# Suitable job for a woman



## crquack (Oct 10, 2008)

My wife, after watching several turning workshops on PBS, shared with me her desire to try some truning. I assume that it is considered polite and legal for women to use a lathe in North America  If that is the case what greater excuse for me to buy a wood lathe (I kind of toyed with the idea before but could never really justify it).

The first impulse is "wife agrees, buy the biggest thing you can while the going is good". However, this is probably unrealistic. So I did a net survey of potential candidates available locally or close by and came up with these:

http://busybeetools.ca/cgi-bin/picture10?&NETID=1716091019082073114&NTITEM=B2198

http://www.canadiantire.ca/browse/p...d=1408474396672855&subctgrid=1408474396672966

http://www.houseoftools.com/product.htm?pid=16265

http://www.bosstoolsupply.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=2210

The least info available is on the last one. However, TJL, as I understand it, supplies Harbor Freight in the USA so I suspect somebody will be familiar with it.

Space is at a premium and I cannot see us doing any big pieces so the HoT unit is probably bigger than we need.

I do understand that the price will double with all the tooling etc. as well as having to paint the machine pink (for heaven's sake, do not tell her I said that!)

Thanks for the input.


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## Bob N (Oct 12, 2004)

I do not mean to burst your bubble, but I would not jump on any of the lathes you have listed. These are all pretty much promotional lathes based on the cheapest price they can make it for and not for quality which could end up with much frustration for you. You say that you have no plans on larger projects. If that is the case you should probably be looking at a mini or maxi lathe such as a Jet or perhaps in your location a General would make good choices. These 2 names have been around for a long time with outstanding reputations. Another good lathe is the Rikon. Take a little time and check these out before making a decision.

You are right about the lathe being a small part of the over all cost.... OUCH!


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

crquack said:


> My wife, after watching several turning workshops on PBS, shared with me her desire to try some truning. I assume that it is considered polite and legal for women to use a lathe in North America  If that is the case what greater excuse for me to buy a wood lathe (I kind of toyed with the idea before but could never really justify it).
> 
> The first impulse is "wife agrees, buy the biggest thing you can while the going is good". However, this is probably unrealistic. So I did a net survey of potential candidates available locally or close by and came up with these:
> 
> ...


I'm no expert at turning, only having had my lathe for less than a year and until recently, only turned pens, but now starting to produce a few bowls with reasonable success. The mini lathe on your last link is , other than the colour, identical to mine here in Australia and currently selling for $A275.00.
I haven't found any problems with it and have no regrets buying it, however, if I would have known that turning could become addictive, I would have followed Bob's advice and bought a larger quality machine.


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## crquack (Oct 10, 2008)

Thanks.

The thing that puts me off about the TJL lathe is the complete lack of any technical information even on the TJL site. Spindle? Tapers? Accessories?
I find it pretty typical of this company and have not bought anything of theirs although I was tempted once or twice in the metalworking department. A phone call to the dealer was no help at all!

I went to the General site. I liked the look of the 25-200 M1. House of Tools are supposed to be their local dealer but they do not list it on their website. I shall talk to them before looking further afield.


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## Mitch12 (Mar 29, 2008)

