I want a good lathe for a reasonable price. I am going to learn turning so that I can make legs for Windsor chairs. I am completely new to wood turning and would appreciate your recommendations on the lathe and tools. I know that this is a huge request and thank you all for your recommendations in advance.
Rev. Wayne
Replies
Rev Wayne
You definitely don't need a big, fancy lathe for turning furniture parts. Common wisdom seems to be to get a decent mini lathe, perhaps with a bed extension. It will do all you need. Jet and Delta both make good ones. The Jet 1220 is well respected and versatile. Although it isn't strictly necessary, EVS is nice (electonic variable speed).
If you think you're likely to make large bowls, you'll eventually want a big, expensive lathe. That's a significant investment in space and dollars though, so you might want to make sure that turning is for you first.
BTW, whichever way you go, you need to budget for tools and a sharpening system of some sort. Most folks use an 8" grinder and a jig for holding the tools. You can also get started with a HSS tool set from Harbor Freight. They're surprisingly good for the money.
Thank you David. This is very helpful. I will look at the Jet and Delta lathes. I have a Makita sharpening system, a grinder with 'cool wheels' and an assortment of waterstones and stropping tools.
Have you considered building a lathe.I built a lathe pretty much the same as one I saw in a Tauton pubication on turning. There were several lathes shown. Small one was called a beer box lathe, the bed was a beerbox. There also was a large heavy duty bowl lathe from structural steel parts. The lathe drawings I used were for an 8'-0" long wood frame lathe. I changed the dimensions to 6'-0" and used replacement spindles from grizzly. The grizzly parts ,the lumber and hardware ran about $165.00.Add another $90.00 for a new 1/2 hp motor and the lathe cost $255.00.
I have been using this lathe for 8 years.Check out the Penn State website for turning tools. I use and recommend the " Benjamin's Best " brand of turning tools. Excellent quality for low priced turning tools. I also have Sorby and Henry Taylor tools and the PS are equal in my opinion.
Reverend, if you would rather buy a lathe, I have heard about, but not used the Harbor freight lathes. These are very inexpensive, I won't vouch for them or knock them. Try a google search for wood lathe reviews,usually helps.
mike
Mike,
I hadn't considered building a lathe except for a treadle-type featured in one of Roy Underhill's books. Great question! I looked up the Penn State Industries website and they are selling a midi-type lathe with extensions for about $280. I still have research left.
Thank you!
Rev. Wayne
If you want a ton of information from lathe enthusiasts, check out Sawmill Creek's Turner's form. http://www.sawmillcreek.org/forumdisplay.php?f=20I'm pretty sure that you can view the forums without joining.David B
Thank you David. What a forum...wow!
The Roy Underhill book got me statrted on building a lathe. I actually built a treadle lathe from Roy's drawings and the picture. The treadle lathe was fun to build. I had to remake the wheel as my first one was pretty but way to light. I made the wheel more like a spinning wheel than one for a lathe.
You need as much weight on the rim as possible for inertia. I made the second one from scrap bubinga and ipe for the short spokes. This made for a heavy wheel that worked quite well. After a couple of years I sold the lathe because of arthritis,pedaling the lathe became a chore instead of fun. That's when I built the lathe I have now.
The PSI lathe sounds good,especially since you are new to turning. Even if a few years from now you decided on a large lathe,the PSI would still come in handy for many jobs.
I met a fella last year that got started on a mini lathe, carbatec I think it was called.He took a picture of it sitting on the bed of Oneway lathe. Sort of like mutt and jeff.
mike
That is very encouraging Mike. I did wonder about that wheel. I have a pretty good quantity of apitong (mostly used on flat-bed freight trailers and flat cars. Dense and heavy, oily, pungent wood. What if that wheel was 3 inches thick? I believe once the two mules and I got it spinning it would be virtually unstoppable. I may go down to this old tool yard tomorrow and look for some lathe parts. Now you've done it!
I’ve been known to turn a bit and if spindles are your only goal look for a nice used lathe. There is little to ware out and used ones are quite reasonable in price. I’ve see older Delta 12 x 36 models for as little as a hundred bucks, even if you have to buy a motor and build a stand you end up with a great machine.
