I have an "occasional" need to make round things, as well as a very very very very large pile of exotic scrap that I see has an army of salt and pepper shakers in it. I've never really been into the turning side of things, but if I had a cheap, but mostly reliable/solid lathe, I'd probably enjoy it. To be clear, a lathe is a want, not a need, and I'm pretty rigid in not spending a lot of $ on "wants", which allow me to meet my "need$$$". Griz has a bunch of stuff in the 3-600$ range that I feel is in my budget....are any of those enough to do the infrequent chair spindles and draw bore dowels and a month worth of salt and paper shakers? One thing that holds me back is the cost of chisels and blades and keeping them sharp....I've reached the point where I've stood for hours on end staring at my cut off/scrap pile with my hands on my hip "If only I had a damned lathe...."....