I recall that Odie uses mostly "prepared" blanks on his lathe - perhaps "store bought" would be a better description
throw a big chunk of unbalanced green wood on there and try to make a heavy roughing cut. You'll be screaming for more HP after the first pass.
Howdy Shawn........Yes, I do use prepared wood blocks, as much of what I turn can't be had any other way. Much of it is rough cut and not seasoned. If a turners intention is to turn wood that is extremely heavy, and out of balance (over 25lbs, or so), I think your point is valid. Please think of whatever I say here to apply to MY turning, doing what I do.....not that my intent is for my experiences to be applicable to everyone else. I do believe my experience can be applied to the great majority of other turners, though.....just not the entire group of turners.
There was a time when I did wish for more horsepower.....but, time and practice with lathe tools and techniques eventually convinced me that other things are more important, and did produce equivalent results. Now, don't get me wrong about this.....I'm not advocating having less horsepower. All I'm trying to stress here, is the need for more power isn't as important as many turners think. Just to make it clear.....If I were going to purchase a new lathe, and I had the option of more power, I'd probably take it. Having more horsepower would be nice, but not as necessary as it would have been a couple of decades ago......
On another thought, having less horsepower may have been a good thing for me, because it was something to overcome, and not become dependent upon. In an abstract sort of way, think of a race car driver who doesn't have the fastest car, but wins races. There are other things that come into play that enables him to be a winner......and, it will be things that he has to develop through experience, and within himself, that makes it happen for him. In his case, it's not the car, it's the driver! Bringing this reasoning back to the lathe turner.....If that turner learns to turn with more power available to him, those things that could be developed within himself may not occur at all, simply because he relies on things he can possess, rather that what is possible to develop within himself, and his soul.......
One more thing to consider: Other than coring, this whole exchange is revolving around the notion that one would need more power for roughing purposes in order to reduce the time element of that phase of the turning. Even with a very experienced and skilled turner, it would certainly reduce the time element.....no question about that. The roughing stage is 10% of the effort to produce a completed turning. When the roughing and seasoning stages are done, there is now the other 90% of the real work involved in bringing it to completion.....and, none of this will have the same requirements as the roughing stage, because all of this is done with smaller, and more precise cuts.
ko