# First lathe, first turning



## AxlMyk (Jun 13, 2006)

I'm making a box and domino markers for my Aunt in Florida. My Uncle had started making these markers, but only got 5 of them done. He had intended on making 8.

Well, my bro and his wife were in Fla. and brought up some rose wood and one of the markers for me to copy. Not having a lathe, I was wondering how I was going to do this.

Tractor Supply Company had a closeout on a Wilton mini lathe for $47.99 and I called a few stores and found what must be the last one east of the Mississippi river in St. Johns, Mi. I drove 60 miles out there yesterday to get it. On the way back I stopped in Flint to get a set of turning chisels from HF. I saw the same lathe there for $119.

So boys, I have ventured into a new, to me, area of wood working.


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## Bob N (Oct 12, 2004)

Oh Oh.... move over Bernie :yes2:

Nice snag Mike and look forward to seeing what comes from that part of your shop.


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## dutchman 46 (May 23, 2007)

Congrats on the new tool. sounds like you ran into a good buy! Enjoy the lathe ,and post your work. I am still trying to get something posted.


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## rwyoung (Aug 3, 2008)

Good deal! Hope you like the little guy. And at $50 you can always set it aside as a buffing wheel when you go get that giant Powermatic...

Which set of HF tools did you get? They have a few different ones, the 8 piece Winsor Design set is definately High Speed Steel (HSS) but I'm not too sure about the other ones.


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## levon (Sep 14, 2008)

hello Mike,

that sounds like a great deal! i am not sure, but i think Wilton is a company from Canada . anyway i ordered an 8 inch disc and 4 inch belt sander combination from amazon for Christmas. i noticed the reviews on it were pretty good. i have to tell you ive been impressed with the comfort , fit and quality of the tool!

my wife would probably shoot me, but if i saw one for that price, id snap it up. we have a tractor supply here. i may have to go see what they have.

sorry for the long post!

enjoy the lathe!


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## AxlMyk (Jun 13, 2006)

rwyoung said:


> Good deal! Hope you like the little guy. And at $50 you can always set it aside as a buffing wheel when you go get that giant Powermatic...
> 
> Which set of HF tools did you get? They have a few different ones, the 8 piece Winsor Design set is definately High Speed Steel (HSS) but I'm not too sure about the other ones.


It's cheap, but it works.
I bought the 8 piece Windsor set. - Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices
They had a set for $10 and I didn't even think about getting that one. Another set was more like $70-$80 so I went middle of the road.

A fellow in our WW group is going to help me sharpen them next week. They work ok as is, but sharper is better.


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## rwyoung (Aug 3, 2008)

Yes, sharper is better. It is pretty easy to make a few jigs for sharpening the lathe tools. I did this but recently purchased the sharpening jig from Teknatools for about $90. Very happy with it. 

FYI, if you have HSS tools, you don't need t worry about 3400 rpm vs 1700 rpm grinding wheels. Just use a light touch and don't quench HSS, it makes it brittle. A little bluing of the steel is no big deal for HSS. High-carbon steel on the other hand, bluing is a bad thing.


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## curiousgeorge (Nov 6, 2006)

Mike,
Here is a sharpening jig How-To I posted last year. Maybe you would be interested...

Router Forums - View Single Post - Lathe tool sharpening jig


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## AxlMyk (Jun 13, 2006)

Thanks George. That looks easy enough to make.


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## curiousgeorge (Nov 6, 2006)

AxlMyk said:


> Thanks George. That looks easy enough to make.


You are welcome Mike. The thing that drives most beginners away from turning is they try to use dull chisels and the dull tools cause snags and catches. The edges don't need to be honed, but they do need to be kept sharp. You should learn how to sharpen before you learn how to turn, IMHO.


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## rwyoung (Aug 3, 2008)

curiousgeorge said:


> You are welcome Mike. The thing that drives most beginners away from turning is they try to use dull chisels and the dull tools cause snags and catches. The edges don't need to be honed, but they do need to be kept sharp. You should learn how to sharpen before you learn how to turn, IMHO.


+1 on the jig from Aroundthewoods.com

That is what I built first. Also happen to have that same 6" grinder.  HF can be a good source of tools but you really have to go put hands on the stuff first. Some things are good. Some are not so good (to be polite). Probably pissed off the little monkey in charge of straightening up the shelves at HF because I always open up the stuff and check it right there in the store. Opened three of the grinder boxes before I found one that looked to be turning true (bent shafts or bad bearings, not sure, but wobble is a bad thing).

