Learning woodturning on my own

Hi. I would like to learn woodturning at home. How much realistically will I need to spend $$$, and what exactly will I really need to get started? Are any of those kits worth looking at, or are those scams? Please also suggest a good book or 2.

Thanks.

Reply to
Lewis Lang
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Your question is just a lot too open-ended to be answerable. You can get started for as little as $129 for a HF lathe and $10 for crappy tools or you can go as high as your pockets are deep. In theory you could make your own lathe and tools and all it would cost you is labor and materials. The real questions are: what do you want to make and what do you want to spend. That will define what you can get. There are a number of good books available, as well as a number of videos that can show you the different aspects of turning. NOTHING beats having a person there to show you and watch you, though. I'm assuming that you aren't really in Indonesia, like your addy suggests. If you are, go to the local marketplace and watch the guys making the stuff for the tourists. See if one of them will make you a lathe and toools. If you aren't, take a look at my sig line and follow the AAW link to the local chapters and look up your state. Find the closest one and join it. That'll get you more help than you can imagine.

Dave in Fairfax

Reply to
Dave in Fairfax

Good Day Lewis

I started turning just over a year ago. Couldn't get to a club so it was me and the lathe. An important thing I realized is I'm not learning alone. The good people in this news group where here to answer every question I had. I bring this up because there were things that would frustrate me and then I'd find a post which had the answer I needed. So don't get frustrated just check the old posts or ask.

I started with a Delta mini, which I love, but the posters seem to prefer the Jet. The Harbor Freight basic turning set and a bowl gouge seems to be a good starter set. A slow or variable speed grinder for shaprening.

other "must haves" in my opinion

DVD The skew chisel by Alan Lacer

DVD Turned Bowls Made Easy by Bill Grumbine

Book WOODTURNING A Foundation Course by Keith Rowley

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Darrell Feltmate Great Info on allaspects of turning , including tool making
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Fred Holder...... Make sure to check out LynJ. Mangiameli Index of Articles Just my 2 cents

Randy

Reply to
rdeforge

This turd is a troll, ignore him.

B.

Reply to
Buddy Matlosz

If you can my suggestion would be to take a course sponsored by a local club. Its nice to get a hands on experience. Even learning the basics of how to use 1 tool will help to get you started. That's what I did.Reading and studying books will give you ideas but its putting those ideas into practise. And books will not necessarily show you how not to acquire bad habits. Personal contact is desirable, but don,t expect some of these people to give you all the tips and secrets.Stick with your hobby and eventually you will get better. There is a percentage of people that can learn and adapt themselves to the book learning process.But practise is the key to this hobby.

My 2 cents worth, and happy turning.

Sincerely Keith Newfoundland Canada

Reply to
Keith Young

As with most if not all commercial DVD and videos, there can be a certain degree of mis-representation. I say there Maybe : key word :. generally these dvd and videos seem to make the presentations look very easy. Not so. Remember, these are done by in the most part by very experienced woodturners. Also products that are being demonstrated maybe re-presented a little un fairly. Generally speaking a demonstration is just that, a demonstration. optimized with materials that work best with the product.

My 2 cents worth Happy turning

Keith Newfoundland Canada

Reply to
Keith Young

In general, I'd agree with that. Bill Gumbine has put out a video on turning that starts with a log on the ground and shows how to make a bowl out of it. He doesn't have an ax to grind and he isn't interested in showing how hot a turner he is, so it is straight information, no sales pitch. You can check out his website at:

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and follow the videolink on the left side to his stuff. Standard disclaimer, justsatisfied, yadda, yadda, yadda.Dave in Fairfax

Reply to
Dave in Fairfax

Dave

Generally I was not referring to woodturners such as Bill. Product manufacturers are notorious for poor product instructions and sloppy assembly instructions.Its a real wonder they sell as much as they do. I find that woodturners in general are a helpful bunch, its the manufacturers that bug me.Case in point are the number of woodturners who have purchased there products after seeing their demos, and found there stuff difficult to use. Demo's I might add that make there product look easy and simple to use. Anyhow that's my 2 cents worth.

Happy Turning Everybody. To: the guy who started this topic. Get a turner to assist you, to start your hobby correctly. I did. Probably one of the best woodturners in NFLD. To bad he moved to Ontario. Remember not everyone will be an artist, but then art is in the eye of the beholder.

Keith Young Newfoundland Canada A1N 4W8

Reply to
Keith Young

Keith, I *REALY* didn't think that you were referring to Bill, it's OK. I've seen a ahndful of videos like the ones you described . The look amazing until you figure out what's going on, which is why I mentioned Bill's. I figure that the OP should know about it and take a good long look at that possibility. I totally agree with a person being better than a book or a video as the way to go in learning. Much earlier in the thread I suggested just that.

Dave in Fairfax

Reply to
Dave in Fairfax

Lewis,

About three years ago I decided I wanted to learn to turn bowls but I wasn't sure where to start. I did a lot of research on the internet at first looking up types and prices of lathes. After I decided on the size lathe I wanted/needed to start with I had to narrow down the brands until I came up with one that was within my price range that had most of the features I thought I needed. Likewise you will need to figure out what you want to turn, what is the minimum size restraints that will satisfy you for now and see how deep your pocket are. This can take a bit of time so don't get impatient. Lots of people in this newsgroup can help if you let them know your intent.

What I wasn't ready for when I first started turning was all the other extra things that add up in cost. You need a good set of turning tools. You need different tools for spindle turning than you need for bowl turning. Yes, there is some crossover at times but the basic tool for bowls is a good bowl gouge. When I first started I bought an eight piece set of spindle turning tools because I didn't know the difference. What I really needed was a bowl gouge. There are several schools of thought on types of bowl gouges to use for turning bowls but you will figure that out later.

Once I got my lathe home and I had the correct tools to use I soon figured out that the tools need to be sharpened, often. Sometimes several times per project. So, you will need a decent slow speed grinder. You don't need to buy the best on the market but you do need one. There are attachments that you can get to make your grinding easier. You will know in time if you want or need one of these attachments but they are not necessary right away.

You will also need a way to hold your work on the lathe. How you accomplish this will also depend on what you wish to turn and how much you want to spend. There are both expensive and inexpensive ways hold your work on the lathe. The inexpensive ways work well but are not always obvious to the beginner. The expensive ways are more convenient but can really cost a lot.

Lastly you will need to gain some knowledge from others who have gone before you. This newsgroup is a good source. The have helped me a lot in the past. But you really need to be able to see someone else turn. Buying video tapes, DVD's and books is a good idea. Bill Grumbine's video is excellent for learning to turn bowls. Richard Raffin's stuff is good. He has videos and books on bowl turning and spindle turning. There is a ton of good material by various turners out there to choose from. You will find that everyone has there own technique and there is more that one way to accomplish many turning tasks. I found it confusing at first to listen to too many people that had different ways of doing things. You may need to pick a person and listen to them for a while until you get your feet wet. Then adding other turner's information will help you gain knowledge. Taking a class from a teacher is also a good idea. After about four or five months of turning and getting frustrated I took a class from my local Woodcraft store. Several of my questions were answered at that class. BUT after a while I needed more. About a year later I took a three day class from David Ellsworth. It helped a lot. Start slow. Turning has a long, steep learning curve.

The moral of this is that turning is addictive. It will always cost you more than you already have and you will never run out of new things to learn. If you have an idea of what kind of turning you want to do then post a message on this group. You will get a lot of helpful infomation.

Hope this helps. Good Luck.

Reply to
Ted

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