I felt a little silly...

You shouldn't!

Building up your lathe tool collection has to start somewhere, and the HF tools are great for learning how to grind, sharpen and use the tools. I think most turners have a box full of tools, but use on a handful after they really get their style and favorite methods down.

And as far as a cheaper lathe, it will allow you to identify the features you want on your next machine. (You know there WILL be a next one, right?) I can also help you decide how big you want to turn. I have a Jet mini and a Nova 3000. But for the most part, I turn on the Jet mini as it is really easy to make small projects on, you know, the kind that get finished.

I say well done, Kevin.

Now all you have to do is match up the rest of your equipment to match your cool top line chuck.

;^)

Robert

If you plan to upgrade to a better/larger lathe some time in the future then the investment will be worth the cost. I am still using some of the first tools and chucks that I bought when I first started several years ago. My new lathe is larger but the chucks still works. All I had to do is purchase new adaptors and the old chucks fit the new lathe.

Ted

I bought a $20 bowl gouge from LV to go with the chuck. It's kind of funny that it's still a "cheap" gouge but it costs almost as much as all my other ones put together. Hell, I just spent $100 on bubblewrap and packing peanuts, and that isn't going last more than a month or two.

I do mostly flat work, I got a lathe mainly for a specific need for some 2.5" diameter half-rounds. I could get 2.5" dowels in cherry from Rockler, but I wanted walnut too. And being able to make it myself I could get the half rounds much easier than having to cut the dowel lengthwise, and cheaper to boot. But I *really* resisted getting that lathe because I knew it was a slippery slope. Upgrading the lathe, well it will happen eventually, but it needs to get in line behind every other tool in the shop :)

For the most part I think I am staying mainly with the flat work, I think I've gotten my skills up to where I am able to do most anything I put my mind to and am having fun and doing I think some different kind of work. I think to be able to do anything unique at the lathe is going to take a very long time of building up skills and going down well trodden paths. Maybe I will get there by accident eventually. I have this idea to do a sunflower bowl, walnut bowl with a thick lip that I can drill 1/4" holes around the edge for dowels, with yellowheart or canarywood petals done separately. It's either going to be cool or look ridiculous, I'm excited to find out which.

Actually what I have to do now is wait for the bowl blanks to get here ;) And I need to make a box to give all the chuck parts a home. And I have to figure out how I am going to finish the foot on the bowls since all I have at this point is the #2 jaws. I have a birthday coming up next month, I'm thinking about that dedicated bowl finishing chuck from PSI another poster mentioned a while back. The mini-jumbo jaws cost almost as much as it did does, so it seems like a good option. Especially since I can already tell for each set of jaws that get used regularly eventually that's going to mean another chuck getting bought, so it's more like $120 vs $275 not $120 vs $100. Eight screws! There may as well be a rubik's cube on there. At least if I dropped it I'd be able to find it behind the lathe ;)

Mostly I am just procrastinating from doing the final sanding and first coat of finish on some boxes that need to get done this week. Mother nature is helping out by covering the driveway in snow/ice/rain soup, how thoughtful.

-Kevin

On Wed, 7 Jan 2009 12:09:52 -0600, snipped-for-privacy@YAHOO.COM wrote (in message ):

yeah, and once you turn some stuff you like... well, you will be learning new skills to add to your flat work skills

I could get 2.5" dowels in cherry

well, of course... and remember that the line is liable to change and shift from time to time. Resistance is futile...

so, who cares about unique? Do it because it is fun and satisfying and you can make useful stuff and you can learn things - the unique will come when it comes, kinda like love, and you can't force it or measure it or schedule it or predict it. You will know it when it happens and then you can nurture it. Just make sure you are safe when you do it.