I did however replace the coarse wheel with a 120 grit from Woodcraft. With a light touch, it does a great job, at least in my limited experience.


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## BernieW (Sep 12, 2006)

Congrats on the lathe Mike. Now the fun begins.


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

Congratulations Mike, if things go for you like they did for me, the $50.00 cost of the lathe will seem insignificant in no time compared to what the accessories are going to cost you, my Tormec sharpening system alone was over $A700.00! Some chisels were around $A90.00 etc, etc. But in spite of all this I just love wood turning now that I'm beginning to get the hang of it. Nice spindle Mike, I hope that I haven't depressed you!


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## AxlMyk (Jun 13, 2006)

I have no doubt there will be more expense involved. Already started ordering a few things. That spindle was cut in half to make domino markers. I needed to make 3 of them. The other 2 are sitting on the headstock.
I'm almost done with the box for the dominos and markers. Will post it soon.


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## Glenmore (Sep 10, 2004)

Mike now you are in for it. I guess I'll be happy for you hahahaha. It is a vortex these lathes are you won't hardly touch any other tool in your shop and just think you bought the cheapest part of wood turning don't you worry you'll find out but like most of us it is the greatest tool to get hooked onto. So have fun. Wish we had the sound affect of a evil laugh so use your imagination.


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## rwyoung (Aug 3, 2008)

Glenmore said:


> Mike now you are in for it. I guess I'll be happy for you hahahaha. It is a vortex these lathes are you won't hardly touch any other tool in your shop and just think you bought the cheapest part of wood turning don't you worry you'll find out but like most of us it is the greatest tool to get hooked onto. So have fun. Wish we had the sound affect of a evil laugh so use your imagination.


http://www.ringelkater.de/Sounds/2geraeusche_menschl/evil_laf.wav

http://www.findsounds.com/types.html

Now enjoy the rest of your day playing around with these!!!!!


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## AxlMyk (Jun 13, 2006)

Got a question on this lathe.
Does anyone know what thread size the spindle is? I'm looking for accessories to spend money on. It's a MT1 but I have no info on the threads.

Found it. 3/4" x 16tpi RH threads.


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## Glenmore (Sep 10, 2004)

Mike Pennstate industrial. Grizzly.com has a lot for #1 tapers such as chucks pen mandrels and a lot of other things.


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## xplorx4 (Dec 1, 2008)

Mike Congratulations on the new tool, they are always fun. From what I have experienced, the tool is the first and last cheep thing you buy for the hobby. The expenses from here out are all up hill. 

Last December I picked up a planner for 100.00 with stand, it was Wilton. so far so good. I think the company they are associated with is Jet. Grizzly has a 12.5" planner just like mine, except color for 200.00+ with out the stand. I was surprised to see the name Wilton on it.


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## kolias (Dec 26, 2008)

Mike that's a real nice lathe and the price makes it even better


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## AxlMyk (Jun 13, 2006)

*First lathe, first pen*

I bought a few accessories from Sears for the lathe. A 6 1/2" 4 jaw chuck, and a work spindle with drill chuck. I decided to try something new today.
Since I don't have any pen parts, I took apart a plastic drug company pen and turned a new body for it. Used some of the rose wood my aunt gave me. This is from the sap wood.
Hey, this is fun. :sold:


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## Bob N (Oct 12, 2004)

Nice job Mike! You seem to have a way of mastering everything to do with wood and turning is no exception. I like the natural look vs a high gloss finish on this one.

Watch out.... turning is an addiction :big_boss:


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## rwyoung (Aug 3, 2008)

AxlMyk said:


> I bought a few accessories from Sears for the lathe. A 6 1/2" 4 jaw chuck, and a work spindle with drill chuck. I decided to try something new today.
> Since I don't have any pen parts, I took apart a plastic drug company pen and turned a new body for it. Used some of the rose wood my aunt gave me. This is from the sap wood.
> Hey, this is fun. :sold:


Very clever! Looks good, much better than the plastic version I'm sure. Over at www.pentrners.org you can find some instructions in the library for making Pentel style mechanical pencils too.


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

Mike, Rob and I have built up a nice stock of pen turning blanks, all of different woods. Woodcraft offers a big bag of blanks for a very good price. You just need to check out the assortment in the bags since they are all different.


