How did you get started woodturning?

[Odie]

For me, it was purely accidental, and an unintended consequence! 🙄

Sometime in the late 70's, I purchased an old 50's vintage Shopsmith at a garage sale. At the time, I had been interested in making some wooden toys, as that was the rage back then. It came with a few Craftsman lathe tools......but, it was a couple years before I decided to try the lathe function. The spark from those first attempts at turning became a fire that burned in my soul continuously.....to this day! 😀

In high school, I can remember there was a lathe in the school shop.....but, I never touched it. 😛

I already had some shop tools my brother and I purchased at an estate sale sometime in the mid-70's.....vintage Delta table saw (which I still have/use, and rebuilt it about 25 years ago), Craftsman band saw, drill press, jointer/belt sander, 12" homemade disc sander, various hand tools. We thought we'd make some furniture.....but, that never panned out. I bought out his share a few years later. Most of this equipment I've sold and/or upgraded over the years.

ko

This is the old Delta table saw. I've rebuilt it, added a Beismeyer fence, a new motor, and made side wings for better capacity. The legs are the same multi-purpose steel someone in the past used. Whoever it was did a pretty good job of it.....solid as a rock! The old wooden top surface has been replaced w/all-weather plywood. This Delta saw was made in the early 1950's, I think. It has a tilting table. For a long time now, most all table saws have tilting arbors, so this is something rarely seen anymore. All the controls and table, mounts, adjustment gears, etc, are cast iron.....something not common to see anymore. There is a special feeling I have for this saw, being that craftsmen from another era, now only a distant memory, used it in their own home shop! 😎

It's been since the early 1980's that I've made any of the wooden toys, but here are a few examples of those I made back then......

 

[John Torchick]

I bought my first lathe for turning grips for custom fishing rods. It was downhill from there.

 

[John K Jordan]

Could be an interesting thread!

Pert near 15 years ago I bought a lathe at Home Depot just to make a "trash paper" (tracing paper) dispenser for my son in architecture school. Perhaps it helped, he is now a working architect, designing and getting things built.

The little Ridgid lathe, identical to the Craftsman tube lathe, then gathered dust until I looked at it one day and said "I'm going to make a bowl." I had a set of tools from Sears but no suitable wood and zero instruction. I glued up pieces of red oak from a board, mounted on a faceplate and made a bowl. It came out fine and my sister treasured it.

After a few spindles and another bowl I located the local Woodcraft store and bought a new Jet 1642. I also picked up books by Richard Raffan and Mike Darlow which taught me valuable lessons: learn the skew and spindle turning first and everything else is easy. I discovered a turning club, the economy of processing and drying green wood, and the joy of teaching others.

A few years ago I built a 24x62 shop for turning, flat, welding, machining, etc. Today I use a PM3520b and the same Jet 1642 in that shop. I keep a spare 1642 and a couple of Jet minis on hand and move them into the shop as needed or to where the people are for lessons and demos. I love introducing the young and old to turning, teaching one-on-one and in small classes, and giving demos at clubs and such. Life is good, retirement life is amazing.

Oh, and I like to turn things in my spare time for fun and to give away. I do accidentally make a few thousand $$ on occasion but I try to avoid it - too much like work!

JKJ

 

[hockenbery]

I had a couple of starts. Got my first lathe in 1975 a 12" delta/Rockwell.
I was taking an adult woodworking class at Annapolis HS to make a kitchen island and the teacher showed me some scraping techniques.
I got Dale Nish's book creative woodturning and learned to use the gouge and skew as cutting tools.

Didn't turn much until the late 80's when I got back into it when pen kits first came out.
People started asking me to make them pens and offering to pay for them. Got pretty good at making hollow ball Christmas ornaments.

A second big event.
In 1992 joined the AAW, in 1993 I got a phone call from Frank Amigo who saw my name in the AAW directory and that changed everything.
Frank had just started the Chesapeake woodturners and invited me to meeting.
Been uphill ever since.... The view keeps getting better.

The start of the side ground gouge - a class with Liam O'neil in 1994
The start of hollowing a class with David Ellsworth in 1995
Started demonstrating 1994 Frank sake me to demo hollow ball ornaments
Started teaching 1996 Frank asked me to substitute for another teacher
First AAW symposium Greenville, NC 1996 Frank encourage the whole chapter to go and most of us went.

