Gary Goin

[Gary Goin]

Thank You! for allowing me to join your conversations here. I am newly interested in woodturning after finding a very large pair of uprooted maple trees on my property. There must be 20 or more burls on these and with noticing that I find them on many other trees in the 10 acres around our home here in Olympia Washington. I thought I might try my hand at wood turning rather than burning this beautiful wood up in a wood stove, The butt of this tree group is quite large enough that I imagine cutting a few slabs for table tops. but above that I mean to harvest the many burls and areas of crotches from limbs and explore the grain in these. Just tell me which lathe to get and which set of tools to get and the grinder for sharpening. It will be a garage space I'll work in. I'm not imagining much interest in spindle turning but then I hear this is an addictive hobby so who knows. I like to keep it under $5000 for the whole package.

 

[Brian Gustin]

Thank You! for allowing me to join your conversations here. I am newly interested in woodturning after finding a very large pair of uprooted maple trees on my property. There must be 20 or more burls on these and with noticing that I find them on many other trees in the 10 acres around our home here in Olympia Washington. I thought I might try my hand at wood turning rather than burning this beautiful wood up in a wood stove, The butt of this tree group is quite large enough that I imagine cutting a few slabs for table tops. but above that I mean to harvest the many burls and areas of crotches from limbs and explore the grain in these. Just tell me which lathe to get and which set of tools to get and the grinder for sharpening. It will be a garage space I'll work in. I'm not imagining much interest in spindle turning but then I hear this is an addictive hobby so who knows. I like to keep it under $5000 for the whole package.

Uhh yeah good luck. To be honest your best move would be to first visit one of your local turning clubs or associations and get some idea of what you're getting into.

As for keeping it under 5 grand, You won't get much of a lathe if you want to get tools & sharpening stuff on top of that , or at least you likely would be quite limited in size of what you can turn. I started with a Harbor Freight lathe, and even though I managed to spend just $350 on a working used one that also came with a knock-off copy of a One-Way 4-jaw chuck , I still ended up having to spend nearly 2500 bucks on tooling and accessories before I even splurged another 3500 on a new jet lathe , which is why I said "Good Luck" matching up what you want to that rather limited budget.

That is not to say it is not do-able, but you'll want to be far more informed (as well as maybe some basic instruction) So it'd be a great idea for you to first visit with a local wood turner's club near you.

 

[Gary Goin]

Uhh yeah good luck. To be honest your best move would be to first visit one of your local turning clubs or associations and get some idea of what you're getting into.

As for keeping it under 5 grand, You won't get much of a lathe if you want to get tools & sharpening stuff on top of that , or at least you likely would be quite limited in size of what you can turn. I started with a Harbor Freight lathe, and even though I managed to spend just $350 on a working used one that also came with a knock-off copy of a One-Way 4-jaw chuck , I still ended up having to spend nearly 2500 bucks on tooling and accessories before I even splurged another 3500 on a new jet lathe , which is why I said "Good Luck" matching up what you want to that rather limited budget.

That is not to say it is not do-able, but you'll want to be far more informed (as well as maybe some basic instruction) So it'd be a great idea for you to first visit with a local wood turner's club near you.

That's good of you to respond. I'm sure I could sink a lot more money into it. Yes I've noted the local group is active hear. Maybe I'll just give them the wood. But I would likely choose to try it myself first and worse case I get a bunch of good equipment and if I don't enjoy it then some lucky other woodturner gets a good deal from me.

 

[Jim Reynolds]

Please consider going to the local club and offering to trade some of your wood for an opportunity to "learn to turn" with one or more of the members. This gives them some free wood and you the chance to "try before you buy". You're likely to make some new friends and get you correctly started on your woodturning journey. Good luck.

 

[Alan Weinberg]

some great advice here. Don’t put $5000 in till you know you’ll enjoy turning. Also, don’t give all that burl away till you know you don’t enjoy turning. And the best way to start is with some training. Check out your local club.

 

[Gabriel Hoff]

I agree with the others. Please get professional instruction. I could not be where I am today without years of personal mentoring and encouragement from others. Do not get a big expensive lathe until you know if you like turning or not. I purchased three lathes before I got my final lathe. Try some spindle turning too, you are kind of close to Craft Supplies USA, take a trip and take one of there pro classes, you will never regret the experience or the amount of fun you will have!

 

[Kent Reisdorph]

Thank You! for allowing me to join your conversations here. I am newly interested in woodturning after finding a very large pair of uprooted maple trees on my property. There must be 20 or more burls on these and with noticing that I find them on many other trees in the 10 acres around our home here in Olympia Washington. I thought I might try my hand at wood turning rather than burning this beautiful wood up in a wood stove, The butt of this tree group is quite large enough that I imagine cutting a few slabs for table tops. but above that I mean to harvest the many burls and areas of crotches from limbs and explore the grain in these. Just tell me which lathe to get and which set of tools to get and the grinder for sharpening. It will be a garage space I'll work in. I'm not imagining much interest in spindle turning but then I hear this is an addictive hobby so who knows. I like to keep it under $5000 for the whole package.

When I moved to my place, I knew I had to get back into woodworking. So I bought the basics; table saw, planer, bench sander, bandsaw, jointer, etc... oh, and why not buy a lathe, too? What I didn't know at the time is that turning wood become my passion. I don't regret buying the other tools, but my turning obsession took me by surprise.