Informal poll question...

[Cheryl A. Prince]

Greetings all! I'll be 52 in November and have been turning for about 5 years. I had to take home economics in high school and never even dreamed of taking shop! 10 years ago I decided I needed a hobby and started out with a scroll saw. From there I moved to a band saw to make band saw boxes and then one day I wondered how I could make my own round little drawer pulls. The guy who owns the local True Value hardware store happened to be getting rid of his craftsman lathe so I bought it, thus began the fall into the vortex! I love turning bowls and hollow forms. I hope to someday soon get brave enough to post some here and enter a show or two. This forum has been incredibly helpful and inspiring!

[jared herbert]

I first used a lathe about 45 years ago in a school shop. About 20 years ago I made a small bench top lathe that worked but not too well. I turned afew spindles to make wood sleds. Then about 12 years ago I got started looking at stuff on the internet sites and thought I would like to make a bowl. My wife bought me a delta mini lathe for christmas and I have been at it ever since, off and on. Six years ago I bought a 3520A and couldnt be happier with it. I did spend a day with Alan Lacer at his home shop for a private lesson, I learned a lot. Besides that I am self taught, read all the mags. By the way I am 60 years old. Jared

[Tom Winship]

Am 68 years old, retired in '07 and got addicted to flat work, then Neanderthal slippery slope. Started peeking at Turners forum about a year ago. Have a Jet 1236 that I bought in '99 to turn some table legs. Made some pens late last year. Turned my first bowl about 2 months ago and have been really bitten. With some help from people like John Keeton, Kathy Marshall, several DVD's, and a local turners club, I am neck deep now. My biggest problem now is deciding what to replace the 1236 with since my wife wants "bigger bowls". Learn something new every day.

[Nathan Hawkes]

Greetings to my Creeky friends! Somehow that just sounds wrong. Sorry guys (and gals). Well I'm 34, and started turning about 5 years ago, maybe 6. I honestly can't remember. I took shop class in middle school, but at my high school, if you were in band and took a foreign language, you pretty much couldn't do any other electives. Anyway, I got into woodworking again after a bit of acrylics fabrication. I had a business taking care of high-end (meaning expensive and complicated) saltwater aquariums. I realized that some of the filtration equipment was fairly easily constructed. In short order, I ended up with a table saw, router table, and a drill press in my KITCHEN!! There wasn't anywhere else for it. I gave up on aquariums and decided to go back to school, working a night job at the same time. On a lot of nights that I didn't work, I couldn't sleep. I read an article about chainsaw milling in a woodworking magazine, and had heard of it, but then I was hooked on woodworking. I saw a woodturner at a craft show who also milled his own lumber with a big saw, and I fell into the VORTEX! I bought a crappy used Craftsman lathe, quickly got rid of it for an old Rockwell Delta. At first, it was in my spare time, then in late 2007 or 2008 I started selling my work. I bought a Powermatic 3520 about 2 1/2 years ago, funded by my sales. It just escalated from there. I paid my last year of Nursing School with sales. I now have dozens of logs outside my shop, all sourced from tree services, construction sites, and thunderstorm damaged trees. I also have probably hundreds of blanks inside the shed, in various states of moisture content. I have hundreds of roughed out bowls and boxes. I guess the only place to go from here is to get a nursing job, buy a house, then build a real shop that isn't just an uninsulated shed with a woodstove, then quit the job, and start turning full time again. Wish I could afford it now!! Its paying rent, car payment, etc. but just barely.

[Kevin L Little]

I'll be 45 in November and gifts and cash are welcomed..
I've been doing wood working for over 30 years and recently got back into turning after being away from it for about 20 years. I don't make furniture any longer and have reduce my work space, so pens, bowls, stoppers and any other spinny thing I can make works out well.

[Bernie May]

I will be 64 in December. Took a class in Dec. 07 and bought a 3520B the next spring, choice based on comments from this site. Still putzing with flatwork and home remodeling. But the future holds lots of turning. Last year everyone got tree ornaments, clocks, and cutting boards.
-bernie

[Christopher Stahl]

I'm 37 and started turning back in 2005 when my wife gave me a Delta Midi Lathe for Christmas. I was hooked but eventually wanted to get into larger materials so I purchased a Nova DVR XP 3 years ago.

[Tom Hamilton]

Great thread! I'm 64 with Medicare card in hand in anticipation of a Dec 65th birthday.

In Sept 2007 someone on the Creek commented that Amazon had three Delta LA 200 lathes for $125 with free shipping. I clicked over and got lathe number 2. This was about the time that the Creekers "Bombed" Ken Fitzgerald with a lathe. I figured it must be an interesting change from flatwork.

Little did I know!

A few lessons later, a PM 3520B, numerous chucks, tools, abrasives and who knows what else, I'm a turner. And absolutely love it.

Artistic expression, instant gratification, appreciative family and friends, teaching others, learning from others. It is good.

All the best, Tom, in Douglasville, really glad he turned to turning.

[Sid Matheny]

I'm 61 and have been turning wood for about 6+ years. Always enjoyed making thing and turned to WW about 10 years ago. Enjoyed turning back many years ago when I was a machinist so had to have a wood lathe also.

Sid

[Jon McElwain]

Well, lets see, I am 34 years old, and I suppose I have technically been turning for about 7 years. I bought an older 46-700 along with a house and started making bonkers. I was pretty frustrated with turning until I bought a high school woodworking book from the 70's that got me at least holding the tools in a manner that would cut the wood.

My father-in-law bought a lathe a couple years later - it was a 1880 Lodge and Davis (modified to work with a 3/4 horse electric motor). Anyway, it ended up being a stand for his dovetail jig. I was joking with him one day that he should give it to me instead of having it take up so much space in his shop. Well, one day this 500 lb beast showed up at my shop! It's speed range was from around 1500 rpm on the low end to low-altitude-earth-orbit on the high end. I didn't know much about turning, but I knew enough to keep out of the swing!! I am amazed that I never lost a limb and never blew a whole through the roof with that thing.

A move forced me to sell the Lodge and Davis, and I gave the Delta to my father-in-law who was showing some interest in turning again. I upgraded to a Oneway 2436 with all the bells and whistles, along with a Delta 46-460. So now I turn on those in the winter at my home in Colorado. My family and I spend our summers in Alaska, so while there I use a 12" Delta of my dad's.

I went back to school a couple of years ago, about the same time I got the Oneway, and around the time I started at Sawmill Creek. I don't get much time for turning, but I am getting straight "A's", so I figure I'll have some more time for it when I finish next spring!

Love the Creek,

Jon McElwain

[John Spitters]

I'm 54 will be 55 in November, semi retired, I did my very first turning sometime in 2008 on an old beaver lathe that came with a 1/3hp, which I immediately upgraded to a 1hp then a few months later sold that lathe and got a general 26020VS which is my current lathe. It's really just been this last year that I've had the spare time to turn since partial retirement.

John

[George wilmore]

I am 58 started turning in high school. I used to teach woodworking until the school drop it as a class so now I teach engineering and sneak turning in when I can. The lathe was the most popular machine. I had to set up a rotation on when they got to use it.