Hi turners, I’m James Huntsman. I’ve been turning about 8 years now, started on a harbor freight lathe for about 6-8 months before I bought a Jet 1221vs on black Friday sale, I had that lathe for almost 7 years and finally upgraded to a 110v Laguna 1836 recently.
I like turning just everything, what I think I enjoy most is learning to turn new things. Also, if we are in a safe place here and I can be honest... being a tool “collector” seems to be a big part of the hobby for me.
I started again with a harbor freight set, I still have about half of those in the arsenal and when sharp they produce a great cut, advanced to Benjamin Best for a bowl turning “kit” and those gouges and scrapers work great. Then finally about 3 years into turning I attended SWAT and met Doug Thompson, and that started my addiction to his steel. I find that the Thompson steel holds and edge about 25%-50% longer than Benjamin’s Best. I usually keep the BB tools with a sharp edge and use them for a final pass, a sheer scrape, or trying to get out some tearout. But this may change soon as I’ve changed my sharpening routine...
Like most I started with a grinder with aluminum oxide wheels, eventually got 1 180grit CBN wheel and that setup was good for about 4 years. Then I moved into a MUCH smaller shop (8x8 shed) and decided to sell the bench grinder and start using the tormek for turning tools since I could also use that for bench chisels and plane blades. It’s an amazing tool but it does have significant drawbacks for gouges. The water thing... i didn’t want to leave the stone submerged all the time due to potential issues with that. So I i would usually only sharpen once every 2-4 turning sessions (note I was turning on a midi and most projects were small), which is why I often turned to a different, sharp tool, for the final passes instead of quickly grinding the tool. Now that I’ve moved back into a two car garage and I just bought another bench grinder and 2 CBN wheels 180/600 grit. Setting it up hopefully next weekend.
Well that’s pretty much me and my turning journey. I’ve made more bowls than funnels, a bunch of pens, bottle stoppers, and shave brushes. I’ve also done a fair bit of casting, mainly alumilite with some occasional PR.
I like turning just everything, what I think I enjoy most is learning to turn new things. Also, if we are in a safe place here and I can be honest... being a tool “collector” seems to be a big part of the hobby for me.
I started again with a harbor freight set, I still have about half of those in the arsenal and when sharp they produce a great cut, advanced to Benjamin Best for a bowl turning “kit” and those gouges and scrapers work great. Then finally about 3 years into turning I attended SWAT and met Doug Thompson, and that started my addiction to his steel. I find that the Thompson steel holds and edge about 25%-50% longer than Benjamin’s Best. I usually keep the BB tools with a sharp edge and use them for a final pass, a sheer scrape, or trying to get out some tearout. But this may change soon as I’ve changed my sharpening routine...
Like most I started with a grinder with aluminum oxide wheels, eventually got 1 180grit CBN wheel and that setup was good for about 4 years. Then I moved into a MUCH smaller shop (8x8 shed) and decided to sell the bench grinder and start using the tormek for turning tools since I could also use that for bench chisels and plane blades. It’s an amazing tool but it does have significant drawbacks for gouges. The water thing... i didn’t want to leave the stone submerged all the time due to potential issues with that. So I i would usually only sharpen once every 2-4 turning sessions (note I was turning on a midi and most projects were small), which is why I often turned to a different, sharp tool, for the final passes instead of quickly grinding the tool. Now that I’ve moved back into a two car garage and I just bought another bench grinder and 2 CBN wheels 180/600 grit. Setting it up hopefully next weekend.
Well that’s pretty much me and my turning journey. I’ve made more bowls than funnels, a bunch of pens, bottle stoppers, and shave brushes. I’ve also done a fair bit of casting, mainly alumilite with some occasional PR.
