Any Of You Changed Your Woodworking Skills And Went With Turning Most Of The Time

[Alan Gan]

I ask because I started getting into Woodworking a little less than a year ago. Bought most all the normal shop machines, Table Saw, Planer, Router ETC... Spent a good chunck of change.

Then I found a really great deal on a simple Lathe. After playing around with it, researching and checking out all the art that has been made using a Lathe, I find myself drawn towards Turning rather than furniture and cabinet building.

Starting to think I jumped the gun on what I wanted to do in the Craft. That make sense to anybody?

[ray hampton]

I will guess that this made sense to everybody except me , I never made this mistake a SINGLE time

[Mort Stevens]

Why does turning need to be exclusive? Why not incorporate turning into furniture projects?

[Chris Padilla]

Wood is supposed to be FLAT.

[Stan Calow]

Alan I think I am headed in that direction.

[Ellen Benkin]

I tried turning and took several classes and bought some expensive turning tools. I don't like turning. Maybe I'm the only one in the world that doesn't enjoy it, but I don't. Luckily I found someone else who wanted the tools.

[Kent A Bathurst]

I never made this mistake a SINGLE time

No foolin', Ray !!

"Never did and never will." - The Who

[Mike Henderson]

Depending on your furniture, you will occasionally need to turn some furniture components, such as table legs, so knowing how to turn is a valuable skill. As far as doing turning exclusively, you may find that you get more enjoyment from the task than from what you produce. The problem with turning exclusively is that you generally can't produce useful items - you wind up producing "art" items that get most of their beauty from the wood selected rather than from the design of the item. And there's only so many of those knickknacks that your spouse will tolerate in the house, so you start giving them to friends. What they do with them is unknown.

But lots of people enjoy turning, I suppose because they can produce things fairly quickly and easily - they enjoy the process rather than the finished product.

Mike

[Loren Woirhaye]

Some rather nice looking and sturdy chairs can be made mostly with turned components. I'm looking at this as I get more into making chairs. I have a mini-lathe right now... I've had larger lathes in the past but did not use them much and, I admit, kind of thought a lot of turned furniture tended to be unsophisticated. As I expanded my furniture making vocabulary however I am reconsidering that point of view, especially in light of combining turned elements with steam bent parts where embracing round tenons has potential for solving compound angle joinery problems one doesn't deal with much in general cabinetmaking.

I do think there's too much emphasis on acquiring large capacity machinery (at significant expense) which is really optimized for doing rectilinear work and making box variants. The process of acquiring the machines, learning to use them and so forth can take awhile and often students of woodworking never get past the fascination of making things orderly and square. While making boxes and such is an important skill, the temptation is to stay within the box, so to speak, building case goods and things like Craftsman furniture that are friendly to build with the table saw, jointer and planer. I have a lot of machinery myself and I sometimes wonder what I could do with a band saw, hand tools and a lathe.

[Von Bickley]

I bought a lathe, a nice chuck, some turning tools, and thought I would like to try my hand at turning. Another mistake I made in this life. I haven't turned that lathe on in a couple of years.

[Barry Richardson]

I f you have room for the equipment, I say develop both skills, they complement each other, I turn most of my knobs, and lots of table legs, and other embellishments for furniture. I use TS, BS, Jointer, etc to make jigs, segmented turnings, and a host of other things to support turning. I make more money at flat work, but do enjoy the instant gratification of turning a bowl, pen, whatever too, do em both.....

[Alan Gan]

As far as doing turning exclusively, you may find that you get more enjoyment from the task than from what you produce. The problem with turning exclusively is that you generally can't produce useful items - you wind up producing "art" items that get most of their beauty from the wood selected rather than from the design of the item. And there's only so many of those knickknacks that your spouse will tolerate in the house, so you start giving them to friends. What they do with them is unknown.

But lots of people enjoy turning, I suppose because they can produce things fairly quickly and easily - they enjoy the process rather than the finished product.

Mike

I understand what your saying. That is why I am thinking about this. If I can get good enough to turn out some unique pieces there are plenty of people with money to burn for a piece of "Art". Maybe I am off base but I think there is some money to be made here.

Those Foothill's people buy stuff just to look at. Me I spend my money to survive. So I will happily relieve people that have extra cash with a piece of my "Art".

[Alan Gan]

I tried turning and took several classes and bought some expensive turning tools. I don't like turning. Maybe I'm the only one in the world that doesn't enjoy it, but I don't. Luckily I found someone else who wanted the tools.

Fortunately for me this Lathe and some standard tools cost me less than $25.00. Gave me a chance to try it out without breaking the bank. Still trying it out for now.

[Dave Zellers]

Bought most all the normal shop machines, Table Saw, Planer, Router ETC... Spent a good chunck of change.

Then you say you bought a lathe and tools for $25 and you are drawn to that.

None of this really computes. As Desi said to Lucy, "You got some 'splainin' to do".

What exactly did you get for $25?

[Loren Woirhaye]

If you want to make money at turning do keep in mind that to make those fine burl bowls involve an awful lot of sanding to get those flawless finishes. That's why those art bowls are so pricey.

There's a turner who gives away a business plan for making $60 per hour turning or something. I think the idea is you turn wood tops and toys like that at farmer's markets on a mini-lathe and have a big box of them and people come to watch and walk away with a bag full for gifts. I don't know his name... I just saw it mentioned awhile back.