crquack 
If I were you I defenitely never would consider buying any of the lathes you listed. No power and you and the wife being beginners you would be stalling the motor quite often. The one lathe that does give you a lot of info doesn't give you a single thing that any lathe that is a lathe doesn't have. Glad to see that you and the wife both would like to start turning together but don't make the mistake of trying to buy a lathe to save money, thus sacrificing your chance to learn to turn properly on a good lathe. If you want to impress the wife with your expertise of being able to choose a good lathe for you and her to learn turning on together, buy a good lathe or buy none at all. The difference between the two, good or bad, is really not that much more expensive. I started out with a Jet 1014 just for turning pens and this is a good lathe even though it has only 1/2 hp. I still use it fairly often today just for a change of pace away from my large lathe. Jet makes a newer mini model that is more powerful and that would be a great lathe for you and the wife. It has more power, variable speed which is great. Rikon is a good lathe, if it is available to you is another matter. My advice to you would be to get a good mini lathe then get a beginners set of turning tools for the type of turning you want to do, either bowls or spindle. You could try to save some money here and buy 4 tools that you need to do your prefered turning. Get your grinder and learn how to sharpen on these less expensive tools. If you don't think you want to learn to sharpen and sharpen a lot, may as well stop thinking of becoming a turner. If you want to turn bowls you could buy a 1/2" bowl gouge and a parting tool, get a grinder, and a jig for sharpening gouges and teach yourself how to sharpen these two tools. Not too hard to do if your really trying and easier this way when your just concentrating on learning to sharpen two tools. Takes a while to do properly. Some people are afraid of gouges with good reason but want to hollow out bowls. I would recommend a half round scraper to do this work, it does a good job for you and not much chance for catches as with gouges. I just made 3 scrapers for this very reason yesterday and today and they work fine. Buying a lathe is the easy part, there are so many things to learn and to think about but if you get a good lathe and make good decisions you are in for a fascinating experience of woodturning. Good luck Mitch


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## BernieW (Sep 12, 2006)

Have you looked at or considered the Oneway 1224? It is made in Canada and is on my wish list when either one of my two smaller lathes goes belly up.

http://www.oneway.ca/lathes/1224lathe.htm

Here is another one I would consider. It is a general and has good reviews from what I have seen when researching. 

http://www.general.ca/pagemach/machines/25200a.html 

or this one:

http://www.general.ca/pagemach/machines/25300a.html

Just a thought. I would definitely consider one of these before I would buy one of those listed. Just my humble opinion.


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## Hamlin (Dec 25, 2005)

What about the Nova DVR?

Just askin.


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## Bob N (Oct 12, 2004)

ooooooh...... Ken, now we are getting serious


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## crquack (Oct 10, 2008)

$1850 is unrealistic for the Oneway.

The Generals are still in the running.

Maybe I should get her to take up golf. Oh, wait...

I am putting this one out purely to confirm that I should reject it:

http://www.amazon.com/LA200-Shopmaster-Horsepower-Benchtop-Woodworking/dp/B00006JZZV

They have it in the next town. Delta do not show it on their web page so technical information is again scanty. The reviews are generally positive, but some telling comments ("I can stop it with sandpaper in my hand").

OTOH having done some turning today in the 8" drill press I feel anything would be an improvement


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## BernieW (Sep 12, 2006)

I started on a Delta LA 200 and it is a fine little lathe. I got my nephew interested in turning but being in college couldn't afford a lathe so I gave him that one and bought a Rikon. I like the Rikon a little better because it does have a 12" swing vs. 10". But as for a tough little lathe it preformed without a glitch. Rikon $329 and I think the Delta is $299.


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## crquack (Oct 10, 2008)

Thanks, Bernie.

Delta now make a slightly bigger version (on sale at Amazon) but at close to $700. For just over $800 I can have a JET. If I lived in the States, that is.

Do you have any more details on that LA200? Like what kind of spindle and tailstock is it? Thread? Tapers? Some of the units in the lineup above do not take standard tooling (i.e. weird tapers etc.)

I should be going to Courtney within next couple of weeks where the shop is. However, getting any details out of them is the same effort as in RONA or Canadian Tire. One is best prepared beforehand...


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## crquack (Oct 10, 2008)

The General 25-200 M1 is on sale for $569 at our local House of Tools. I am definitely weakening..


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## BernieW (Sep 12, 2006)

I know a couple of guys who have that lathe and they love it. I really don't think you can go wrong with that one especially being variable speed. With a 32" bed extension you could do spindles 48" or so. It has a 1" X 8 tpi and #2 MT. 

The LA 200 is a #2 MT and the spindle is 1" X 8 tpi. That is one thing you have to be careful of and get a lathe that will take accessories that are common. Rikon is the same MT and spindle.


