wood lathes

[pedro]

Never used a forum before.My wife and son have been introduced to the the fine art of woodturning and intasisa(spelling?). What is a reasonable wood lathe to purchase as I believe in getting a decent one from the start.
( Junior member @ 45 must have completed my details wrong bloody computers??????)

[Wayne Davy]

Check out Carbatec/Hare & Forbes or Timbecon. All have starter lathes at $350-$400. You will need to buy a set of chisels with starter sets from $100-$150 (go for the $150 dollar sets if you can).

www.carbatec.com.au
www.timbecon.com.au

BTW: You will be a junior member until your Forum Posts hit 100+.

[kenmil]

Originally posted by Wayne Davy



BTW: You will be a junior member until your Forum Posts hit 100+.

Or until you go into your user profile and change it to whatever you want it to be.

[Sir Chiz]

Mr Doorstop Suh!

How does one make handles for their lathe tools
when their lathe tools have no handles?? :D

I'm gonna have trouble sleepin' tonite. :D


Sir Chizalot The Bold. :D

[Jim Carroll]

Pedro you have hit the nail on the head, so to speak, buy a good lathe from the start and you wont have to worry about upgrading again. To do this your budget will have to be about $2500. This will get you a decent lathe, scroll chuck, stand and as doorstop indicated a decent set of tools to get you started in the world of woodchips. find out where your local club is and go to a few meetings to see if you like what they are about and find out a lot more about this new craft for you. A bit of gratuitous advertising www.cws.au.com will give you a better idea on what is available. It is not all that is available but it will give you an idea.

[Wayne Davy]

Apologies to all - I should have read Pedro post properly before mentioning the toy stuff.

Pedro,

Ignore my post and listen to these guys, they are the experts.

[Wayne Davy]

Good, now stoppers guard is down, I can.... DAMN !Did I say that out loud - Damn

[pedro]

Thanks for advice.Made a decision and bought a CARBA-TEC MC 900 on special. Any comments?

[grahame_a]

Pedro

I made a similar choice around 4 years ago. Still happy with it.

It would be interesting to see what you think of it in a few months.

PS - Buy good Chisels. Mine are a collection of P&N, Sorby, Henry Taylor and I am really glad I purchased them. Please note the first two were purchased handled. You need some tools to make handles for the other tools.

[Wayne Davy]

Pedro,

Thats the one I've got as well (see Doorstop). Very happy with mine too.

[Darryn]

Originally posted by Sir Chiz
Mr Doorstop Suh!

How does one make handles for their lathe tools
when their lathe tools have no handles?? :D


Sir Chizalot The Bold. :D

Vice grips work amazingly well to hold a medium sized gouge, but I haven't been brave or silly enough to try it with a roughing gouge

Darryn

[ubeaut]

How does one make handles for their lathe tools
when their lathe tools have no handles?? Use the tool without a handle. We're talking 50mm square timber not bloody tree trunks. Strewth.:rolleyes:

[grahame_a]

Pedro

Don't use the tool without a handle.

The end of the chisel has a nice sharp tang excellent for slitting wrists.

It is a bit like using files without handles - lots of people do it but I have nevr seen a text anywhere ever recommend it. And I don't do it.

People also make chisels from old files - hard steel and it breaks nicely as well.

My approach is never knowingly put yourself in jeopardy - there are enough other ways to get hurt.

[arose62]

Here's my 2 cents as a beginner:

invest all of, say, $26 in a set of el-cheapo woodturning chisels from a highly respected vendor like SuperCheap Auto.

This also gives you a cost-effective way to learn to sharpen your tools (something no-one seems to have mentioned yet in this thread). I'm much happier grinding, re-grinding, and re-re-grinding the cheapies than I would be shortening a $40, $50 or $100+ tool.

This gives you the opportunity to learn which tools you'll use, and for what, so you can then buy the good ones, and also solves the problem of what to use to make the handles for the good tools.

Cheers,
Andrew

P.S. I find a Triton SuperJaws wonderful for pressing the tools into their handles.

[Sir Chiz]

I guess I'll go back to being:

Sir Chizalot the Chickenheart! :D

We're not all build like Little John yaknow! ;)

Or that Lumpy Behemoth in the Rouges Gallery. :D

Strewth Forsooth!

Chiz.

[Neil]

If you're too scared to turn a little bit of 2" without a handle onthe tool, drill a hole in the end of a bit of broom handle, stick the tool in it and use that to turn your handles.

It's 2" for goodness sake, you could turn it with a pocket knife.

grahame_a Not all turning tools have tangs on the end the one you would likely use for turning the first handle is made out of round with the only sharp bit being at the front (business end of the tool) Only cheap or old fashioned gouges have tangs on the end, whilst the modern ones are made out of round bar. Skew chisels, parting tools, scrapers and some roughing gouges have tangs, but all good gouges don't, especially the ones made in Australia (arguably the best around).

If there is a Carba-Tec near you see if they have any of the Record tools left, there has been a bit of a fire sale on them for a while now with $80 tools going for around $20. They are mostly handled so you won't have to bother with any of the guff in this post other than learning how to sharpen them as Andrew wisely said.

However it a better idea to buy good tools from the start and learn to sharpen them. Learning on cheapies won't help too much as they are usually completely different profiles from the good tools. Besides the good ones are high speed steel and take a lot of wearing out compared to the cheapies. About 1 sharpen to every 10-12 sharpens of a cheapie and litle or no loss of steel.

Hope this is of some help.

