OK, now what?

You know........ ... While it was quite wise of you to take it out and make "sure everything was in good order", you really should put a piece of wood on there between centers and tighten up the tailstock. Then turn it on. Just to make sure the bearings and alignment is alright, you know. It'd be a terrible thing not to check that now and just be disappointed later at XMas time.

Annnddddd ......... you really REALLY don't know how the thing is going to perform unless you put a tool, just one mind you, on that toolrest and take a few (just a few after all!) shavings off that piece of wood. It's the only sensible thing to do, you know!

Allllssssooooo .....

- Andrew

Yeah, it doesn't work with me either. I still get into trouble. But it's a lot of fun getting there! Welcome to the insanity Silvan.

But you know what they say: "It's easier to ask forgiveness, than permission!"

...Kevin

LMAO... Yeah, I tried that.

It was funny, actually. The whole experience today reminded me of nothing so much as those early days with SWMBO. "I'm not going to go all the way, I promise."

This time it didn't work. ;)

She actually hit me with the piece of wood I was going to put in there. Just to watch it spin, mind you. I wasn't going to touch it with any tools.... Or not *many* tools... Not *many* tools.... Well, just a few... Gotta see what these things do.

(Of course none of them are even remotely sharp. They are junk to be sure. Probably HF or Homier or something. I bought them on a whim four years ago on eBay, and have been waiting to use them for something ever since. For that reason if no other, I'm going to at least sharpen them. Steel is steel. They might last awhile, until I have a better idea what I really want.)

They have me there too. It's staying at Mom's house. I have a key, but my parents have... six? seven? They have a lot of dogs. No way I'm going to get past them all without waking anyone up, and Mom doesn't work, so she's always there standing guard.

It's a conspiracy! These two are always plotting behind my back. When my daughter gets a little older, I think I'm going to have to skip town. :)

For an introduction to woodturning have a look here

http://www.turn>I got my mini JET today, a week earlier than promised! I'm not allowed to

Well, now what? For starters you might as well brush your forearm on a piece of wood while its spinning on the lathe and get that out of the way. Everyone does it sooner or later, and if you arent going to turn anything for 2 months, you will be all healed up by then!

All kidding aside, best of luck and get a few videos, they help a lot.

Mike, I hate to be the one to break the news, but that wife of yours is totally out of control. Not allowed to use it until Christmas.........well, dude, you already have!

And, I'm bettin' old Santa wouldn't mind a bit if you took that new lathe for a little spin.

Heck, he would probably appreciate it. I mean, what if it were defective? The old Jet Mini is on close-out now and may not be available later. Wouldn't it be better to find out about any problems now, while there's still time to replace it? Santa wouldn't want you to be all depressed and pissed off on Christmas Day, now would he? Trust me.

Barry

PS Congrats on your new Jet mini. I have one and you're gonna love it. At $199.95, you got a steal. I gave $349.95 for mine and don't begrudge a penny of it. (Please don't be offended. I was just joking about your wife. I've had one for 32 years.)

How can a chunk of wood spinning at 3,000 RPM be dangerous?

(I guess it's pretty telling that the lathe comes with a pair of goggles right in the box, isn't it?)

That's not a bad idea.

I think I will also look at full-face shields and make sure my dental insurance is up to date. ;)

Barry N. Turner wrote: (clip) Women absolutely adore diamond wheel dressers. You might wanna consider a set of those pink grinding wheels to go along with it. (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^ This is something you need to give some serious thought to. You are going to receive a really great gift! You will have to think carefully to come up with an appropriate gift for her. It needs to be something which makes her feel that giving you a lathe was the right thing to do. I don't mean repay her--I mean show your appreciation in a non-trivial way.

Aloha Kevin, When ya coming to Maui again? Use up all the wood yo took back the last trip?

A hui hou, Ji

Spy in Hawaii

Get the Del Stubbs video from Taunton Press, the best $20.00 you could spend.

Spy in Hawaii

Don't be too surprised if the only 'behind kicking' that happens is when you hand the Before Christmas Gate Keepers their first (of many) pens and/or other neat-o gifts and they fall down trying to kick themselves! for not letting you make a pre-Christmas gift earlier!

My wife and I took a pen class and a bowl turning class at the Woodcraft store in Orlando in July and brought our Jet mini-lathe home that weekend. It is a terrific tool! We both took a skew lesson from one of our Northeast Florida Woodturner club members yesterday. She turned a perfume stick and I made a bottle stopper. Both are beautiful.

I work at the Jacksonville Woodcraft store and we can hardly keep the Jet mini-lathe six speed in stock. The variable speed is also a great buy but I, too, do not begrudge one penny of the $349 that we paid for our mini in July! It will stay in our shop and only be complemented by a Powermatic

You are going to love your Jet mini lathe. We are looking forward to making loads of pens and other nice items on our mini.

Good luck.

Funny you should ask. My kids keep asking the same thing! Well, about the Hawaii part anyway, they don't pay much attention to the wood.

Be fun to get back over that way, but I'm gonna have to save my shekels for a while before I can. More than happy to help you reduce the size of your wood pile though next time I do! Probably have a couple of small pieces of trimmings around, but there's not much left to show for all the wood I hauled back...

...Kevin

Spyda Man, do you live in Maui? I'm going to Maui on 1-8 thru 1-22 next year and am looking for wood to bring back to sunny (well,raining right now) Georgia. I've dove with Ed Robinson every other year for the last 8 years... any help would be appreciated

moyo

Spyda, see my post from your post to Kevin

Yeah, I know. Trouble is coming up with the right thing. A diamond wheel dresser ain't gonna do it. ;)

I have a feeling whatever I do come up with is going to make this lathe look cheap.

..and I just got a couple Kou (not Koa) logs, rarer than hens teeth, not to mention several large Milo logs too.... (WOOD GLOAT)

Spy in Hawaii

Aloha Moyo, Let me know what you got, and I'm sure we can work out a nice trade. I'm partial to Osage Orange, and Walnut, but I ain't picky. I'm sure I have a couple woods that mght interest you. I know Ed Robinson, he operates out of Kihei Harbor. In fact I just saw him today. I've traded with many a visiting turner, and an open invitation goes out to all fellow turners visiting Maui, just don't forget to bring something to trade.

A hui hou,

Spy in Hawaii

interesting, one of the few woods I seen turned on a metal lathe. they grow wild around where I live... tougher than most anything.

--Shiva--