I first got my lathe (mini Rikon) for the sake of turning pens. I have had a lot of fun doing so. Have given many out as gifts and have sold a few to people who have asked. I also did a couple of bowls and found that they too are fun. I gave my wife the last one I made out of cocobolo (filled it with M&Ms) She liked it enough to ask me to make two more as Christmas gifts for our daughter's in-laws and our son's in-laws to be. My problem is that I always get catches which does a lot of damage. What am I doing wrong? I am a lefty so I do do some of my work from the backside of the lathe. I have tried angling my tool up, down, straight and anything else I can think of. I have a bowl gauge but it is worse than the spindle gouge I end up using. I have a bowl sitting on the lathe now. I stopped because I was getting a bit too angry to continue out there. So I stopped and vacuumed all the shavings and dust that have been accumulating. The good part is that I now have a clean shop. I should probably take a course somewhere like the local Woodcraft or something like it but $$$ is at premium right now. Help!!! By the way Steve, beautiful mapel bowls!!!