newbie need advice

Hello Dennis,

A band saw is a very important accessory for a woodturner. You would only need a planer if you're going to take up segmented work and need to thickness plane your material. However, since you can't run glued up segmented rings through the planer without the likelyhood of breaking the ring, a thickness sander would be a better investment.

You need the bandsaw to prepare the turning blanks, but a planer is not necessary. You can mount the blank on the lathe and make it flat much easier than you can plane it that way.

Fred Holder

Well, a BS will come in quite handy, but then again a chainsaw is also quite useful. Other things would be a slow speed grinder set up, and possibly a wolverine grinding jig.

Terry

===================== Denis, I would vote for a small chainsaw. It will pay for itself in a short time by being able to take advantage of "found " wood, and it's cheaper than a good bandsaw (if your budget is limited). The bandsaw can be used to precut your blanks, but a chainsaw can lop off the edges to get you near round.

Ken Moon Webberville, TX

Not being sure what you now have and being a novice myself, I offer the following: A good chuck. Nova makes a good one & perhaps an additional set of jaws of different size. A means to sharpen your tools and perhaps a jig to help out. A bandsaw and a chain saw. A faceplate. I am using mine more and more recently and findit to be a rather safe method of holding your work. Also, various spare screws for the faceplate (used for attaching the wood) A variety of sandpaper. Reading this site and looking at the web sites offered here will give you an idea of what grits. I have 60,80, 120, 150,

220, 320, & 400. When you weary of holding the sandpaper in your hands for sanding, build a small holder. A compass or some means of scribing circles. A dust collector Good lighting Some steel wool and perhaps oil and WD40 for cleaning the ways on your lathe. Leaving the chips and curls on them will cause rust. Various finishes and waxes, depending on what you want/need A means of storing all your new goodies in a convenient manner By no means being an exhaustive list, the items are some of the things I've accumulated in less than a year. You may also consider a 2d job to support your addiction.

-k

I found that when I bought an air compressor things really got interesting, easier and cleaner!

Ray

don't confuse a desire for more tools with wood turning - there is a nearly limitless batch of tools that you can buy - after a few years, you will find that you don't use many of them. For example, I use a few gouges and a skew, some parting tools, and a grinder with regularity - and then there is the peripherals, for example: an arc welder for making faceplates a large metal lathe for making fixtures for holding the faceplates whilst welding them a special grinder for sharpening the carbide tools on the metal lathe oh yeah, a 20 inch chainsaw for cutting stuff to put on the lathe milling machine for making cross slides for a rose engine table saw for making .....

you get the idea -

and then there is the stuff I just don't use - metal spinning kit - sorby texturing tool - several specialized turning tools

Gee Bill you gotta lotta cool toys. Wish I had the room for 'em.

.