Any turners around North Bristol?

[py6km]

I'm looking to get into this, but before I spend out on the kit I wondered if there were any kindly souls around Bristol who might be prepared to have a quick chat with me, either on the phone or in person, to let me know what to avoid etc.

If I did get kit, I'd likely want to buy a decent lathe from the get go rather than get a smaller one and later upgrade. While I'm quite sure that I'm not going to be getting a Wivamac, it would be interesting to hear people's experiences with their own kit.

Cheers

 

[Chrisp]

Hi there and welcome to the forum, try these http://www.avon-and-bristol-woodturners ... index.html
Check out the contact page, they should be able to point you in the right direction, hopefully the club isn't to far away from you, always worth going along to share in the members experience.
Regards
Chris.

 

[bogmonster]

The Avon and Bristol club meet in Filton I beleive. I have met a few of them and they appear very pleasant. I am a bit out of your way in Mendip but you are welcome to come by if you feel like a drive in the country.

BM

 

[py6km]

Hi Chris - thanks for the link. I'd found that, and had contacted someone listed there as able to give lessons, but haven't heard back. I figured that I'd put out feelers here too.

In any case, it seems that the club has two venues - whilst the first is close enough, the one which actually houses all the kit is not, and so I was rather hoping that someone with their own stuff who is more local might be able to help a little.

I can see that getting help when starting is paramount, but due to time constraints, I can't see me being able to regularly get to the club location where the hands on tuition takes place, particularly in view of the fact that the timings given seem to be during the day midweek, which is no good for a full-timer like me.

 

[py6km]

The Avon and Bristol club meet in Filton I beleive. I have met a few of them and they appear very pleasant. I am a bit out of your way in Mendip but you are welcome to come by if you feel like a drive in the country.

BM

Thanks BM, that's very good of you. I think the Filton venue is just a town hall type affair for meetings to hold talks etc - that's fine, but I think actually talking to someone in the presence of a machine would be useful. I'll certainly be interested in taking you up on your offer if I get no joy from anyone in Brizzl!

 

[Chrisp]

Give all the contacts another go, not for lessons but ask them if there any members that live near you, there could be someone around the corner who would show you around their shop, Peter Oram is the membership secretary if you can get his details or yours passed onto him he should be able to help.
Regards Chris.