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weisyboy
16th August 2007, 01:31 PM
how old were you whaen you caught the turning bug.

Toolin Around
16th August 2007, 01:37 PM
About 11 years old. Dad bought me my first lathe when I was 16 or 17

Gra
16th August 2007, 02:04 PM
I blame the forum. I started woodworking using a triton table (Like many others). looking around for some help I stumbed here. When I saw the awesome work done here, I said "wish I could do that". not long after that I hurt my back and had trouble moving the triton around. I spent more time here and showed SHMBO the work done here. So at the next WWW show SHMBO brought me a lathe, and have been making shavings, dust and the odd projectile:o ever since:U

rsser
16th August 2007, 02:11 PM
I saw Guilio M. demo the turning of a Camphor Laurel bowl at the WWW show and was hooked. Left with an MC900 and Chinese scroll chuck. Already had a set of Sorby CS tools; bought a GMC wet grinder and spent the first month learning how to shape and sharpen them.

My partner later gave me a VM100 bless her.

mick61
16th August 2007, 02:33 PM
Gday i caught the bug about 12years ago i was messing around with woodwork and saw a mag with BONNIE KLIENS FINIAL RING BOXES I WAS HOOKED. On my third lathe did what most of us have done bought a chinese lathe :doh: three months later bought a :2tsup: woodfast280s :2tsup: haven`t looked back. The woodfast is still going strong have a mini MAGNO the chinese one is in the tip.
Mick:D

LOVE IT

wheelinround
16th August 2007, 07:05 PM
during school days 70's

never did anything after that but watch in envy at woodturners at tourist attractions
Port Maq ..& .Warhope & somewhere in Vic as well as the old glog maker in Cooma now that was a lathe raw woodworking at its best.

then when searching brought me here a while ago I spent hrs checking out the great works
LOML had me making drop spindles about 2 years ago i was using a ped drill.

Was at WWWS 2 years ago should bought one then but waited till this year mini jet will do me.

benji79
16th August 2007, 07:14 PM
Used the lathe in high school and loved it, but went away from it when I got an electrical apprenticeship. Got back in to it about 12 mths ago (27 Yrs old), now a supervisor on the railways, so ive got lots of time on my hands :D . Still got the MC900 but I'm using it so much, hoping that within the next couple of years I can trade up.

Benji

ss_11000
16th August 2007, 07:54 PM
13 at school....

Skew ChiDAMN!!
16th August 2007, 08:31 PM
When did I... :sad3:

When did I... :think:

When did I... :anoyd:








HELP! I don't remember! :saddest:

Gra
16th August 2007, 08:46 PM
When did I...

When did I...

When did I...


Quick skew, pick up a chisel, your starting to twitch again:U:U

Allan at Wallan
16th August 2007, 08:55 PM
Last year, when I was 66 and still working, one of my
workmate's father died. Among the workshop full of
tools was a DeWaalt Radial Arm saw with seven spare
blades, an old heavy bandsaw which stands about
five feet high, and an Elu woodlathe complete with a
set of chisels and various other attachments.

My mate said he wanted a "nominal" figure for each
one which turned out to be $50 each. I got the trailer
hooked up really quickly and picked them up the same
day.

Having much fun making pens, the odd candleholder and
today I finished my second bowl. I am now a member of
two woodturning/woodworking clubs, retired from work
and having a ball.

Allan

__________________________________________

I am not at all worried about dying
... but just hope I am not there at the time.

Barry_White
16th August 2007, 08:59 PM
I suppose I could say I caught the Bug as you call it at 68. But as far a first using a lathe it was compulsory at the age of 15 as an apprentice Patternmaker.

Calm
16th August 2007, 09:16 PM
In about 1968 in form 3 at Kyneton High/Technical School woodwork was one of the electives i chose. (cooking, sewing, pottery, metalwork, woodwork, technical drawing, acting & motor mechanics) 2 periods a week, 2 per term. The wood lathes were at the end of the workshop and we watched the teacher do a demonstration but you were not allowed to touch them until form 4.

Do you know what that does to a 14 year old's inquisitive nature? I decided i was gunno have a go one day.

I followed metal work and mechanics (dad's trade) the next year and was never allowed to have a go.

2 years ago after a divorce and raising 4 girls on my own (1 left still) a bit of spare cash gave me the oportuunity to buy a lathe and ave-a-go.

I was hooked , it was as good as i thought it would be 39 years ago

So a steep learning curve a few mistakes and a lot of questions later i am happily looking at improving/acquiring better machinery to use.

Cliff Rogers
16th August 2007, 09:20 PM
About '71 at high school.
Got my first lathe in '81 I think.

funkychicken
16th August 2007, 09:28 PM
13...