I do mostly bowls and face plate work but here are just a few thoughts, learn to grind freehand, the same motor skills required to turn are the same as those needed to grind. You will need to sharpen a lot and jigs break the rhythm also the tools are plenty sharp straight from the wheel (60grit white) no honing required. Rule number one RUB THE BEVEL. Master the skew, bust up a lot of firewood and make shavings and have fun.
Rev w
If there is a woodturners' club in your city or near enough, check with them to see if someone is upgrading and wants to sell their's. You can find a good one at decent price, and some good advice with it.
Highland Woodworking is near me that's a good idea - I'll check. Many thanks to you and to everyone. You guys are really kind.
Rev. Wayne
It's short sighted to buy something like a lathe for one use.
buy too small and you're restricted to that size only.
Look at those who sell all sizes of lathes.. Then decide which has the greater value. http://www.grizzly.com has lathes starting at $199.95 (actaully they have a little hobby lathe starting at $45.95 (don't!)
Most here will tell you that Grizzly are fine people to work with. I know I had miserable time with Delta and switched from them to Grizzly and it's been a joy!
Frenchy,
I have an ambitious plan to build a number of windsor chairs (20) for sale to help fund the church's building program -- my small contribution. We have a large quantity of hardwood and having built a few windsors (with legs that I bought) I want to make the entire piece (including the turned legs). The back spindles are easily shaped with a spokeshave. The purchase of a lathe will be a good investment for me and with God's blessing will add some needed funds to our project. For a while the lathe will be dedicated to one use.
Rev. Wayne
Then the entire cost of the lathe needs to be divided into the 20 chairs which would tend to make them expensive chairs..
If however there was anticipated future use for such a item the cost becomes trivial because a lathe is capable of providing a lifetimes worth of use for an infinate number of projects.
That's why a major tool should never be purchsed for one project. Not that you shouldn't buy a lathe but that the lathe you purchase do more than one thing..
Frenchy,
Thank you very much. My fervent prayer is that others might want 'church-chairs' and that the orders will continue. All of the revenue (sales price) will be the church's. However, if those streams (of revenue) do not continue there are other projects around the church building effort that will require turnings and hopefully my 'experience' in turning will add value to our human efforts.
In my prior profession as an accountant I learned some valuable lessons regarding the time value of money and among those lessons are the jewels of sunk-costs, recoverable costs and fixed costs. Excess capacity is always a concern for us 'recreational' woodworkers. Whoever inherits or ultimately acquires my tools will wonder how they got such little use. All those costs are sunk costs for me since I am not a production for profit craftsman. I work with wood because I love it and in some small measure as an homage to my grandfather who was a master cabinet-maker and furniture craftsman.
I hope this makes sense.
I have a Jet 1236. It has a variable speed motor (which I guess is convenient). It's ability to turn outboard hasn't been useful to me so far.
Here's my advice:
A low speed motor (less than 500rpm) would be helpful. Reducing torque by reducing belt tension would be helpful as well. For windsor chair spindles, you need to be able to use a skew and learn to slice to get good crisp details. I think it's easier to learn on low speed, low torque lathes. A treadle is ideal. Pole lathes actually seem to have more torque that electric lathes. I found that difficult to work with initially. I also lost my centers frequently.
You may choose to start with green wood (I recommend it). If so, you may be splitting pieces for your lathe. To rough turn those round, a heavy lathe is best. I have my lathe weighted down with 300lbs of sand. I've also stiffened up the legs to reduce flex in the undercarriage. Short of a oneway, I don't think any lathe is good enough "out of the box" in this regard. Maybe you would be better off buying a bench top lathe and making a good sturdy (and heavy) base.
I've been making ladder back chairs. One problem i had was not having enough distance between head and tail. I've modified my lathe to get 42", but my mod is not ideal. Better would be a lathe with a 48" capability. The PSI midi with extensions is 40". Depending on your live center, you could loose another inch or two, which makes it a bit too small for this use.
I use my lathe (my only electric ww tool) for all kinds of stuff. I've used it as a grinder in the past, as a horizontal drill press, to turnb metal etc. Perhaps because they are so useful and versatile, I think I would avoid a used lathe. If you could easily replace the bearing and the morse tapers, AND it was a great deal, maybe I'd bite. Otherwise, I think i would get a good new lathe. And speaking of that, Windsor chair makers spend a fair bit of time at their lathes. You should probably get a good one. Spending over $1000 may be the right thing to do.