Al

 

[john lucas]

Like Odie I bought a new shopsmith with the idea of building all of our furniture instead of buying it. That was around 1980 to 82. Don't remember exactly. Well the problem with building furniture was it was very expensive and time consuming. I made a lot of jewelry boxes and smaller gift items. Of course the shopsmith is really just a lathe that they added a table saw to the banjo so I got into turning. Made a lot of clocks and segmented bowls. I moved to Cookeville in 1987 to take a job as a photographer at Tenn Tech University. The Appalachian Center for crafts was part of our school and I met Joe Looper who took me to the green wood turning stage and introduced me to the AAW and the Tennessee Association of Woodturners. It's all been a fun ride ever since.

 

[robo hippy]

I needed a mushroom drawer pull for a table. Cut the head off a screw, chucked it up in a drill press, threaded a block on, used a block of wood for a tool rest, and cut with my bench chisels. That winter at the local Holiday Market, I sold a cherry dresser first day of the show, and bought my first lathe a 4 speed Atlas... Down hill from there...

robo hippy

 

[Douglas Ladendorf]

Fun topic Odie. I turned a bowl in 8th grade. It was a terrible flat sided dog bowl of a bowl, but I turned a bowl! How cool was that. It was finished with some kind of oil that never cured so it never really got put in use. I'm assuming it was BLO and I've not used it since. Got involved in other things and flash forward XX years and we finally move to a house where I have some space in the garage. I resumed woodworking and restoring vintage machinery (to afford it). A bit less than four years ago I added a lathe. One of the notorious Delta reeves drives that I picked up for $150. I put on a new switch and actually got parts from Delta to fix the handle. Treated it right and it spun wood for me and let me start making things again. Finding a local AAW club was instrumental for me in gaining knowledge and experience. We have annual Hands On Workshops that allow turners to work with experienced turners on projects. They are absolutely fantastic for growth, and building relationships as well. Another jump for me was attending the annual symposium in Pittsburgh and attending a variety of sessions by folks like David Ellsworth, Stuart Batty and Cindy Drozda. In December I upgraded to a 1943 Oliver 20C that is just a lot of fun to work with. Working on natural edge bowls lately and currently turning a pair of jam chucks for sphere turning after watching Dale Larson demo last weekend. Not much available time but when I get on the lathe it's my "happy place."

Doug

 

[Charlie Knighton]

working the 4 days/3 day off....then 3 day/4 day off......had time.......this around 2006......I built bookcase and fishing box.....then nephew wanted tv stand for large tv for wedding present.....did that but really had some problems that I rigged.....looks ok because he wanted it black and it hid all my defects.....my pictures of it is in emu format that my computer does not recognize....anyway....I somehow decided I needed some instruction......sorta......went to supposedly woodworking class at local community class......only it was whether or not to take woodturning class....about 6 of us said yes......they ordered the lathes////delta reeves drive but full size lathe.....we had a class on putting them together//////then we had a beginners class on safety and some spindle turning and bowl turning...............somewhere along the class I bought the delta so I could dturn on my own......started reading on internet.....went to my 1st symposium in Roanoke with the va woodturners.......1st rotation was multiaxis candlesticks by you know who.....went to several other symposium.....bought 1642 at Richmond symposium......I like to turn a series of the same form but with imagination.....it has been a fun learning curve experience......not sure it has any direction, any right/wrong, but it has been fun and my own

 

[Jamie Straw]

Senior moments....

Odd thing is, I can't remember what possessed me to buy a lathe! (Perhaps it was the only major tool I didn't have yet?😛) At the time (2009) I was hanging out at WWA forum quite a bit, and one of the local members was spinning wood and metal, intriguing. Then a 1236 came up for sale in our isolated neck of the woods and I just bought the darned thing. Clueless, that was me. Bought some tools and took a 2-day workshop from Bonnie Klein. Way too much fun, the flat-wood tools were abandoned. In a few months, though, the horse business just got to be too much, so I closed the doors on the shop. Back again in 2015, I learn slower but smarter now. Still way too much fun. Great kudos to the local AAW chapter and the mentors who offer so much of their time and knowledge!

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

Bought a Delta Midi back in 06 thru Amazon. Guess I was thinking furniture because I got the extension. After some struggles did this desk.



Well that did it I was hooked and needed a larger lathe so got a Jet 1442. Still not enough when I retired so got a PM3520B and lovin every minute. Keep getting into new methods and embellishments.....with piercing,burning, dye, hollowforms, carving and the list goes on and on.

