I originally wanted to ask for advice on tools to look at or buy at the WW show in Denver next month. I'm just getting into turning, although I've had an inexpensive lathe around the shop for a long time. Thanks to those who already helped with their comments on the lathes I'm looking at. You'll be happy to know the on/off switch on my current lathe is going, so I now have an excuse to buy the Grizzly GO698. I plan to get the Grizzly H6267 chuck with the lathe, along with the extra jaws they offer.
Right now I have the inexpensive spindle turning chisel set that came with my lathe and some faceplates that go up to 8". The four jaw, noncentering chuck will not fit the new lathe. I recently learned how much better my chisels work when I grind them from time to time. Last year at the WW show I picked up a 1/2" bowl gouge and a big swan neck tool that holds a round cutter and a straight cutter, both from Woodline. I've seen several threads on SMC about BB chisels from PSI, and those seem to be in my price range. I realized I only have one scraper in the entire set, a 1/2" round nose.
I want to learn about bowl and HF turning. I know I don't deserve the lathe I'm buying, but I hope to get good enough to justify having it in my shop. Question is, where should I go from here?
Part Two: As I was thinking about this, I realized I have never used the swan neck tool I got last year. I've been busy with other things. I had a chunk of cottonwood on the lathe that I thought I had turned into what you all call a funnel. Figured I couldn't do any harm, so I put the round scraper on and started working on the walls of the bowl. The profile I have right now is the result of 1. where the wood wanted to go, 2. where the chisels went whether I wanted them to or not, and 3. my attempts to fix #2. With the flaws in the wood, I'm afraid to go much thinner on the walls. It's been spinning at about 1560 and I've fixed some cracks that showed up with CA. I thought I was going to have to try to fashion a foot from the tenon, but as it turns out I have about 1/2" to go before I see daylight through the bottom, except for what may come through the natural crack.
This started out as my first attempt at a natural rim. That quickly passed and it turned into a strange bowl with a natural edged hole in the side, then another hole as a result of flaws in the wood. The distance from the top of the natural hole to the rim is also the result of a slip with a chisel.
I'm calling myself a newbie, even though I've referred to myself elsewhere on SMC as a geezer, in the hope you'll go easy on me. I've been trying to make things other than spindles off and on for a year or two. I understand your advice may be "Unplug that lathe, don't send your money to Grizzly, and 'Why would you want to go to the WW show?'" or "You just can't teach art. Better you should take a cooking class."
Seriously: Scrapers, larger and smaller bowl gouges, steady rests large and small, cool curved tool rest, Cole type chuck, books on design and technique, stuff I don't know about? If you think I should try to save this bowl from the woodstove, or can help me identify and avoid a problem in future, I'll appreciate your advice on that, too. Thanks in advance.
I have to say I don't always understand all your design comments on other posts. Maybe I need a book. I've thought about the local turner's club, but those guys are really good and I might feel out of place.
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I only sanded to 100 and then put some Danish oil on for those of you who want to make fun of cottonwood. I already take a lot of crap about that from my real woodworker friends. I like the color variations and grain patterns I get. This was a crotch I cut out about two years ago and forgot to seal the ends. I knew I might have problems when I started. I have some really big chunks of green cottonwood, about 3 tons of Black Walnut already milled to 12/4 or thinner, and several small chunks of various hardwoods I've been getting from a local tree service.