greetings from a new memeber

[woodfarmer]

Hi
In my youth a long time ago I discovered I had only one talent that might be called artistic. namely wood turning. It has been my dream since I was a teenager to have a lathe and turn again. Now I have been retired a while it seems like that will soon come to fruition. late October or early November I hope to buy a lathe from axminster..

My real interest is in bowls. So I am not sure whether to buy a kit of tools or just select the few that I think I will need.
a bowl gouge, roughing gouge and maybe a skew chisel for making square edges. I have been favouring the crown Kryo tools in the hope their quality might help compensate for my lack of skill. Any advice? never seemed to get on with parting tools or scrapers.

regards

 

[dm65]

Welcome aboard

I'm not a turner (too clever for me) but there are plenty of experienced guys on here, or there will be in the morning perhaps ??

Hope you enjoy the forum

 

[procell]

Bonjour and welcome to the fold. I am just a learner myself but you will find everyone most helpful on this forum. From previous posts it seems that Axminster lathes are well thought of. As far as tools everyone seems to agree that you do not need loads of tools but get the best you can afford as they will enhance your turning experience. Robert Sorby and Henry Taylor are two names that spring to mind as good quality tools. As far as which ones to get its a matter of choice but bowl gouge, skew, parting tool, spindle gouge and a round scraper should cover anything you may want to do. Some would even say that's too many.

It is strange you find the parting tool difficult yet you get on with a skew. I find it totally the opposite.

 

[gregmcateer]

Welcome aboard. I too am an early stager, so not too qualified to give strong views.

One thing I would VERY STRONGLY adivse is to find a turner / club near you and have a play - they are always a friendly bunch and you will avoid making some potentially costly mistakes, just be watching them and listening to their advice.

After that - it's a slippery slope to a dusty world of huge wood collections, in my experience!!

Look forward to seeing your results in time.

Greg

 

[CHJ]

Welcome to the forum.

..... I have been favouring the crown Kryo tools in the hope their quality might help compensate for my lack of skill. .....

There is a Link in the Help and Safety Sticky at the top of the forum with some notes on tool preferences.

My advice regarding brand and specification is to buy just good quality HSS tools of the Hamlet, Crown, Ashley Iles etc. camps.
Exotic steel tools will not make you a better turner and you will not achieve any better edge or be able to quantify any better edge holding characteristics whilst you are grinding away metal on the sharpening learning curve until you have spent a year or so refining your tool sharpening technique. Believe me tool sharpening and appreciation is as demanding as trying to shift shavings from the spinning wood.

Regarding the use of scrapers, they were the basic tool used for centuries, it's only in fairly recent times that gouges have surfaced.
There is a recent posting with a comments on scraper use.

 

[Spindle]

Hi

If you are going to limit yourself to bowl turning you will not need either the roughing gouge or the skew chisel, both are spindle turning tools and not designed to be used on bowl work.

For bowls I'd suggest starting with a bowl gouge, round nosed scraper and a parting tool as a basic tool kit.

Regards Mick

 

[woodfarmer]

Thanks for your replies, still bit confused as to tool choice. the set of crown cryos are only £12 more expensive than the standard HSS.
Have done fair amount of metal working, including making and sharpening lathe tools. But not done any for at least 12 years now.
ATM having trouble typing after a disagreement with a log splitter mid august, but should have limited use of both hands in a couple of weeks Once they heal and the dressing is discarded.
probably will do small amounts of spindle work from time to time, but bowls and vases are my real ambition.
My thinking was to get a good basic set and maybe an extra bowl turning tool or two. Hence choosing a heavy lathe with slow (variable speed). anyone have knowledge of how the Axminster avs28 compares with the jet 3502b ?? may have got the names slightly wrong. In either case would have the extension for the bed.

regards

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

For bowl turning you will need a largeish HSS gouge (1/2"). Follow Chas's advice and buy one of the decent one's. You seem to like Crown. Good choice, do it. I also like a smaller gouge (3/8") for the more finishing style cuts. I also suggest a 1/2" round nose scraper and forget the idea you don't like parting tools. You will once you get used to them so get one also. For spindle work you'll need a 3/4" roughing gouge for the first steps and then a smaller finer spindle gouge (3/8"). A skew is invaluable in the right hands and I strongly suggest you get a days tuition from a local turner and then practice with the skew. It's a turning apprenticeship all on its own.

For the lathe, the good Axminster brands are good as are Record Power and Jet. I would strongly urge inverter style variable speed. Put it this way, if you join a turning club and use variable speed just once, you'll never use a manual belt adjustment lathe again! The speed and convenience are easily worth the price spike let alone the flexibility.

Two things that have been mentioned but which I will emphasise: Join your local turning club, start thinking seriously about sharpening. Your sharpening setup is every bit as important as the lathe and tools.

Welcome to the forum

 

[EnErY]

A very warm welcome from myself hope you enjoy the forum the knowledge base here is intense all questions are answered in the most sensible manner and sound advice given you will like it here
Regards
Bill

 

[woodfarmer]

For bowl turning you will need a largeish HSS gouge (1/2"). Follow Chas's advice and buy one of the decent one's. You seem to like Crown. Good choice, do it. I also like a smaller gouge (3/8") for the more finishing style cuts. I also suggest a 1/2" round nose scraper and forget the idea you don't like parting tools. You will once you get used to them so get one also. For spindle work you'll need a 3/4" roughing gouge for the first steps and then a smaller finer spindle gouge (3/8"). A skew is invaluable in the right hands and I strongly suggest you get a days tuition from a local turner and then practice with the skew. It's a turning apprenticeship all on its own.

For the lathe, the good Axminster brands are good as are Record Power and Jet. I would strongly urge inverter style variable speed. Put it this way, if you join a turning club and use variable speed just once, you'll never use a manual belt adjustment lathe again! The speed and convenience are easily worth the price spike let alone the flexibility.

Two things that have been mentioned but which I will emphasise: Join your local turning club, start thinking seriously about sharpening. Your sharpening setup is every bit as important as the lathe and tools.

Welcome to the forum

Thanks for that. I have no particular allegiance to any toolmaker because really know nothing of any of them. I have learned it is easily possibly to buy too cheaply. the tech specs of the cryos seemed worth a less than 10% premium.
axmister have a crown set, not cheap. think if i add a 1/2 bowl turner to it it should at least get me through the winter.
this set http://www.axminster.co.uk/crown-crown- ... rod808694/ plus one heavier bowl turner. but will wait until i can see and more importantly feel them.

 

[KimG]

I have a crown cryo bowl gouge (1/2, but not with deep fluted gouges that means the shaft is 5/8 as the 1/2 in is measured across the gap rather than the section of the shaft) it is an excellent tool I still have an old Henry Taylor superflute which is a top spec bowl gouge and I rate the crown as good.

 

[winemaker]

Welcome, new to turning my self had lots of good advice on this site and learned a lot from comments that have been posted.
Tom

 

[boysie39]

Welcome , top of your buying list should be a good dust protection system . Something to keep dust out of your lungs .
You should make this a priority .

Have a dust free turning life and enjoy it .