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## rwyoung (Aug 3, 2008)

Mike said:


> Mike, Rob and I have built up a nice stock of pen turning blanks, all of different woods. Woodcraft offers a big bag of blanks for a very good price. You just need to check out the assortment in the bags since they are all different.


I have yet to purchase a pre-cut WOOD pen blank (acrylics are another issue altogether but I'm learning how to cast my own). I have the benefit of three decent hardwood suppliers within 2hr driving distance. All have cut-off bins to pick through. Sometimes I've gotten the pieces for free because they were worthless otherwise. But with a little care you can get nice 5/8" to 1" square blanks out of just about any piece of wood! And there is always segmenting to use up the even smaller bits.

And I've also traded with a few people over at IAP Home for blanks.

Pen blanks are typically so small you can get them out of your own scraps or others. Heck, even buying a half-board foot of Padauk or Wenge or other exotic will be cheap per blank and yield a lot of working material.


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## AxlMyk (Jun 13, 2006)

Like Rob said, the scrap bin has a lot of possible blanks. Right now I have some walnut, cherry, maple, and 2 types of rose wood to make them from. I could even laminate thin strips. Before I get any deeper into this, I'll have to buy a pen turning kit first. I'm looking at one from Pennstate.


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

Rob, the widely varied assortment of woods in the bag I bought is way beyond what most suppliers would be giving away. These are exotic woods, and the price of $14 for the bag was a no brainer. Red heart, yellow heart, kingwood to name a few. There must of been about 30 blanks in the bag. This is an easy way to get started. I cut my own blanks from purple heart, padauk, brazilian cherry, teak, quilted maple, ebony and volador that I have on hand. I have bought a couple pen blanks such as the dye infused teal or magenta ash and the african snakewood.


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## AxlMyk (Jun 13, 2006)

I wouldn't mind browsing through Woodcrafts' bags pf blanks, but being the closest store is almost an hour away. I have to have a good shopping list before I can justify the trip.


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## rwyoung (Aug 3, 2008)

AxlMyk said:


> Like Rob said, the scrap bin has a lot of possible blanks. Right now I have some walnut, cherry, maple, and 2 types of rose wood to make them from. I could even laminate thin strips. Before I get any deeper into this, I'll have to buy a pen turning kit first. I'm looking at one from Pennstate.


Warning - company plug follows...

I have had a very good experience purchasing from Wood-N-Whimsies and if you decide to go the mandrel and bushing route, these guys sell the bushings for about 1/2 what PSI does. I use the bushings as a guide, not gospel so when I get down close I switch to using calipers set from the kit hardware.

Wood-n-Whimsies are a PSI re-seller and offer the more popular kits at a discount over the PSI single-piece price. Most of the pen kits come from a couple companies in Tiawan and China (Diacomm and Reizing I think are the names) and are quite similar. And many of the re-sellers offer the same kits but under different names. A good example of this is the Gatsby (PSI), Sierra (Berea Hardwoods), WallStreet II (Woodcraft), Monet (woodnwhimsies). Not everybody has every finish or engraving detail.


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## rwyoung (Aug 3, 2008)

Mike said:


> Rob, the widely varied assortment of woods in the bag I bought is way beyond what most suppliers would be giving away. These are exotic woods, and the price of $14 for the bag was a no brainer. Red heart, yellow heart, kingwood to name a few. There must of been about 30 blanks in the bag. This is an easy way to get started. I cut my own blanks from purple heart, padauk, brazilian cherry, teak, quilted maple, ebony and volador that I have on hand. I have bought a couple pen blanks such as the dye infused teal or magenta ash and the african snakewood.


That does sound like a pretty good score.

I think it just varies by the store. These guys were quite happy to let me have some padauk, wenge and a few pieces of rosewood (the deep red kind, Brazillian?) that had splintered from larger cuts. I think it was just the luck of the draw that I wandered into the store after they finished the S2S milling on some pieces for another customer. The owner/manager also turns pens and so I chatted him up. That may have helped. :dirol: 

I've looked at the stuff at my local Woodcraft and it is a crapshoot. I already have such a pile of stuff I just couldn't bring myself to buy any more! :no:

If was going to buy some wood blanks, it would probably be the dyed burls.

I suppose this is why people get so facinated with the pens and other small turnings, the choices are nearly endless!!!


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