I'm a long time woodworker and new woodturner. I've had a lathe for quite a few years and never really used it. I had bought it to supplement my flatwork stuff and just didn't do anything with it. But now I'm dipping my toes into the turning and trying to learn all I can. I've been retired for 23 years now and while I had many hobbies, old age and home responsibilities have pretty much narrowed things down to woodworking and gardening. My lathe (actually my 3rd lathe, the first 2 weren't all that good) is a PM 3520C and I have enough tools to keep my going for now.
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Fred Hargis
- Thread starter Fred Hargis
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Welcome, Fred. Good to see you here. You will find a wealth of information here. Post some pictures.
Fred welcome to the forum. Good to see you here finally. Don't be shy and explore as well as ask questions. See you later at the other hangout
Fred, Welcome to the Forums!
Welcome. I believe you'll find that you are among kindred spirits. My standard recommendations to new turners are: 1. Join your local woodturning club, I have belonged/belong to 6 different clubs and I still find the dues are an excellent investment. Here is the link to the AAW Find a Chapter webpage. Columbus may be the closest to you. 2. Get hands on instruction / training. Many clubs have training and/or mentoring programs and there are schools that teach woodturning. You can figure woodturning out on your own, but it's harder and be very wary of You Tube experts, some aren't.
Welcome again, safe turning and I hope you enjoy the trip down the rabbit hole.
Welcome again, safe turning and I hope you enjoy the trip down the rabbit hole.
Jim I wish I had a woodturning club close by, but there are none. Columbus is about 90 miles, depending on where in Columbus the destination is, and only the last few miles are interstate. The rest is just not a fun trip. That said, I'm trying to go t alone with help from forums such as this and others. That makes the trip much longer but still fun.
Hi Fred - Welcome to the forum, and as a fellow “learner” I can certainly attest this is a great group willing to offer help on any question (including the really basic ones). And now to go on a tangent, are you also frequently on Woodnet? Your name is very familiar, and I think from there, but thought I’d ask because you’ve always been so helpful there. Best, John
Fred,
If you have to go it "alone", Richard Raffan would be at the top of my list. He has done books, VHS tapes, DVDs and now has a You Tube presence. If you know everything he knows, you know a lot. I was able to borrow some of his books and DVDs from my local library via inter-library loan. Good luck and safe turning.
I join the meetings of many of my local clubs via Zoom because of the travel.
If you have to go it "alone", Richard Raffan would be at the top of my list. He has done books, VHS tapes, DVDs and now has a You Tube presence. If you know everything he knows, you know a lot. I was able to borrow some of his books and DVDs from my local library via inter-library loan. Good luck and safe turning.
I join the meetings of many of my local clubs via Zoom because of the travel.
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I can also highly recommend from Youtube : Mike Peace (He's on here too), Sam Angelo (Wyoming Woodturner), Tomislav Tomasic (Dunno if my spelling's right but he works with Mike, Sam and Richard Raffan , or used to, in a monthly "4 ways" project they'd do..) I picked up a lot from those guys, in addition to turn a wood bowl as mentioned by Kent above.
Welcome! Have you looked at attending an OVWG meeting? I live about 1-1.5 hours from the club but travel down quite frequently.
Home - Ohio Valley Woodturners Guild
Our mission is to provide education, information, and organization to people in the Cincinnati area interested in the art and craft of woodturning.
There are many helpful people here!
Even with the driving distance you might consider going to one a few times to see how valuable it is. Every club I’ve attended or visited had excellent resources, demos, resources for finding wood and tools, people willing to answer questions, help. I know several who drive an hour and a half or more to attend club meetings.
Some clubs have online (Zoom) meetings for those who can’t attend in person for any reason. Many, like the Knoxville club, have a mentor program that will connect you with an experienced turner for one-on-one instruction. Many also have workshops and classes by well-known turners.
The main AAW site has a chapter (club) locator that might help if you haven’t seen it.
When I started I learned mostly from a couple of good books but before long discovered that woodturning clubs were a thing!
Youtube is full of woodturning videos but a warning: some are not so good and some are just plain bad, some unsafe - sometimes the problem is how to tell the difference.
www.woodturner.org
JKJ
Even with the driving distance you might consider going to one a few times to see how valuable it is. Every club I’ve attended or visited had excellent resources, demos, resources for finding wood and tools, people willing to answer questions, help. I know several who drive an hour and a half or more to attend club meetings.
Some clubs have online (Zoom) meetings for those who can’t attend in person for any reason. Many, like the Knoxville club, have a mentor program that will connect you with an experienced turner for one-on-one instruction. Many also have workshops and classes by well-known turners.
The main AAW site has a chapter (club) locator that might help if you haven’t seen it.
When I started I learned mostly from a couple of good books but before long discovered that woodturning clubs were a thing!
Youtube is full of woodturning videos but a warning: some are not so good and some are just plain bad, some unsafe - sometimes the problem is how to tell the difference.
AAW Connects
www.woodturner.org
JKJ
Jim,
So start your own Chapter! If you are interested, I would bet there are others nearby your area that would enjoy a club.
Hi John., yeah that's me over at WN....one of the first forums I joined back in the 90s. Thanks for the compliment.
To all, thanks for the welcome and advice. I have visited a few of the forums mentioned like Mike Peace, and Turn a wood bowl, and Sam Angelo. There's few others I've visited that weren't mentioned.