Hi Razornut, welcome to the forum. Nice work on the brush, considering that's your first piece it would sit perfectly well in one of our regular turning competitions. The finish looks good and it has the great advantage of being a real, practical, useable item. I would say very well done indeed.
I echo Vic's comments regarding quality and certainly Record are a recognised name in the turning world. As is Robert Sorby, Crown, Henry Taylor and if you live anywhere near an Axminster tool centre, they have their own brand which are perfectly reasonable and less expensive than the big names like Sorby. Hamlet is another good quality but lower cost name.
What you're looking for with turning is High Speed Steel because of the heat generated plus the durability given the very hard life at the edge of a turning tool. All new tools bought will be HSS but some much older 2nd hand ones will be the softer carbon steel.
Buying 2nd hand is also a great idea because you'll save a lot of money that way and it is after all steel. Who cares if it's a bit grubby, once sharpened its every bit as good as new. In fact if sharpened properly its actually better than new as factory grinds are never good straight out the box.
Speaking of sharpening, that's fundamental to turning so if you really do plan to get into the art your need for decent sharpening will be every bit as critical as a lathe and the tools. At a minimum you'll need a bench grinder with a relatively "cool" wheel and at an appropriate point in the future may wish to research the plethora of jigs and aids to help control the bevel geometry on the more complex gouges. But for starters, particularly with spindle work, a regular bench grinder will suffice.
Tools wise, if it were me and the focus is on spindle work, my list would include the following:
3/4" roughing gouge
1/2" skew (either oval or not, my personal preference is straight but many really like the oval skews for rolling beads)
3/4" skew
3/8" spindle gouge
1/4" spindle gouge (size is depending on the fineness of the detail you plan to include)
beading and parting tool, again size dependant on the work you're doing. My preference is 1/4"
I would also add a fine parting tool to the list which is typically about 1/8" thick allowing little wastage of wood when you part off pieces close to the business end. Particularly with exotics this can save a fair bit of money.
That list is by no means exhaustive as when you get onto cross grain work (bowls etc) it will double. But as a starter for ten on general spindle work that should keep you going for a few months as you develop the fundamentals like beads and coves and using the amazingly versatile skew.
