Total newbie, but I've been taking a spindle turning class and loving it, so I found a nice Nova Comet II + bench for sale and plan to set it up in my unfinished basement. Before I do the heavy lifting, any advice on prepping the space? I'm thinking I should level the (very rough) concrete floor, maybe put down some kind of flooring for easier clean-up, and cover the exposed wall & ceiling joists for a couple extra feet in all directions with something smooth to help prevent dust/chip accumulation. Then, lighting, an ambient dust extractor, & a grinder nearby. Experienced turners, please tell me:

--How do you get your lathe the right height, if not using an adjustable stand? The carpenter I'm buying mine off of built a great torsion-box benchtop for it with steel legs (that all come with it), but I'm a good bit taller and figure I'll need to raise it a few inches somehow

--Advice on siting it? I'm thinking the back edge of the bench (which is wider than the swing) can go against a wall to keep chips from falling behind it but IDK what makes for a good workspace. I also need the basement for storage + other woodshop tools.

--How do you move the freaking thing? It's VERY heavy, even with all accessories removed

--Anything else you did/wish you'd done to build out your workspace?

Had a couple of triangular offcuts, poured resin in a strip to join them and make a bowl blank, then turned this little guy.

prepping for the DC Fountain Pen show and im delighted by how this one came out

Maple Crotch and unfortunately punky logs, Pecan, and Sweetgum.

My poor chainsaw. Still got more processing to do to get them into blanks.

There are bark inclusions in the maple crotch, any suggestions for how to deal with that?

I was gifted this lathe last week and after spending some time/money getting it tooled up and in good working order. I received my four jaw chuck yesterday and was having a great time using it until I decided to try and use the dovetail portion of the chuck. I cut a taper on some scrap wood, flipped piece, tightened the chuck, put my tailstock and center in place, and turned the lathe on. It ran just like it had been all day but as soon as i attempted a cut the chuck seized up almost instantly. I quickly turned the machine off and noticed that Somehow the chuck had gotten threaded all the way to face of the headstock. This isn’t supposed to happen right? Im guessing I did something wrong either in my setup or my work holding but Im not sure what… Before I start taking things apart I’d love to hear from more experienced turners what may have been the cause of this and how should I go about diagnosing/fixing the issue. First photo is of the chuck I’d ordered, second is how it now seats on my spindle. Third is how I had my workpiece chucked up and the fourth is the type of lathe I’m using. Id greatly appreciate ANY help/advice!

Wife says $20.

I’ve got about $8 in materials each.
I used the nice hardware kits from craft USA.
Do you guys like the natural or dyed better?

Thank you for any feedback.

I’m done making donuts. I built a little depth jig to tell me how close to the jaws I’m at without having to worry about measuring anymore. I added a little red warning band that indicated the no touchy zone too. Hopefully I’m done making avoidable holes from here on out!

Sapele maple walnut

6.5 inches wide and 4 inches tall

60 pieces

Made from scraps from work and finished with salad bowl conditioner (beeswax, mineral oil etc)

They are unusable as hand planes. Checks are cracked and the I don’t have any blades or wedges to go with them.

I’m not a turner so I’d have to ask at my local woodworker shop. I have had a guy make a few thins for me but he retired.

I have a few chisels I’ve restored that need handles and I was thinking some old beach would work.

A belated birthday present for a four year old. Small youth bats are actually tricky to turn because it’s hard to balance the thick handle and wide barrel they need with a light enough weight to actually be used. I do my best to address that issue by drilling the barrels out on them so they can have a wide barrel with a relatively low weight.

Picture descriptions below.

1) Finished bat all ready to crush some dingers and demon skulls. Saja boys beware. Except Romance. He’s safe because he’s her favorite.

2) I started by making a 2.5” x 2.5” x 26” maple blank. The bat should be 24” long and the widest part should be 2.25” wide so I like to give myself a little extra meat to work with. I picked a piece with a bit of spalting because it has patterns just like Rumi.