 

[Dave Delo]

In 2008 we decided to redo our kitchen and the least expensive bid was 25K. That put a stop to the remodel idea so I decided to do it myself and started collecting flatwork tools. Picked up a couple items at auction and one of them was a old greenie Shopsmith. During this tool collection time frame I picked up a Delta Midi with extension to do a table leg for my daughter.

As I read this thread I'm struck by the number times Shopsmith has been mentioned so decided to show-off mine. Here's a pic of the old greenie that was made in 1955 and the 510 model I currently have that I've dedicated as a sanding station. Works great for my needs.


Time to leave for our monthly chapter meeting, so here's a pic of my entry for the instant gallery theme of the day "In The Round."

 

[Odie]

Hello Dave......

This is the one I had, and it was the same model 10-ER my Father had in the 1950's, with the wooden base and metal formed legs. This was probably the basic model. The real trouble with Shopsmiths was the set up. Sure, it was pretty easy, but the effort it took to constantly change from one configuration to another meant that it was a PITA. It was a pretty good starter lathe though. If I hadn't made that purchase, lathe turning may never have played a part in my life story! 🙁 I believe I paid around $200 for it at a garage sale.....one of the best things I ever did in my lifetime! 😀

ko

 

[Dave Delo]

Hello Dave......This is the one I had, and it was the same model 10-ER my Father had in the 1950's, with the wooden base and metal formed legs. This was probably the basic model. The real trouble with Shopsmiths was the set up. Sure, it was pretty easy, but the effort it took to constantly change from one configuration to another meant that it was a PITA. It was a pretty good starter lathe though. If I hadn't made that purchase, lathe turning may never have played a part in my life story! 🙁 I believe I paid around $200 for it at a garage sale.....one of the best things I ever did in my lifetime! 😀ko

I flip a few SS's from time to time to help fund the vortex endeavors. Problem is I haven't been able to find anything decent for about a year. The ER's weren't a half bad lathe in the day but most of the ones I see now-a-days have been set up in dedicated drill press mode. I'd have to agree with you that if it wasn't for the first experience with the SS, I'd probably be missing out on all the fun I'm having now.

 

[Chuck Lobaito]

We were at the Woodworking show with my father-in-law 10+ years ago and my wife saw 2 turners demonstrating. We had a shopsmith 2 weeks later (do to shop size). We are now on a Nova DVR XP and moving toward something much bigger.

 

[David Hill]

I too started with a Shopsmith. It was my FIL's and he sold (=gave) it to me since I was into making furniture, refurbing antiques, and flatwork at the time with the intention of making furniture. I had upgraded the Shopsmith to the 510 platform and decided on a whim after seeing stuff being turned on TV, using a Shopsmith--how hard could it be? (insert chuckles here)
He had supplied the customary set of chisels so I started turning (all self taught) and quickly hit the limitations of the Shopsmith, even with their beefed up lathe rest assembly.
Next on the slope was the large HF lathe--nice but underpowered for what I wanted. Then came CL and a Shopfox (aka Grizz) with 17 inch swing. Liked that ok but speed range wasn't good for me. Along the way I restored an Oliver lathe (12 in swing)--old big iron and was fun to use. Sold both of those, gave the HF to my SIL--he's resisting the "pull" for now.
Bought a Nova 1624-new, liked that and still use it; but my CL habit let me find a barely used Laguna 18/47 which put me in high cotton and thought I'd never get another. The variable speed is sooo nice, as well as the 2hp.
Then I found my "last" lathe---a Robust American Beauty--by accident on CL.--tricked out- 3hp, swing away-- I love it!! Don't believe there will be anymore machine upgrades. I have to add that my wife is very supportive of my "habit", hope to get her into turning in the future.

 

[Emiliano Achaval]