Adam
Sure it makes sense. I happen to completely agree with you and what you are attempting to do. I'm simply saying that the larger the lathe the more versatile it is.. your chair legs may only require a smaller lathe but a larger lathe will add greatly to your ability to achieve at not a great increase in cost. a 10"x 18" lathe may be enough for your uses but if you get something that can stretch out to 42 inches plus you can do spindles and a whole lot of other projects..
I went to a 16" x"43 with a swivel head. It listed for $500 but Sears had a 20% off sale and an additional 10% if I took the floor model plus I got another 10% off that if I opened a charge account.. I did and when the bill came I paid it off in full and simply never used them again.. Total I paid for a Cast Iron variable speed lathe was $324.00.
With the swival head I can turn big bowls if I want to. Far bigger than the 16" head would allow.
I think spindle turning and bowl turning are so different, one could almost justify buying different lathes for each. The process seems different, the tools are different, the goals and approaches of the worker are different, no? Agree? Disagree? I'm not a bowl turner and not a good turner. Turning the head outboard seems like an uneccessary and unhelpful feature for spindle turners. On my lathe, it's just one more thing to go out of adjustment. And tho I've turned irregular stock, I know my lathe is no where near big or powerful enough to do a good job of bowl turning.Still, bigger, heavier lathes do spindles better. And length is a big advantage.Adam
well let's assume the rev. buys a small 8"x10" lathe. fine for his immediate needs but the next project he wants is to turn spindles for the alter or stairs etc.. Now he has to buy a bigger lathe?
IT's the old boat trick. if you've never had a boat you buy a small fishing boat and it's great untill you're out in the middle of the lake and the big waves threaten to swamp you.. So you trade it in for a larger boat . etc.. your wife comes along and wants a toilet and etc..
you finally wind up with a 24 or 26 footer that with trade ins etc.. you've paid $150,000 for..
Or you go out and buy the $80,000 boat to start with and save yourself $70,000.
Remember the bigger lathe can turn small items but the smaller lathe can't turn bigger ones.
As for turning the head sideways it locks right in place and in the six plus years I've had mine I've never had an issue with accuracy..
I spun some wooden plates and a large bowl (24 inch) and it seemed easy enough.. plus I can snap it back to normal operation and turn out some more spindles.
My favorite was a giant black walnut baseball bat I made. It's fun hauling it to a soft ball game or something and watch everybody get excited.. It's 4 inches across 43 inches long and weighs just short of a ton <grin>
I turned several hundred Windsor chair legs on a jet 1236 It did the job with out a problem. This would be all you would need you should find a good used one for around $350.00 that's about all they are worth used. Good luck! foreverwindsors.com
Thank you windsors. You're recommenation confirms what I've been hearing from other woodworkers. I really do want to build a treadle lathe but not for this amount of immediate turning.
Rev. Wayne
My first lathe, which I still have, is a Record CL 48 made when Record was still an English company making high quality tools. It has a swivel head that is well done. I keep it for spindles and small boxes. But Frenchy is right; one lathe begets the desire for a bigger one. I now have three since big bowls and platters are the majority of my work and size and weight really matter.<!----><!----><!---->
OK Rev you want to make 20 windsors and you don't have a lathe, you aren't experienced with the skew, and I will assume you want a lathe for use beyond the chair project?
To make 20 windsors you are going to need 80 legs, 40 side stretchers, and 20 medials. Lots of turning. No spindles(drawknife). Bowbacks: 20 x 11- 220.
I do this for a living.
Recommendation: Get the biggest and heaviest lathe you can find.
Good Luck
dan
I know there is a lot of turning. This work is for the Kingdom not for me. I am blessed to have the advice of experts right here and I thank you very much. I have cut and stacked 100 billets for the legs and 400 for the spindles. I have used a spokeshave and drawknife in the past to shape the spindles: only the legs, stretchers, medials and newels are turned. Our church has worked a long time to build a permanent sanctuary and education building, we will with God's blessing accomplish this purpose.
Kindest wishes,
Rev. Wayne
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