Saw a GMC lathe in a Mitre 10 catalogue and just had to have it. Grabbed a SuperCheap set of turning tools and I was off.*


*After a couple of hours sharpening:rolleyes:

Tony Morton
16th August 2007, 11:01 PM
Hi All with the "BUG"
I Got it at school that is wood work Grand father and his sons al in joinery trade Grandfather retired at age 78. Didnt see woodturning till about thirty younger brother bought a piece he had turned at school to show me ,within a few days i had read everything on wood turning in local library wasnt much .I had a Makita lathe in a few weeks that was some thirty years ago and its getting worse i'm retiring shortly. So see what happens then.

Cheers Tony

rodent
17th August 2007, 03:25 AM
Well the grey matters dieing again skew .About 4 years ago I met your mum and dad at a demo in a community hall in mooralbark ( I know my spellings blaaa ) he gave up and you took it up THEN A MONSTER WAS BORN !!! called Skew ChiDAMN . I started up when crazyskew took a mate graham and my self to his dads place , and we made some pens:oo: hooked ever since .:D

Richard Findley
17th August 2007, 08:57 AM
I'm a joiner by trade and bought a small lathe aged 23 to make the odd knob or finial.... got hooked...bought a bigger lathe....am now semi pro woodturner, aged 27 and hoping to go full time in the next year or so:doh: !!

Richard

TTIT
17th August 2007, 09:21 AM
Turned (scraped :shrug: ) a lampbase at High School in '74. Resisted the urge for nearly 30 years then made a thing like a lathe out of a washing machine motor and some channel ducting............. then MC900 ............ then Stubby........

Sebastiaan56
17th August 2007, 10:51 AM
[quote=TTIT;568538]Turned (scraped :shrug: ) a lampbase at High School in '74. /quote]

Similar,

Scraped(?) a bowl in woodwork in 2nd form, 1969? got 98% but more importantly loved doing it!, 36 years later met the Woodturners at a local fair and went for a couple of lessons. Ive always wanted to get into turning but circumstances were not right. Now they are:D

Sebastiaan

Skew ChiDAMN!!
17th August 2007, 04:15 PM
he gave up and you took it up THEN A MONSTER WAS BORN !!! called Skew ChiDAMN

Nar, mate... that's when I nicked his lathe. I'd had the bug for a looong time before. :p

ticklingmedusa
17th August 2007, 06:59 PM
About 1969 ... about 13 years old.
My first piece was a weedpot of rosewood. Its over there on the shelf.
Damn I'm getting old.:oo:

rsser
17th August 2007, 07:12 PM
Not old TM ... just mature :D The acid young wine comes together with good American Oak to produce, well, ... pick your own analogy :;

Skew ChiDAMN!!
17th August 2007, 07:14 PM
Pickled blockheads? :D

rsser
17th August 2007, 07:33 PM
... LOL, yep, can feel like that sometimes.

NeilS
18th August 2007, 07:07 PM
I must have been about 9 or 10 years of age when I made a yo-yo out of camphor laurel, with a lot of help from an older friend, some 50 years ago now. We couldn’t afford to buy a yo-yo, so we made our own. For that matter, we couldn’t afford a lathe… we, well my older friend, made our own. From what I remember of the ‘lathe’ it was a purpose built contraption that looked more like a meccano construction than a piece of woodworking equipment, but it did have a variable speed drive…the treadle from an old sewing machine… :U

We painted those lovely camphor laurel yo-yos with silver frost so they looked more like the bought ones the other kids had…what a shame! Nowadays you could probably buy at least 10 Chaiwanese plastic yo-yos with one of those nicely made camphor laurel models!

I don’t have any of those first turnings, but I do have an old photo of a spinning wheel that I turned about 40 years ago, having graduated to a ‘real’ lathe by then. I’ll see if I can scan and upload it.

Neil

PS - If you were wondering about the sweet young thing in the mini-skirt using the spinning wheel, well she became my wife and 40 years later she is a grey haired grandmother who still indulges me in my passion for wood and woodturning :) :) :) .

BANNED
19th August 2007, 12:05 AM
I should say that my introduction to wood turning, and the first time I ever touched one, was at school in the early 70's. The next 30 odd years were spent around timber (carpenter/cabinet maker/builder), but never behind a wood lathe. Wasn't much I didn't do/made out of timber, including installing hundreds of pieces of all kind, colour and shapes, turned by other people, in new or reconstructed houses. Around 2001/2 I purchased my first lathe (GMC) I saw in a catalogue, because I couldn't believe, they could be so cheap. Turned 2 pieces in the first couple of days, and was it. For some particular reason, I kept that lathe for all this time (moving etc.,) until last year, when I found myself with lots of extra time, and nothing to do, after my early retirement in 2005 due to health problems and some physical disability. I set up the lathe again, but I realise that I couldn't bent enough to hollow the timber, or stand on the lathe for long, so I stop using it. More recently, and after changing address and location, I felt a need more than ever to work with timber, create something, smell the natural timbers, etc., so I mounted the GMC again in an old shed in the backyard, and started turning, everyday since.

