Originally Posted by
Melvin Feng
So as far as the individual turning tool purchases, this is where I think it is really hard to get out of our own heads. Some turners specialize in finials, so their tooling is catered to that, while others do bowls with traditional gouges and have a good selection there, and others do bowls with scrapers, so they have multiples of those. Some try to be able to do a bit of everything, so have more generalized tools.
I think this is where your own practice, experience, and preferences will come much more into play.
So I think the biggest thing is for you to get comfortable with your lathe, and try out some different kinds of turnings, and then when you decide that you want to get more into a specific type of turning, buy the tools that are best suited for that. You will most likely also have preferences ebb and wane, so you may end up with a whole bunch of tools of every which kind after a decade of turning, and appreciate each and every one of them!
As a quick personal example: I started with making pens [snip] I find it fun to try new types of turnings, and to make a whole bunch of mistakes, and then see my progress over time.