Cheers - Neil. :)

[JackoH]

Pedro
I don't know where you live as you choose to hide yourself very effectively!
Amongst all the foregoing drivel there is lots of good advice, incuding that about the quality of P&N tools. I would'nt use anything else now.
My two bits, for what they are worth. Get yourself some lessons. Invariably the first thing your teacher will get you to do is turn a chisel handle. Failing that if possible, join a local club and get one of their members to show you how. (If you are in Oz, see links on this sites home page.)
Or, the worst option, buy a couple of el-cheapo chisels with handles, a book on woodturning and do it your self.
(Thats Intarsia, by the way.)..:D

[Wayne Davy]

Pedro,

If you are near Brisbane, Carbatec have their annual sale on at the moment and all Turning Chisels are on special 15% to 20% off. Also saw a basket of chisel handles for $2 each!! Lots of other stuff as well.

[pedro]

Thank you all for your replys. I am not the woodie I posed the question for my wife and son.
I live in North Queensland and when I get better at the computer I will complete my details.
I am a professional fisherman and all I know about is STEEL
and welding I can't drive a nail straight let alone have the patience to achieve what you blokes can do with timber.
Also judging by some of the banter that I have read you must have a degree in wit also.
Anyway thanks again for your reply's and will most probably catch you all on the net another day
Cheers
pedro the fisherman

[arose62]

It seems I was ripped off !!! $26 for a set of chisels!

In Bunnings last night, I saw el-ultra-cheapo woodturning chisels - set of 8 for $15 !!

The difference between the price of a single handled and unhandled tool is roughly $12 (in The Woodworks), so if you make one good handle for one good tool using the cheapies, you're breaking even.

Don't get me wrong, I love my very small (but slowly growing) collection of P&N tools - and the handles I made for them. My cheapo starter set has worked really well for me - YMMV.

Cheers,
Andrew

P.S. Did I mention that a Triton SuperJaws is teriffic for pressing handles onto tools ???

[JackoH]

Pedro the Fisherman.
Living in N.Q. and spend your life fishing! Lucky,Lucky Bastard!:D

[pedro]

Me again.
Happened to be in Cairns today and bought a Triton router($387.00inc gst) and router table and stand ($288.00inc GST) for a person who doesn't know much about woodworking
this will end up costing me a bloody fortune.
By the way John I agree with you it isn't all that bad up here away from you mexicians.
cheers

[barnsey]

Hi Pedro

I'm just another newbie who also bought one of the cast bed lathes from Hare & Forbes. I find it quite good - I've got wood chips from here to breakfast time and it makes em real quick!!!

It seems to do all I'm capable of at this time - a couple of 10' bowls and a platter - and if or when I really find the shortcomings too much to cope with - then I'll re-equip.

I also committed total sacrilege and boought the 6 piece tool set and the scroll chuck with it at a special price. The white wheel puts an edge on em!- the wood probably takes it off a bit quicker than it might off a sorby but hey - I may be a novice but at least I have a couple of neurones that synapse unlike those that propose using tools without handles - absolute sheer stupidity to recommend anyone should do it - for f@#$'s sake - they add about $5-10 to the cost of each off 2 or 3 tools to get you started!!!!!:confused: :eek:

[grahame_a]

Barnsey

Could not agree more about the using the tools unhandled.

There is no reason why the 6 piece tools should not work perfectly well. You may just have to sharpen them a little more often.

[macca2]

Hi..I also bought a 6 piece set to get started some 12 months ago. I have succesfully ground away half the lenght of the bowl gouge just learning to sharpen the damn things....better to ruin cheapies than the more expensive goodies. I have since bought a couple of Hamlet tools and they certainly are much nicer to use than the cheapies which I have found don't realy have the same profiles as the better tools.

I think from a learners point of view there is a place for both.

[q9]

Reading this over the last week, I should say that I can't be bothered buying unhandled tools. I'd rather spend turning time on stuff that matters. Especially when those nice ash handles from Sorby add a piddly $10 per tool.

Now to be a kill-joy: I think that any advice to use an unhandled tool posted through this forum could leave either the author or the adminstrator (or both) liable (or partially liable) for damages should something go wrong. I'd err on the side of caution.

[John Saxton]

OK, you guys, new at turning have had your spiel about unhandled tools and cheap tools.

The cheap tools are made cheap to give folk the option as whether they're going to get REALLY interested in woodturning and to learn the foibles of sharpening to maintain a good cutting edge but remember that those same cheap tools are made of crap steel that won't hold an edge for long.
Unless you learn to put an appropriate bevel and as such a decent cutting edge quickly on your tools you're going to lose a lot of steel (as MACCA is testament to) and conversely they're not going to last.

I also started out like this but fortunately advice in the shape of the local Woodturners put me on the right path ...it is of note that I lost a lot of the handles off of my cheap set of tools after a workshop fire where they were on a pine shelf which had caught a spark from a bed plate I was welding for my lathe at the time so consequently it was a case of using or replacing, which with the insurance allowed for, and I now have a range of Robert Sorby/Henry Taylor/ P& N tools which do hold an edge.
Unless you want to get serious about the task you're at dont compromise your wallet and your safety by going cheap in the first instance. OK $15 at Bunnies is little to spend on a cheap set but you need to decide if you're going to be in for the long haul and if so do not rely on CHEAP to give you satisfaction.

Postscript..there are those that have been turning wood over a long period of years (not ME) and they dont post here unless they feel the necessity to put things right!

Cheers:)

[arose62]

This is getting a bit philosophical, but doing your first 'dabbling' with cheap chisels, then moving on to quality ones also gives you the chance to appreciate the difference.

Noone would argue that a newbie should start turning ebony/cocobolo/some_other_exotic_and_expensive_wood. Start with pine, then when you've learned some, move on up. Same with the tools side, IMHO.

I'm even taking this route with my lathe. Current (first) one is a cheap & nasty, but I know know some of the features I want on my next lathe!

Cheers,
Andrew