3520B Lathe Arrives - Learning Curve Continues!

[Jeff Wright]

My new 3520B lathe arrived day before yesterday. It was well-packed and no signs of damage to the container. It arrived on a pallet covered by a very rigid and thick cardboard box. Everything was thoughfully packed and protected by secondary boxes and styrofoam wedges. Powermatic together with Amazon did their homework here. I was able to assemble it myself with the exception of mounting the head stock back onto the ways. It took the help of my husky neighbor (Being 30 years younger didn't hurt either!). As can be seen in the accompanying photo, I made a wooden support to hold the head stock prior to aligning and sliding it onto the ways. We lifted the head stock up off its cradle on the floor onto the fabricated support, got our second wind, and gently slid it onto the lathe stand/base/ways. I decided to build one of the three shelves illustrated in the owner's manual. I used 3/4 inch dowels instead of the 5/8 inch ones suggested. The alignment of the head and tail stocks was spot on.

Now to decide which cutter tools to get. Any suggestions on brand, steel, and which specific tools to get? Are Sorby a decent brand? Any that are a superior value?

[Tony De Masi]

Congrats Jeff and welcome to the Mustard Club. As for the tools to get, so much depends on what you are planning to turn. Also, keep in mind that if you ask 50 turners a question like that you will certainly get 100 different answers.

Tony

[Frank Drew]

I'm jealous, Jeff.

Sorby is fine, as is Henry Taylor or really anything in high speed steel carried by Craft Supplies or Packard. If you really get into it you'll no doubt find some the specialist suppliers/toolmakers and get to learn all the different steels used. Don't go hog wild at first until you get a sense of the kind of turning you'll be most interested in doing.

A half dozen tools total can get you started with both spindle and face plate turning. Those, and a decent grinder.

[Bill Wyko]

Nice Stealth gloat. I, myself, like Crown Pro PM turning tools. The Powder Metal they use stays sharp about 5 times longer than HSS. My favorite tool is the David Elsworth grind. You can use it sideways or straight on. I look forward to seeing some work come off that bad boy. Time to getter dirty now. Congradulations on your beautiful lathe.

[Bill Wyko]

An important note on turning tools is to use a sharpie on the surface to be sharpened in order to grind to the origonal shape. Sharp tools are essential in turning. I personally prefer a wet sharpener. It allows me to take a small amount off at a time. It's much harder to put it back after you've ground it off.Have you done turning before? I thought I rembered some turnings from you in the past.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Congrats Jeff. Now it is time to turn.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Congrats on your new lathe Jeff! Looking forward to seeing what you turn!

[Reed Gray]

For turning tools, I suggest the ones from Doug Thompson. His are the best I have used, keep the best edge the longest, and are well priced. You do have to make your own handles, but that is better as far as I am concerned. I do wish he made a more heavy duty scraper though.
Robust hippy

[Dennis Peacock]

Congrats Jeff on the new Mustard.!!! Welcome to Club Mustard.....now....get out there and dirty up the shop around that new lathe.

[Gordon Seto]

Congrats on the new lathe.
I think the best turning tools both in quality and value are the Thompson Tools. The new issue of Woodturning Design has a very favorable review. So was in the UK Woodturning magazine.
http://www.thompsonlathetools.com/reviews.asp
A lot of the pros are switching to them. Doug Thompson, the maker of the tools, is a member of our Clubs. He is a cowboy hat turner. He is going to do a demo for our Club this Saturday. He experiments with flute design till he got the performance he wanted. The A-11 steel and cryogenic heat treatment made the tools lasting several times over regular M2 HSS steel. If you don't like it, he will buy it back.

I have no financial tie to his tool. We belong to the same Club, no discount, no kickback, except we don't pay shipping.

[Jeff Wright]

Congrats on the new lathe.
I think the best turning tools both in quality and value are the Thompson Tools. The new issue of Woodturning Design has a very favorable review. So was in the UK Woodturning magazine.
http://www.thompsonlathetools.com/reviews.asp
A lot of the pros are switching to them. .

Gordon, I can't get David's website to work. Could be my system, but suspect not. I'll keep trying.

[Gordon Seto]

Gordon, I can't get David's website to work. Could be my system, but suspect not. I'll keep trying.

Jeff,

I think you meant Doug. Doug Thompson, he is also a member here.

Try this link:
I think you will find information here useful.

Thompson Lathe Tools-FAQ

[Fred Conte]

Congrats Jeff on your new Mustard, have fun and enjoy!

[Jim Becker]

Congratulations, Jeff!

[Glenn Hodges]

You will not be sorry if you get Doug Thompson's. Get a 1/2 or 5'8 gouge, skew, parting tool, and a roughing gouge. I use a 5/8 most of the time, and I like the big heavy skew. If you are ever in S GA come by my house, I have buckets of gouges I don't use. I will sell them for about 1/2 price or less because I use Doug's or Glacier's all the time now.