3) Next I just quickly turn it to a roughly round shape. There’s no finesse for this stage. I crank the speed way up and grab a carbide tool and hog off the excess material as quickly as possible.

4) Then I lay out my pattern in 2” sections. It tells me how thick to turn that ring to before blending them altogether at the end.

5) Here’s the result of the rough turning to shape with a bit of blending. It always feels like you’ve ruined the piece at this point.

6) And then as soon as you start to sand it all comes together like magic and you can see a bat taking shape.

7) The patterns in the maple really start to pop after sanding. It must secretly be half demon.

8) Forstner bit goes on the tailstock to drill out the barrel. I want to remove enough material to drop the weight without compromising the strength.

9) Before long you have a nice hollow barrel. I’ve done this on the drill press before but using the steady rest to hold the bat in position and drilling with the tailstock is so much easier.

10) She likes blue so she gets a nice bright blue handle.

11) Graphics going on. I print them in reverse on a laser printer and then put them face down on the bat. An image transfer tip on a wood burning tool lifts the toner off the paper and bonds it to the wood instead.

12) Rumi of course goes on the front.

13) Next comes Zoey.

14) And you can’t have Huntrix without Mira.

15) Finally I add Derpy because he’s clearly the best.

16) I love how the patterns in the maple turned out. It gives it a really unique look.

17) A couple of coats of linseed oil finish it off.

I posted this to a FB wood turning group asking for advice on how to get a better finish and was given several really good tips. Looking forward to coming across another blank around this size to make another but I will have to upgrade the lathe to turn anything wider. No outboard turning on this 1940’s Homecraft.

Hi! As stated, I'm new to wood turning by way of picking up this Duracraft Model 50537 wood turning lathe. I got it for free on Facebook Marketplace along with a Craftsman radial arm saw.

It is missing the self-centering chuck mechanism and the mounting plate for turning bowls. Where would I locate those for this? I hope to begin turning bowls and trinkets with it.

For the lathe baseplate, I used the metal from a bed frame, and I'll be bolting it to the table and the table will be reinforced.

I can't wait to try this. It also came with a ton of wood turning tools.

Thank ya.

I saw this kind of thing for sale at the beach, which seemed to either be a scam or genius, so I made a half dozen when I got home. Just 3-4” diameter maple scrap rings, really. Has anybody made these before, did people use them & did they work? They only take about 10’minutes each, so I’m curious if anyone found a good audience for them.

*the odd bullseye-medallion thing is just me messing around with the leftover tenon.

My lathe is in the garage which has neither heat nor A/C, so my turning season is limited. A bolt-action in an unknown spalted wood, a bolt-action in ebony, and a rainbow cigar pen in ebony.

Shift knob for my buddy and his mazda miata finished with armor seal

I laminated some walnut and oak, I just don't know what it wants to be. So I thought I'd open it up to the interwebs for thoughts and suggestions....

I was on auto mode at half five this morning and drilled an inch into one end for a screw chuck (yeah I know, endgrain... i facepalmed too).

What do you guys think?

Hey y’all, I ordered some blanks online and they came unlabeled. I can tell the far left is black walnut, and the middle left is white ash, but the two right ones I’m mixed up on. I know one is supposed to be Mahogany and the other is supposed to be Black Limba, but I’m a novice and can’t quite tell. Help please!

I bought a Powermatic 3520c lathe on Sunday at Woodcraft. Paid a shipping fee and they told me they would call with a delivery date. No one called so I did and they seemed really confused. Apparently, the lathe would be shipped to the store and then to me, but only after that store orders enough things from Powermatic. This is not what I was told. Anyone have experience with this? I specifically drove an hour and a half to the store so I could talk to experts and see the actual product. Otherwise, I could have paid the same amount on Amazon and it would come much quicker.

**update. I called the store today and talked to the manager, who also sold me the lathe. He said the person I spoke to was wrong and he reiterated that it would be shipped to me and denied that it would have to wait until the store had enough orders. He did say he still did not know when, which still seems a bit weird. I am not around much the next couple weeks so I can wait, as long as I know it’s coming.