Thread: What to look out for? (Newbie Start-up)

Freddie

welcome to the forum

have you thought about the little vicmarc here
also Addictive have a set of P&N tools at a reasonable price here no piccie unfortunately

You realise you are about to enter a slippery slope with a very addictive hobby

Hey,

thanks for the reply,

i suspect i may be poisoned with the 'turning' bug!!! Worst or shall i say best of all i'm already hooked to other hobbies like Car Audio Sound Systems and that's how it lead me to be interested in making subwoofer boxes out of MDF boards and then to Wood Turning.

Thanks for the links. i will be traveling to and from Melbourne in a year or two due to studies and do hope to get my own machine in Australia too. Eucalyptus here i come!

i do not exactly what spindles or bushings i need to start making Slimline pens, any hints there?

Cheers,
Freddie

Welcome to the money pit of woodturning.

Remember that you will be turning very small objects, so a high speed is useful, especially for finishing. And precision; if the headstock and tailstock do not line up well, it will really mess up your pens. Jet has a good reputation, so not a bad starting point, if you can verify the two points above.

Then you will need some way to drill your blanks, sharpen your tools, etc, etc, etc.

Originally Posted by switt775

Welcome to the money pit of woodturning.

Remember that you will be turning very small objects, so a high speed is useful, especially for finishing. And precision; if the headstock and tailstock do not line up well, it will really mess up your pens. Jet has a good reputation, so not a bad starting point, if you can verify the two points above.

Then you will need some way to drill your blanks, sharpen your tools, etc, etc, etc.

Good Lord, my wallet's gonna burn a hole. But all for the good of having a good fine pen aye.

Sharpening, im guessing i'll have to stick to manual sharpening for now, better get my grinding stone out.

As for the drill... i'll need to get a drill press.

After a while there are some "must haves" hehe, but initially you can drill your blanks in the lathe " four jaw chuck" and a drill chuck for the tailstock. Each particular pen style has its own set of "turning " and sizing bushes, but that can be overcome by turning between centres individually each blank .Plenty of info on these matters Just ask when you are ready. To get a sort of feel for the process in the mean time there are plenty of good videos on all aspects of pen turning and finishing on U-Tube . A bit of a journey ahead , but never boring always something new in kits materials and Imagination and inspiration can all be employed in this craft . Cheers ~ John

Hello Freddie

Welcome to the forum and the world of pen turning.

I've just introduced a pen turning starter kit to my range, which once you have your lathe and chisels will get you started turning pens. Link below:

Pen turning Starter kit

No problem for us to mail overseas, we do it regularly.

All the best.

G'day Freddie

You will not regret getting into turning and remember even if you only get a mini lath you can still turn other things like bowls, boxes etc.

Good luck and I can't wait to see your first pen
Also keep a eye out for pen swaps they are great fun.

Hi all,

i got some stuff, a few slim line pen sets and pen blanks and a scroll saw.

Very happy with my progress so far. ordered from penstastateind and ouch... the shipping fee to singapore costs 1/3 of the total price. Ouch.

Pen blanks and 15 slimlines = $100 SGD around US$75.

Now for the big one, the lathe... Vicmarc VL100. $1427 including shipment.

Will have to await the jet to see how it goes. Going broke.

Bugger I don't buy from Penstate direct because of shipping costs from them , but there are resellers that ship cheaper postage and sometimes cheaper prices on the goods as well , Flat rate USPS is around $14 US so you can get up to 3 lbs weight , but not a big box .This is to Australia, I am sure that you can do much better if you ask around
At least it seems you will not have a lot of competition for sales where you are hehe, good turning cheers ~ John