New at this.

[gaj]

G'day, a bloke I know just gave me a brand new lathe and I'm keen to get started playing with it. Unfortunately I know bugger all about wood turning so I'd appreciate some pointers as to where I should start looking for beginners stuff. Any good posts here on the forum or a place that has good books or other websites or whatever. I'm ready to soak up info.

All tips appreciated, thanks.

BTW, my main hobby is knives, which involves sharpening which I know a little about so I think I can probably take care of the tools OK. I got a basic set with the lathe.

[hughie]

gaj,

welcome a board. Hmmm a brand new lathe as a freebee, I'd say your blessed.

As to wood turning have a look around for a club near you and join. This way you will have help at close hand.
As to info try searching this forum via the search button on the left hand side.

meanwhile heres a few links to get you started. :2tsup:


http://www.aroundthewoods.com/
http://www.woodturningonline.com/Turning/Turning_articles.html#design
http://rwallace.public.iastate.edu/WTlinks.html
<cite>
heaps of diy videos
www.youtube.com/ -

down load the free book
http://www.turningtools.co.uk/wtintro/wtintro.html
</cite>

[thefixer]

G'day Gaj

Let us know what brand and model lathe you got and we will tell you how much fun your gunna have.

Cheers
Shorty

[joe greiner]

What they said, gaj.

If you already know sharpening, you're way ahead on the game.

Cheers,
Joe

[gaj]

Thanks for the info guys, looks like I've got some reading to do. Good excuse to stay inside in the air con and not out in the paddock in 38 degrees! :)

My new lathe doesn't come with it's own stand so I'll need to build a bench to sit it on before I can start playing with it. Then, of course, I'll need to build something to keep the tools in .....

I can see this is going to be another never ending exercise ...

:)

[Ozkaban]

HiGaj,

I'm in a similar position (except I had to pay for my lathe!). I read a bunch of books (there's a good one by Mike Darlow that I was given - can't remember the name but something like Woodturning fundamentals) and watched some videos. I've turned a few pens to get some practice and they're fairly straight forward.

I'm in the process of finding a decent class to join to get some basic grounding. The one I think I will do is the Trend Timbers (in the west of Sydney) beginner course over two days. Does anyone know of a better spot to start with tuition? I'm not that close to the Syd wood turners guild hornsby branch (I'm near Hornsby but they meet in Annangrove), so joinging them is a while away. I'd still want to do some basic tuition first anyway...

Cheers,
Dave

[RETIRED]

HiGaj,

I'm in a similar position (except I had to pay for my lathe!). I read a bunch of books (there's a good one by Mark Darlow that I was given - can't remember the name but something like Woodturning fundamentals) and watched some videos. I've turned a few pens to get some practice and they're fairly straight forward.

I'm in the process of finding a decent class to join to get some basic grounding. The one I think I will do is the Trend Timbers (in the west of Sydney) beginner course over two days. Does anyone know of a better spot to start with tuition? I'm not that close to the Syd wood turners guild hornsby branch (I'm near Hornsby but they meet in Annangrove), so joinging them is a while away. I'd still want to do some basic tuition first anyway...

Cheers,
DaveJohn Ewart that does the lessons at Trend is an excellent teacher,
IMHO the best book ever written (in modern times) is Woodturning-A Foundation Course by Keith Rowley.

[Groggy]

A good book list is here (http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=52772). Here is the book refers to:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/411GDKCEADL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA240_SH20_OU01_.jpg

[gaj]

IMHO the best book ever written (in modern times) is Woodturning-A Foundation Course by Keith Rowley.


I'll see if the bookshop can get it for me, thanks.

[NeilS]

Hi Gaj - welcome to the forum.

You probably have more than enough now from the other forum members to get you started. Once you have had a read of some of those references and have a few questions then I suggest you spend some time 'searching' with keywords through past posts on this forum... it contains a valuable mine of information on woodturning.

Should you be more of a visual learner and have a good Internet download quota another good resource is the Woodturning series on YouTube, produced by expertvillage.

Each topic is covered with a series of brief video clips, only problem with them is that it is not clear what order they should be played. Here are two suggested starting points:

Wood Turning Basics : Wood Turning: Lathe Parts

and

YouTube - Woodturning Equipment : Woodturning Equipment: Wood Lathe


All the best.

Neil

[GoGuppy]

Thanks all

I too am thinking of getting a small lathe shortly, probably the Woodfast mini. I have just ordered the Foundation Course book to get a head start.:U.

Cheers