Bill Grumbine
In Memorium
Greetings all
I thought I would start a new thread (at least I hope it turns into a thread) that does not talk about what lathe to buy, but rather what lathe I bought -and bought and bought and bought. I got the idea for this from the thread on restricting posting and some of the comments there, as well as some of the things that people write and ask me about, or ask me in the shop during lessons.
If you were to walk into my shop today, you would see a very expensive, top of the line setup. I have a big powerful lathe, nice tools and accessories, a bandsaw that will not be stopped, wood storage close at hand, chainsaws which will decimate any tree I find, and so on. But it did not start out that way.
I got my first lathe in 1988, but I tell people I have only been turning since 1993. Am I lying, exaggerating, or engaging in hyperbole? Not at all. In 1985 I saw my very first wood lathe in action. A friend of mine had one, and showed me how to turn a captive ring. I think it was the only thing he knew how to do, but he did it well. I thought to myself that I wanted to do that someday.
Finally in 1988 I had the opportunity to acquire a lathe, and I got one just like his. If I recall correctly, it cost me about $99.00. It was a very flimsy Chinese made machine from AMT, but I was very excited about it. I knew nothing about woodturning, but I was sure it could not be that hard. I managed to hack out a tool handle for a meat tenderizer, make a few other sticks roughly round, and then it happened.
I knew nothing about sharpening tools, and even less about how they cut or how they should be presented to the wood. I figured they came sharp from the factory and the edge would last for years before it would need to be renewed. I was happily cutting away on a piece of wood, or more accurately not cutting away. Since the tool was not cutting, I reasoned that I was not pushing hard enough. So, I started pushing. All of a sudden there was a big BANG! The tool went flying one way, the wood went flying another, and when I finally got myself settled down I noticed that half the tool rest was missing. When I found the tool, a spindle gouge, I discovered that it had been bent into a hairpin shape! 😱
This incident scared me pretty badly, and I put the lathe away and did not even touch it for five years. Then in 1993 I quit my job and started a woodworking business. To make a long story a little shorter, I bought a Jet 1236 which was brand new on the market because I needed a lathe to complement all my other tools. As Tim Taylor said, there was no such thing as a tool I did not need. The Jet was a vast step up from my AMT machine, and I really enjoyed using it, but I soon learned that there were even better lathes out there. After several years, I moved up to a Nova 1500, which was the best I could afford at the time. Again, after a few more years, and an unexpectedly large income tax refund, I was able to buy my Poolewood, which is my current machine.
All the other stuff sort of came along the same way. My first chainsaw was a $200 machine from Sears, which I had to buy on credit since I did not have the cash on hand, and I had come into possession of my very first tree. I started out with a $35.00 AMT grinder and sharpened by hand for years.
The whole point of this story is this. If you are a beginner looking to get into this stuff, you do not need everything to be the biggest and the best right away. If you have pockets deep enough to do it that way, great, but most of us don't. Lots of people like to say or write "buy the best and only cry once". That simply is not possible for most people. I would modify that to buy the best you can afford and learn to use it to the best of its capacity. Then move up if you have the desire and the ability.
Back to my current shop. I never would have dreamed I would be turning like I am today and using the machines I am using. It was a gradual build up, and there is always another tool to buy or lust after. Someone will always have a nicer shop, or better tools (well, except for the Poolewood of course!),but the point is, we all start somewhere, and it is usually at the beginning. 😛 Sometimes people forget that, so it is good to be reminded, and that is the purpose of this post.
Bill
I thought I would start a new thread (at least I hope it turns into a thread) that does not talk about what lathe to buy, but rather what lathe I bought -and bought and bought and bought. I got the idea for this from the thread on restricting posting and some of the comments there, as well as some of the things that people write and ask me about, or ask me in the shop during lessons.
If you were to walk into my shop today, you would see a very expensive, top of the line setup. I have a big powerful lathe, nice tools and accessories, a bandsaw that will not be stopped, wood storage close at hand, chainsaws which will decimate any tree I find, and so on. But it did not start out that way.
I got my first lathe in 1988, but I tell people I have only been turning since 1993. Am I lying, exaggerating, or engaging in hyperbole? Not at all. In 1985 I saw my very first wood lathe in action. A friend of mine had one, and showed me how to turn a captive ring. I think it was the only thing he knew how to do, but he did it well. I thought to myself that I wanted to do that someday.
Finally in 1988 I had the opportunity to acquire a lathe, and I got one just like his. If I recall correctly, it cost me about $99.00. It was a very flimsy Chinese made machine from AMT, but I was very excited about it. I knew nothing about woodturning, but I was sure it could not be that hard. I managed to hack out a tool handle for a meat tenderizer, make a few other sticks roughly round, and then it happened.
I knew nothing about sharpening tools, and even less about how they cut or how they should be presented to the wood. I figured they came sharp from the factory and the edge would last for years before it would need to be renewed. I was happily cutting away on a piece of wood, or more accurately not cutting away. Since the tool was not cutting, I reasoned that I was not pushing hard enough. So, I started pushing. All of a sudden there was a big BANG! The tool went flying one way, the wood went flying another, and when I finally got myself settled down I noticed that half the tool rest was missing. When I found the tool, a spindle gouge, I discovered that it had been bent into a hairpin shape! 😱
This incident scared me pretty badly, and I put the lathe away and did not even touch it for five years. Then in 1993 I quit my job and started a woodworking business. To make a long story a little shorter, I bought a Jet 1236 which was brand new on the market because I needed a lathe to complement all my other tools. As Tim Taylor said, there was no such thing as a tool I did not need. The Jet was a vast step up from my AMT machine, and I really enjoyed using it, but I soon learned that there were even better lathes out there. After several years, I moved up to a Nova 1500, which was the best I could afford at the time. Again, after a few more years, and an unexpectedly large income tax refund, I was able to buy my Poolewood, which is my current machine.
All the other stuff sort of came along the same way. My first chainsaw was a $200 machine from Sears, which I had to buy on credit since I did not have the cash on hand, and I had come into possession of my very first tree. I started out with a $35.00 AMT grinder and sharpened by hand for years.
The whole point of this story is this. If you are a beginner looking to get into this stuff, you do not need everything to be the biggest and the best right away. If you have pockets deep enough to do it that way, great, but most of us don't. Lots of people like to say or write "buy the best and only cry once". That simply is not possible for most people. I would modify that to buy the best you can afford and learn to use it to the best of its capacity. Then move up if you have the desire and the ability.
Back to my current shop. I never would have dreamed I would be turning like I am today and using the machines I am using. It was a gradual build up, and there is always another tool to buy or lust after. Someone will always have a nicer shop, or better tools (well, except for the Poolewood of course!),but the point is, we all start somewhere, and it is usually at the beginning. 😛 Sometimes people forget that, so it is good to be reminded, and that is the purpose of this post.
Bill
