Recent content by Ron Tock

You've probably already purchased your lathe by now so this is aimed at others with the same criteria. I have a RecordPower DML 305. It's my first lathe so I can't make informed comparisons with other models. The fact that it does not have variable speed was one of the deciding factors. The...

It's not just a matter of preferred brands. I've never attempted to use a Clarke CWL1000 Lathe but, just looking at it, it strikes me as a rather flimsy and possibly unsafe piece of equipment. Yes it spins wood but a spinning log is a potential hazard as soon as you switch the thing on. The...

It's a point that has also occurred to me. I wouldn't want to do it but I would be interested in a channel where the host is the novice and the viewers provide advice in the comments. There is one channel that takes this approach. Learning Turning Metal by Andrew Whale. It's engineering rather...

I bought a Record Power DML305, which, at £299, was the best quality lathe in my price bracket and a Record Power RP2000 scroll chuck back in July 2019. Prior to ordering the lathe, I had been buying used gouges on Ebay as and when I could afford them (in fact, I bought the chuck before I bought...

Beech is generally a very stable wood with straight even grain and reasonably hard. But all wood is a product of nature and varies to some degree so some pieces may not conform to what you might expect.

That hadn't actually occurred to me. Good point. Thanks. I'll check that out.

My view is use what you got and do what you're good at and what you enjoy. I use a scrollsaw, which those who use a hand held piercing saw would probably describe as an abomination. I often make bespoke brass hinges and clasps and I find the slow process of cutting through brass as I'm following...

When I took up woodturning in July last year, I was surprised to discover just how big a pile of wood chips are produced from a single log. It does become a bit of a problem after a while. Wood chips do make good mulch for the garden but they have to rot down for a few months before applying...

So you won't be coming out of the shed for a while. Have fun.

When I have the wood to turn bowls, I turn bowls. If I don't have suitable blanks, I turn tool handles that I don't need or, if push comes to shove, I turn kindling into decorative kindling. When I go for a walk, I constantly keep an eye open for 'lathe fodder'. In the winter, when we have log...

It depends on what you want to do with the wood. Buddleia is a hard, even grained wood with no figure to speak of but it is excellent for carving and turning. Willow is tough and woolly but probably has some uses beyond making cricket bats. Eucalypsus is prized as a carving wood by Aborigines...