Craftsman

I had to hire a friend to remove a big Koa tree. It was too close to the house, about 40 years old, and huge. To take it away to the dump he asked me far more than what it cost to cut it, so I told him leave it. Bought my first chain saw to cut it up and haul it away. While I was thinking about it, a friend stopped by, asked me if I want to to sell the wood... I had no idea what it was... He said, I'm going to teach you how to do something with it... Very same day we went to SEARS, ordered a lathe and bought some cheap tools. While we waited for the lathe to arrive in Hawaii, he helped me build a bench. We put it upside down and waited till the cement company had left overs in the area and pored over a 1000 pounds of cement in it. My son will be 19 in July, I was already turning for a few years when he was born... I will never forget my friend telling me that he was going to teach me something EASY to do with he wood!!! A few weeks after my lathe came, he died of an overdose... Now I have a lathe, some tools, and no idea what to do... It was a rough start... Finally I found some turners, my wife's cousin and a gallery owner, they let me watch them work, gave me advice. One advice was, call woodturners catalogue... I bought a Del Stubbs VHS... Watched it a 100 times... About 10 years ago I bought a Stubby S750...
Gave the lathe away, but could not move the behemoth bench, probably never will. I'm lucky that I have access to a lot of Koa. I'm known as the Koa turner...
Check my web site if you have never seen it.... Aloha www.hawaiiankoaturner.com

 

[john lucas]

A lot of us started on a shopsmith and i suppose thats good but the lathe may be one of the weakest points of the machine. It only has 2 bearings i. The heastock that are small and too close together. To aalow the quill to move freely you naturally have more slop than a dedicated lathe even woth the quill locked. Then their is the tailstock. Its only an inch thick and aluminum so you get a lot of chatter rather than solid support. The cantilever support for the tool rest adds to the chatter list.
I did turn a lot on mine. My Dad Also had one a d everytime i came to visit he would have some legs for me to turn. I never was able to turn them chatter free even though it was a simple task on my lathe.
Then their is bowl turning. Couple a light weight lathe with a minimum speed of 500 and youve got a bear by the tail. Forgot to mention that the lathe is too low for most people.
Ok i sound like im putting it down but i had every attachment they made for the shopsmith and built a lot of stuff i. A very small work space. You can get the job done it just sometimes took a lot more work and you had to learn to work with the inherent flex of the various parts.

 

[hockenbery]

Shop smith is one lathe I have not turned on.
It was the starting lathe for thousands.
I know a couple of professional turners who keep a semi-retired shop smith for one or two production jobs they think it works well for.

 

[Charlie Knighton]

u have a "moment" if u bought a model new and then if goes out of production.......at least it was for me

John your description of the ss really brings home the amazing forms of the early turners ....... I know we can thank many people for the lathes that are available today.....among them Nick Cook

 

[john lucas]

One of the fun things about turning as long as i have been has been watching the field grow. I remember Rude Osolnik pushing the virtues of HSS tooling. Back then Bjck Brothers carbon steel were some of the favorites. I remember reading about bowl gouges but it wasnt until somewhere around 92 that i actually saw someone use one. About that same time Rude Osolnik was pushing the use of CA glue. Wasnt too long after that when chucks started hitting the scene.
My friend Joe Looper had put a variable speed DC Drive on his lathe. Most lathes had Reeves drives back then if they had variable speed. I believe John Jordan was selling an after market DC drive for machines. Sometime around then i first saw Lyle Jamiesons captured hollowing rig. I remember my friend Joe using 8 foot long turning tools. The captured bar systems sure replaced that style of turning.
I replaced.my DC drive with a variable frequency drive probably around 2005. You started to see a lot of lathes with that feature around then.
I remember the Nicholes bowl turning lathe. May have.been one of the fjrst production bowl lathes. Most were home made before then.
I got to go to the Powermatic factory go see the new 3520 designed with input from Rude and possibly Nick Cook. What a cool lathe. About 15 years later i bought one. Still turning on it.
Woodturning has come a long way and its been fun watching it grow. Looking forward to the AAW symposium to see the latest greatest stuff that im told will make me a better turner. 🙂

 

[Bill Weaver]

Being a mechanic coming out of the service wood working was a way of decompressing. 1st it was carving, then whittling, then making some furniture items. Then the boys needed grade school science project items (space shuttle). I got some plans for making a model out of wood, saw that I needed a lathe to do some of the work. I shopped around (by price) found a very cheap one at an ACE hardware store that was mostly plastic with a small motor and made the rounded parts that was needed. That got me the tools, the machine crowked by the way. Later after kids grown and I was in management and needed something to take my mind off of work again I bought a lathe Craftsman Professional and went after it again.....now not looking back I have way to many tools and two good lathes and here I am.

