". Just not a 12".
If you have a Delta service center nearby, maybe a call to them would be wise, to see if parts are indeed available. And buying the parts before you may need them.
That said, maybe a look at the new Jet 12"? I've also turned on that and it's a nice lathe. Just my $0.02.

[Richard Coers]

The death of that Delta lathe is turning the maximum size bowl blank on it. Builds too much heat in the control and burns up some components the circuit board. The switches are vulnerable to dust and require regular maintenance. By saying that, I'm sure a bunch of people will come on and say how many years they have used that machine successfully. I own one, but have only done spindle and small box work on it. They have improved their parts availability, you just need to be able to afford them. Of course improving is a relative term since they went years with no parts available. Anything would be an improvement over that. With carbide tools, you'll need more sanding equipment. Unless you mean Hunter carbide tools, because they should be used in a shearing action. Standard insert carbide tools are just scrappers, and they never do as well as a shearing cut. Woodturning is best compared to sharpening a wood pencil with a pocket knife. Do you lay the knife edge down and pare off the wood, or do you bring the knife blade up perpendicular to the pencil and scrape off the wood? That is what you will be attempting to do with carbide tools.

[Thomas Wilson80]

I began about 4 years ago with a harbor freight mini lathe that was given to me and some carbide tools. Very quickly I got tired of poor finish/excessive sanding and purchased a bowl gouge then a skew chisel shortly thereafter. Of course this required a grinder/sharpening jig but I found I enjoyed turning much more. Now I have have several more traditional tools and pretty much never use my carbides. But that’s just my experience (I also quickly upgraded to a mini jet lathe and then this year splurged for a Laguna 2436....so I guess you could say I got sucked in completely).
Tom

[Paul Haus]

On the question of carbide vs. HSS, would I pick one vs. the other - yes. Thing is there's no general answer to that. I have quite a few HSS lathe chisels and they do well in most situations. I spend a fair amount of time with a diamond stone along with a Arkansas stone, hand sharpening my chisels. I personally don't like to use grinders, it's too easy to remove too much material, unlike doing it by hand. I enjoy hand sharpening my chisels as I can consistently check the angle and sharpness.
I picked up a couple of carbide chisels this year, so I've been working with them also. IMO they don't have the edge a finely honed HSS chisel can be sharpened to. You also aren't going to find a carbide skew chisel. To me the carbide chisels have more of a scraper angle on the cutter, which is not bad just different.
When turning something like a spindle where the grain of the wood runs down the length, I think that HSS does it a little better. On the other hand when doing something like a plate or rosette where the grain can run perpendicular to the turning axis, I think that carbide does a better job.
IMO there is a use and need for each type of chisel, it just depends on what you're turning.
My 2 cents.

[Robert D Evans]

You'd be so much better off with a Jet 1221VS. Replacement parts are available, 5 year warranty and when you get ready to upgrade, Jet is easy to sell. You won't get stuck with something that needs an unavailable part.

https://www.amazon.com/JWL-1221VS-12...hi&sr=1-4&th=1