So, the correct answer to the question would be, I don't really know!
Nevertheless, I should say that, only recently (a few months back), the BUG, had the right conditions to get me good and proper, if you know what I mean...! :?

Cheers
GV

Stu in Tokyo
19th August 2007, 12:44 AM
Just over a year ago! :2tsup:

Sebastiaan56
19th August 2007, 07:19 AM
PS - If you were wondering about the sweet young thing in the mini-skirt using the spinning wheel, well she became my wife and 40 years later she is a grey haired grandmother who still indulges me in my passion for wood and woodturning .

Your'e a lucky man Neil, doe she still spin?

reeves
19th August 2007, 08:28 AM
I recall making a skatboard deck or 3 and a few other things in highschool and some guitar repairs and house build in my early 20s. Then nothing but art, music and computers until late 30s. The bug bit slowly, first a BD drill from kmart to fix a bed stand, then some home maintainence stuff, moved to a heavily wooded area. Was getting seriously bored at work in the office and needed a more phyiscal distraction, bough some camphor from a local amrket and made the wife a spinning wheel stool, got a few more chisels and tools, made a jewellry box that worked out ok, found lots of interest wood stuff on the net while bored at work, thought, mmm wood is really interesting. Started collecting bits of building offcuts from the dump and other timbers.

2004, Started hanging out at the local specialist woodwork store and saw an MC900 lathe, put on layby without telling wife, brought it home and son and I set it up and turned a goblet from pine using only a small scraper. Bought some more tools and started buying turning blanks, reading more, met local woodworkers, did some show and tell stuff with Wendy at work.

Bug well and truly bitten by this stage and developed a keen interested in collecting wood locally and learning more baout turning. Intend to make guitars and tables and stuff but woodturning took hold big time..always much to learn...

now have small woodturning business online, lots of wood, increasing tool collection and many friends, never bored travelling down the road as I spend ample time trying to ID trees....discovered that my great grandfather was a lifelong woodworker..enjoy the bond with wood and the ability to make useful things..

wheelinround
19th August 2007, 09:53 AM
Your'e a lucky man Neil, doe she still spin?

Same question Neil LOML is a spinner has been for about 15 years now
Next question hope she still has that wheel look sgreat

Ray

NeilS
21st August 2007, 10:10 PM
Your'e a lucky man Neil, doe she still spin?

and


Same question Neil LOML is a spinner has been for about 15 years now
Next question hope she still has that wheel look sgreat

Ray

The spinning wheel is still somewhere about the place, but has not been used in recent years. I do, however, get to enjoy a lot more yummy cooking instead....:U

Neil

ticklingmedusa
22nd August 2007, 08:13 AM
Not old TM ... just mature :D The acid young wine comes together with good American Oak to produce, well, ... pick your own analogy :;
:D


Pickled blockheads? :D

Sad but true...
I wouldn't trade it for anything.
tm

wheelinround
22nd August 2007, 09:03 AM
and



The spinning wheel is still somewhere about the place, but has not been used in recent years. I do, however, get to enjoy a lot more yummy cooking instead....:U

Neil

:U:U LOML also is great cook but give up the wheel sorry wheels x 3:C:~:no:

Cliff Rogers
22nd August 2007, 10:10 PM
Sad but true...
I wouldn't trade it for anything.
tm
But wouldn't you, think about it..... :think: wouldn't you just love to go back back, even just for a day, knowing what you know now. :D

Frank&Earnest
22nd August 2007, 10:55 PM
When I found at the back of a drawer my first turned piece (pic in that thread) I realised that just about now is the 30th anniversary of my woodturning. Still, I would be dishonest if I said I have "the bug". Life has so many other things to offer... Let's say that I catch it regularly but I'm not yet at the chronic stage. My first WW "infection" was carving, when I was about 18 IIRC.

BernieP
22nd August 2007, 11:03 PM
G'Day Weisyboy

First started last year, granddaughter gave me an old Gmc she had in the shed, had been heavily into art, pyrography, glass engraving etc., prior to brain surgery so could no longer do that and had to retire and move out of Sydney,I was driving people mad.

Joined this forum and discovered what a great sander the GMC made (Skew's template) one of the handiest tool in the shed. Bought a MC1100
and am still learning the art of woodturning, with the help of the forum and WW club.

I now try to fire up the lathe at least every day, and am slowly getting enough confidence in myself back to even try art again.
Thanks to you all.

Cheers
Bernie