 

[Odie]

I had to hire a friend to remove a big Koa tree. It was too close to the house, about 40 years old, and huge. To take it away to the dump he asked me far more than what it cost to cut it, so I told him leave it. Bought my first chain saw to cut it up and haul it away. While I was thinking about it, a friend stopped by, asked me if I want to to sell the wood... I had no idea what it was... He said, I'm going to teach you how to do something with it... Very same day we went to SEARS, ordered a lathe and bought some cheap tools. While we waited for the lathe to arrive in Hawaii, he helped me build a bench. We put it upside down and waited till the cement company had left overs in the area and pored over a 1000 pounds of cement in it. My son will be 19 in July, I was already turning for a few years when he was born... I will never forget my friend telling me that he was going to teach me something EASY to do with he wood!!! A few weeks after my lathe came, he died of an overdose... Now I have a lathe, some tools, and no idea what to do... It was a rough start... Finally I found some turners, my wife's cousin and a gallery owner, they let me watch them work, gave me advice. One advice was, call woodturners catalogue... I bought a Del Stubbs VHS... Watched it a 100 times... About 10 years ago I bought a Stubby S750...
Gave the lathe away, but could not move the behemoth bench, probably never will. I'm lucky that I have access to a lot of Koa. I'm known as the Koa turner...
Check my web site if you have never seen it.... Aloha www.hawaiiankoaturner.com

Just checked out your web page, Emiliano.......great job! 😀

This has turned out to be a very interesting thread.....keep 'em coming......tell us about yourself, and how you found the "vortex".......😛

ko

 

[Warren White]

About a year and a half ago....

...I was sitting and thinking about how I was spending my time. My wife makes a hundred or so quilts and receiving blankets a year for Humanitarian Aid. While she sews, I was sitting watching TV. I decided there must be something productive I could be doing. I have been retired since 2002 and have done a fair amount of 'flat' work, but never turned.

I called a friend who turns and asked if I could come over and 'learn to turn.' He said he would LOVE to have me come over and has been a great mentor ever since. His encouragement and pride in whatever I turn has been amazing. I have just recently met another turner who helped me learn how to turn a bowl. I have really appreciated the advice, counsel and encouragement of both men.

I bought a Jet 1015 VS lathe on Craigslist, and that was just the beginning. Tools, kits, etc. I am enrolled in a 3-day Turning Seminar this summer at Craft Supply USA, so I hope to 'up my game.'

I turn mostly small things; lots of pens (I am kind of hooked on Slimline pens), Christmas Tree ornaments, kaleidoscopes, and currently, Seam Rippers for those in my life who sew.

I LOVE this hobby, and have found the most helpful folks in this community.

My thanks to each and every one!

 

[John K Jordan]

...While she sews, I was sitting watching TV. ...I called a friend who turns and asked if I could come over and 'learn to turn.'

I turn mostly small things; lots of pens (I am kind of hooked on Slimline pens), Christmas Tree ornaments, kaleidoscopes, and currently, Seam Rippers for those in my life who sew.

Good for you! I retired in '06 and gave up TV the next year - I haven't watched an hour of TV since and don't miss it a bit.

I love to turn small things too. Wood sure goes a lot further and it is a lot cheaper to use amazing wood too expensive for a 16" bowl. For those who sew, have you considered making needle cases? I've made a bunch and they are quick and easy:



I have some more photos of needle cases on this facebook album just before the platters:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.101238256567388.2825.100000436434935&type=1&l=7913a23da6

A friend of mine makes and sells a lot of "ort" bowls for needlepoint people to put thread scraps. Do you know people who knit or crochet? Yarn bowls are highly prized!

JKJ

 

[Odie]

Good for you! I retired in '06 and gave up TV the next year - I haven't watched an hour of TV since and don't miss it a bit.


JKJ

Me three!......I retired Jan 2015, but it took awhile before my employer trusted my trainee replacement.......It was Feb of this year before I could call it official! 😛

I think the last time I watched any TV was the same year I started a regular exercise program.....and, that would be 2004. That date is easy to remember, because I wrote it down.....1/1/04......it was one of the few new year's resolutions I ever made good on! 😎

ko

 

[olaf Vogel]

The bug bit me in high school where they had a Wadkin BZL - a very respectable machine.
First came a candle stick holder, a small bowl and an oak pipe. Then two desktop lights that got me top grades.
Great fun, the course ended too soon, but I was hooked.

Unfortunately life and work got in the way of my woodworking.

20 years later my wife suggested a woodworking course - back at a local high school. And it was on a Wadkin BZL again! (The Toronto school board likely bought a batch for all the schools)
This time it was a bowl from the root ball of a birch tree. My technique was terrible, I had no idea what I was doing...But I still loved it!