Maybe I will get there by accident eventually.

exactly!

that might be me. The PSI chuck has a capacity of 8 inches, if you are clamping onto the outer rim, surface, or edge of a thing. It has two sets of screws for doing the grabbing... short ones, about an inch long and longer ones, about double that length, with tapered rubbery somethings on them to enhance their grip. I have not yet tested the holding abilities of the longer screws yet. I did do a little experimenting with the shorter screws, to see what it would take to launch a piece of semi-dry unbalanced birch a couple of inches thick. Mainly, I think this chuck is for putting the finishing touches on something that does not need a lot of heavy cutting. The force of the tool on the wood has to be less than the force of friction which is holding the wooden object to the chuck. Overall, I am satisfied with this chuck, even though I have not begun to really wring it out, yet. Like any other tool I have, I try to learn its limits and work more or less within them.

tom koehler

Hi Kevin, Please wait your turn to feel silly over a foolish decision re buying turning equipment. There's a long line of us who have the right to feel silly ahead of you.

Suppose you had reversed that silly feeling and bought a heavy expensive lathe and a cheap chuck. Notice I didn't say "less expensive chuck". I think there are adequate chucks for midsized lathes for under $235 on the market.

I agree that your chuck won't be wasted when you upgrade to a heavier lathe, but it seems to me that most turners who own big heavy lathes and chucks also own a mini (I know! I know! tiny things can be turned on big lathes, but what's the fun in that?) and these less expensive chucks serve mini's very well. I use one on my Jet mini. IMHO, using a _cheap chuck on any lathe is not only silly, it is dangerous. Be glad it was your feeling 'silly' that was short lived and not one of your body parts.

Harbor Freight is all about separating the bargains from the junk and IMHO there are bargains to be had at HF just as there are rip offs available from the "silk stocking suppliers". Seems to me that many turners upgrade their lathes and tools, but hold on to their lesser quality chucks, often wishing they had bought better quality in the first place. I don't know why upgrading chucks seems harder to do than replacing lathes and tools. Now that just may be silly. :)

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

Yep.. BTDT... Buying a $200 chuck and an additional set of jaws and using them on a $180 Jet mini seemed really weird, but I sure made a lot of stuff on that sucker.. and am still using the chuck, 2 lathes later..

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

My metal turning lathe cost me $125 (used)in 1972 and I bought a $350

6" set-true chuck for it in 2000. Best investment I ever made. I don't think it was silly at all.

Pete Stanaitis

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snipped-for-privacy@YAHOO.COM wrote:

Well right now it's short bursts of fun interspersed liberally with swearing :) The combination of having to learn both how to sharpen and the technique at the same time, because you don't always know which one you are screwing up. The bowl gouge I got was already sharpened, so that's helpful. I am trying to make a living off what I do in the shop, so I have to pretty much go with the skills I already have. I only have a limited amount of time to screw around figuring out new stuff.

That's pretty much what I think the jumbo jaws are like, though it doesn't have the longer screws. I don't see the point in having the chuck and jaws being top of the line when it's just intended for that limited role.

-Kevin

On Thu, 8 Jan 2009 13:43:27 -0600, snipped-for-privacy@YAHOO.COM wrote (in message ):

ah, well... you are made of much sterner stuff than I am. Making a living from your shop - well from what I have read here, many of the posters here do enough turning that I assume they are making a living from their shops, too.

If you have the grit and the nerve (this is a good thing) to support yourself from your shop, you will also figure out how to explore your skills and expand them. You may have to put yourself into the same mindset as a person who is working full time and then going to college, besides. Your motivation is "learn or starve". Know that I am rooting for you. You can do this. It is not going to be easy, though, and I do not doubt that there are folks here who can give you good business advice learned the hard way. I was a dinner pail guy, myself, so woodworking has always been strictly a source of pleasure and a way of spending money rather than earning it. Best wishes to you. tom koehler

Thanks for the kind words, Tom.

Bowl #1. I was having fun there on the inside once I figured out some clue as to what I was doing with the bowl gouge. Evidently I didn't sand the tearout enough, and the bottom is a mess since I don't have the aforementioned chuck yet. But it looks like a bowl to me and I still have all the appendages I started with so I'm going to call it a victory.

-Kevin

Been there, done that ! Spending more on the chuck (almost) than what I spent on the lathe I mean. =0 )

Lenny