Conover's lather book - any good ?

It covers turning techiques for wood and soft metals. Rowley's Woodturning: A Foundation Course is also useful. The most useful things are a pile of green wood and a helpful mentor.

Dave in Fairfax

Old High Wycombe turner named Frank Pain wrote a fine book called The Practical Woodturner. Don't look for "art," but for common sense in it.

Andy wrote:>'m looking for a book on basic woodturning. I've heard Ernie

I've found the book to be very helpful in my infancy. Some of the reference pics are somewhat difficult for a newbie to understand, but with experience, lights come on. It covers types of lathes, chisels, work-holding chucks(both bought and shopbuilt), sharpening and many repairs. I think it's worth the $24 I paid. Tom Work at your leisure!

I think Conover's book might be helpful in choosing a lathe and its accutrements, but Keith Rowley's 'Woodturning: A Foundation Course' and his video of the same name are, I believe, the best for getting the basics. That said, there is no substitute for a class, a local mentor or club, and a lot of time spent making fire starter. If you don't have a local mentor or club, you can certainly learn a lot here by asking questions.

LD

I bought that book when I was starting out and was disappointed. Not that it's a bad book, but the wrong book for what I wanted to accomplish. If you're looking to learn technique this isn't the book for you. Like others have mentioned, the Rowley book is very good, and there's a couple of good Raffan books too. Recently, however, I got a book called 'Turn a Bowl with Ernie Conover' that I like quite a bit.

Hi, I am new to turning also and I recently bought Ernie's "Turn a bowl" and have been quite pleased with it. It has a wealth of info to get you started and he is easy to understand. His book coupled with the wood turning show on DIY have helped my turning knowledge tremendously. I'll definitely invest in other books by him. Previously, i had purchased "The fundamentals of woodturning" by Mike Darlow and found i didn't care for it much. I thought it to confusing for a beginner. (maybe after some more experience it'll make sense). Ernie's books have my vote! -dave

I agree with Lobby. For a turning tutorial, Keith Rowley's book is excellent. Richard Raffan's "Turning Wood" is also very good. I like Conover's book a lot, however, for two different reasons. His book goes into the machine itself much more than any other. When shopping for a lathe -especially a used machine - the Lathe Book is a great reference. Second, his book is the only one that touches on metal spinning. That is unique as far as I've seen.

Joe Fleming - San Diego ==========================================

I own both books and agree completely. After purchasing these books, I also picked up Connover's Turning for Furniture which is quite good. Connover's writing style is less stiff than Rowley's. Having said that, if I was a beginner and could only have one book, it would certainly be the Rowley one.

Tim