So I bought a used Delta mini lathe, outgrew it in a hurry.
Looked for used ones to keep the hobby affordable. (yeah right!)
I came up with a 1880's "pattern lathe. And that started the slide downhill.

A few personalized courses later, tons of tinkering in the shop and a lot of online surfing (sites like this are great)

And...I still love it!

 

[Odie]

Really enjoyed the tour of your shop and all the antique machinery, Olaf........😀

 

[olaf Vogel]

Really enjoyed the tour of your shop and all the antique machinery, Olaf........😀

Thanks Odie!

I did a late night editing session a few months ago...and guess I forgot to hit update! Must have been tired.
All the newer pics are up there now, with a bit more explanation and show some progress on the buildout.

Unfortunately the shop is at my cottage, 3 hrs away. I only get there on weekends - and those are precious.
So I haven't been able to do as much turning as I would like.

But most of last weekend was spent with my wife in the shop.
She was building picture frames for her upcoming art show.
Tunes blasting, machines churning and beautiful weather outside. Lots of fun!

As a proxy, I surf the web and dream about what I could/should be turning!

Olaf

 

[robo hippy]

If I had wood shop available to me in high school, that would have been one class besides PE that I would have gotten straight A's in.... The other possibility that is available locally to some of the high schools is radio broadcasting.... They let me go in and co host a couple of times a year after their fund raisers..... Too much fun!

robo hippy

 

[Hy Tran]

I had some exposure to metal working in junior high school, but not woodworking. I eventually became an engineer, with specialization in high precision manufacturing.

I was always handy, and wanted to make furniture. Got a used Shopsmith, making shelves, etc. Woodcraft had a pen-making class, tried that out, and was hooked. The interesting thing is that in woodturning, you have to manually manipulate the tool with your hands--not like your metal machine tool. (I started getting interested in the millionths regime back in the '80's).

 

[John K Jordan]

The interesting thing is that in woodturning, you have to manually manipulate the tool with your hands...

I had a woman come to my shop once so I could make something she could give as a gift. She had experience with a metal lathe years before. She was SO surprised to learn that we held and guided the woodturning tools by hand! Even after seeing some of my turnings, she had imagined cranking and cranking to make all those curves. Yikes. Seems to me that would be like painting a picture with an etch-a-sketch.

She was also surprised to learn that I made lots of things from metal using tools woodturning tools held by hand, for example,


BTW, I do have a metal lathe and milling machine in the shop - hard to live without it! A friend of mine also made a career of precision machining. He once showed me the diamond-turning machines in temperature controlled rooms inside of a larger environmentally controlled room inside a large room with controlled access. He said opening the wrong door at the wrong time could ruin a day's work. Among other things he made mirrors for devices that were were sent long distances by rocket.

JKJ

 

[Rusty Fleeman]

My first exposure to turning occurred I'm my Dad's shop. It was fairly small and converted over from a cow barn when I was in elementart school. By the mid 80's he was doing a few odds and ends for folks and my grandmother bought him a small Sears lathe (used of course). As a 12 year old, he would let me tinker with it on old scrap pieces. I quickly became hooked! I remember making small plates, and several sets of very crude drum sticks from cable shipping spools to impress friends. I got away from the shop after high school and never turned again until 4 years ago. My skills, and tools have since improved, but I still feel like that little kid sometimes when I pick up a tool and know I've been hooked all overboard again!

 

[Col Smith]

G'day Odie & all.

About 40 years ago I stuffed my back.
As part of the therapy in those days was instructed to use a treadle lathe.

The back is OK as long as I am careful what I do.
But the turning bug is far worse these days, & it will never get better.🙂

Col

 

[Rick Doganiero]

My first lathe story starts similar to Odie's.
Sometime during Junior High School (mid 1970's) I took woodshop. There were 2 green Powermatic 90's in the shop that no one touched. Everyday I would walk over and look at these machines..... there was something that drew me to them. Finally the woodshop teacher yelled to me "hey, do you want to try one of those?". Of course I answered yes. He came over and gave me a quick introduction to the lathe. "This is the headstock, this is called the bed or ways and this is the tailstock". He mounted a piece of pine between centers and then turned to me and gave me some words of wisdom that I remember to this day, he said "You have to pay attention to that tailstock, because if it comes loose the piece of wood will come of the lathe and go right through your heart". Then he handed me a gouge and walked away.

I didn't know what I was doing but I had a great time turning a square piece of wood round. That day planted the seed of my wood turning passion.