I went out and bought a lathe. I picked up a Harbor Freight 10" X 18", which is also sold by Rockler under the Excelsior brand and Penn State under their brand, and probably by a few others as well. I got mine for $160 brand new on sale with a 20% off coupon. The others run anywhere from $250-$300 for the same lathe in different colors. It has MT2 tapers in both the headstock and tail stock and both are drilled through. Adjustments are quick and easy, too.
I went over to the Rockler store yesterday and picked up a MT2 pen mandrel after asking about what I needed to turn something similar to the insert I took in with me to show them. The young guy that helped me out showed me the bushings he had turned for doing similar stuff and fixed me up with the goodies I needed without going overboard. I turned a pair of bushings to hold an insert out of some black and white acrylic. These were the first things I had turned on a lathe since high school wood shop back in '68 or '69.
After messing up drilling one insert in my drill press, I got these drilled and turned. Nothing fancy, but they came out well for my first projects. Finish is wipe on Poly applied on the lathe.
Well they sure look good to me KB, can you tell me if you drill before you turn or the other way round please ? Also, can you tell me where you got the black skelton? So many questions…is that one coat of wipe-on poly ? I’ve done that with gunstocks and small pieces of furniture resto parts with good luck but it usually takes a number of coats to get things to look as good as your inserts do.
You drill first, then the insert is concentric to your bore.
That is one coat. I was amazed at how nice they came out finished on the lathe. The hardware is not glued on so I can easily put a few more coats on. It might have helped that I sanded down to 1000 grit paper before using a tack rag and applying finish.
The black hardware is a Pacific Bay A7 Skeleton from Mudhole. They have them in black, gold, chrome, and TiCH The other is a PacBay A5 skeleton, also from Mudhole. I prefer the A7, but was given a pile of half wells grips already cut for the A5. Now that I have the new toy, I thin some of those will get reworked with wood accents on the ends. :twisted:
Kevin I am glad you finally took the leap. The products look really good. Sorry my inbox was full. I will send you a few tips and cheaper places to get the hardware if you like. Just pm me your email if you like and I will send the tutorials. I want to warn you, soon you will be looking at the trees in your yard in a different way. Keep up the good work. BOB
Kevin,
I use a couple of coats of Tung oil followed with a 600 to 1000 grit sanding. Then finshed with 2-3 coats of extra thick cyanoacrylate. After the cyanoacrylate is dry, i use auto clear coat swirl remover. When completed this makes for a great durable finish.
Bob, I already have some aspen that I have been thinking would finish out nice. I was going to carve it, but I do not really care for carving aspen for some reason. I have some gorgeous Honduran Rosewood that made a beautiful insert for the A7 hardware earlier today.
I also wanted to try some grips with cottonwood bark, pine park, and similar materials that will turn much better on a lathe than in the drill press. I expect my cork grips to be smoother and turn better with the lathe as well, not to mention the fact I can now use wood accents as well as the various burl corks. On top of this, there is the possibility of turning wood winding checks and really unusual seats that would resemble the seats on the new Cabela’s rods.
I consider myself to be a avid woodturner/ pen turner. I have found out that if you want a hole drilled as perfect as you can drill it, you need a good four jaw chuck for the head stock, and a drill chuck on a number two mandrel for the tailstock. I recently turned a reel seat for Betty, and the hole was smooth as silk with this set up. I also take my time when drilling this way, even more so when drilling acrylic blanks.
WARNING turning can become an addiction. Be careful
Larry
Kevin I agree wholeheartly. I am turning some african blackwood for a reelseat on a spinning rod. The downside it is heavy and requirs very sharp tools. The upside is man is it nice when it turns. I am going down next week to get the 4 jaw and drill mandrel so I can get a better hole drilled in the stock. The bark sounds interesting. When I have a moment I will also send you a pic of the grip I am turning out of cedar. I will start with that and then move on to other woods. The fill of a wood grip is amazing.
I would recomend a Nova G3 chuck for a small lathe. It is the same size a the midi, but it is much easier to opperate when closing the jaws. The G3 is a one handed operation vs. the two pegs that close the jaws on the midi. The teacher of the woodturning class I had taken at Woodcraft made that sugestion for me , and I am glad he did works like a champ. The next best is a versa mec, but you are talking big$$$.
Good luck
Larry
Kevin,
You have now opened a whole can of worms (not to mention your wallet) for yourself. You will now find you will need or want; chucks, threaded mandrels, long brad point drills, and a personal favorite for use with non-threaded mandrels, a phillips chuck live center combo. Oh yeah don’t forget the sharpening fixtures. You now have a whole new Xmas list. If you want some antler pieces to play with let me know. They make great winding checks but take a little to get used to using.
Antler is certainly a want to do material as is horn and bone.
So far, I see the four jaw chuck and Jacobs chuck with MT2 taper as the next semi major purchases. Grizzly has a nice selection of reasonably priced chucks here. They have the MT2 shaft/adapter for a 1/2" Jacobs chuck, too for about $8 or the whole thing for about $20, so this could be fairly reasonable. Who am I kidding?