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## Timeman (Oct 3, 2008)

*Teknatool NOVA*

Hey guys I can tell you from a owner that these are good lathes and in Canada you get them for $999 I'm sure you can source some thing like this as there a good quality lathe.

http://www.kmstools.com/ is where I looked at on the net for Vancouver 

I know money is hard to come by these days but once you turn its addictive so if you do buy a lathe buy one that will last and is solid 

Cheers!

here is a Pic of the Lathe


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## chippypah (Dec 24, 2007)

Hi Crquack,
For what it is worth dont no about lathes in Canada, but get a good one that you grow into and not out of. By that I meen make sure you can do all the things you want to do, and not find that you become limited to what you can do. If that makes any sence.
Cheers
Pete


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## jhilary (Apr 2, 2006)

OMG. I know the original post is old, but i just read it and had to reply before i blew up.
We have a very active woodturning guild in the Minneapolis/st.Paul (minnesota) area. The guild purchased 8 Jet minilathes a few years ago so that we could have hands-on seminars, turning education meetings etc. We have a number of women in the group (including me) and so far every last one of them has been happy with the light beige color. Personally, I am a fan of Red, rather than pink, but I suppose that's personal.

I have been a turner for about 6 years, before that my hobby was furniture making. I make tables, chairs, etc... sorry, no little crafty girly things....... Because I have a workshop full of tools, including my dad's old shopsmith, i am just using the shopsmith for a lathe, but if i was to buy a new one i'd get the jet in one size or another. Most of the turners in this area seem to like them a lot. Correct that the lathe chisels will eventually cost more than the lathe, but so what. It's fun.

If your wife is now turning and needs to get into a less sexist environment than her home, have her check into local Guilds. She can check out the site for the nat'l woodturners guild and maybe find something locally for her to attend. it's "www.woodturner.org"


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## philland (Oct 3, 2008)

BernieW said:


> Have you looked at or considered the Oneway 1224? It is made in Canada and is on my wish list when either one of my two smaller lathes goes belly up.
> 
> http://www.oneway.ca/lathes/1224lathe.htm *EXPENSIVE*
> 
> ...


Before I bought the OneWay, I would buy the Nova DVR XP. The DVR is a very unique motor that gives consistent power and torque even at the very lowest speeds. In addition, this is a 16" lathe that ensures that you will be able to turn most any size bowl that you wanna turn (as well as pens and other cool things). Here is a link to the site where you can read more on the DVR XP That being said, there are cheaper lathes (like the General 25-200 that would serve you well. Another lathe to consider is the Jet 1220 VS. This is a midi lathe that is well respected and will give the very important variable speed (1220 *VS* not the regular 1220). Just my $.02


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## BernieW (Sep 12, 2006)

philland said:


> Before I bought the OneWay, I would buy the Nova DVR XP. The DVR is a very unique motor that gives consistent power and torque even at the very lowest speeds. In addition, this is a 16" lathe that ensures that you will be able to turn most any size bowl that you wanna turn (as well as pens and other cool things). Here is a link to the site where you can read more on the DVR XP That being said, there are cheaper lathes (like the General 25-200 that would serve you well. Another lathe to consider is the Jet 1220 VS. This is a midi lathe that is well respected and will give the very important variable speed (1220 *VS* not the regular 1220). Just my $.02


Well now that you speak of it Phil. I do have the Nova DVR XP and the Jet 1220 VS. Love them both. The Jet has a 3/4 hp motor and will turn up to 12" which is really 11 1/2" but respectable. I love the VS on mine and Bob has the same one he is now turning on. Oh and I also have the Rikon midi. One thing all the lathes crquack mentioned all had to high of speed for the low end. Turning out of balance pieces with a low speed of 500 rpm is dicey to say the least.


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## CMK (Oct 30, 2008)

jhilary said:


> If your wife is now turning and needs to get into a less sexist environment than her home, have her check into local Guilds. She can check out the site for the nat'l woodturners guild and maybe find something locally for her to attend. it's "www.woodturner.org"


It appears you didn't spot my husband's "subtle" humour. Fear not - 30 years of happy marriage here, even worked together day to day in our office the last 14 years! Beat that..


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