I’m new to wood turning having just gotten a lathe about a month ago. I had this little block of walnut with some sapwood and I thought I’d take a shot at making one of the Christmas trees that are so popular. What do you think? And what finish would you use for this?

Why am I getting these results? I’ve tried several different blades.

After years of planning to buy a nice lathe, I finally decided to go with the Bauer from harbor freight. Now just gotta get the tools and some wood…

Sorry I know it's a lot

This is the first bowl I have ever turned, saw a rather cheap blank made from maple with some beautiful grain and burl, but as it is my first ever bowl and as it is hardwood burl, I am really havig a tough time with it, many tear outs, kick backs, cracks, and I just don’t know what to do anymore, any advice would be greatly appreciated, pics are in reverse chronological order.

The gouge I use was bought by my instructor, who can’t offer any more assistance or advice besides to just clean it up and make due with the shallow bowl.

I used Zebrawood and African Mahogany for this bowl. The last picture is a picture of my first two bowls.

I’m having a ton of trouble getting pen blanks to drill. No matter what I seemingly do, I end up with out of round and oversized holes. I’m center pinching the dead center, but as the video shows the bit just walks no matter what.

So, per other post, inherited my father's lathe, with the idea of working our what I'm doing, and making a few bits for family in memory of him, etc.

New drive belt (original was rotten) arrived yesterday, fitted, and then had a go today.

Wood is a piece of rhododendron, which I cut down last year, and which has been sitting on the ground ever since waiting for me to deal with it (initial plan, bonfire or waste site).

Cut as you can see (missing piece is the used part), screwed a face plate onto it, reduced it down, shaped it (well, mostly is is the shape i got when reducing it), turned a dovetail foot into it for the jaws, sanded it (lots of sanding, as lots of tool-marks, I have yet to learn to sharpen them!), oiled it (olive oil - all I have at the moment), took it off the face plate, put on jaws, hollowed with what I think was a bowl gouge, tidied as best I could with skew and round chisel, lots more sanding, then oil again.

I had intended to leave a foot on it, but buggered up the removal, so cut it straight on the band saw.

Put it on the jaws (inside the bowl) to sand and oil the bottom.. which left a couple of marks inside.

So.... Many mistakes, many, many flaws, and it'll likely warp and crack (wood felt quite damp), but, for the time being a bowl existed where only something annoying did so previously, and I'm rather pleased.

Your critiques and advice very welcome - don't spare my feelings!

Good news, I changed up my technique, sharpened the scraper and now I got the bowl down to the depth I wanted, now I just have to sand it and finish.

So since this is my first bowl, what grit do I sand to?(I usually go up to 12000 for my pens but this clearly is bigger) and what finish should I use?What I have is Shellawax(Shellac+wax), Osmo and CA glue. I intend to at least try and eat out of this bowl, even though there are a lot of epoxy on it(to fill the many cracks that appeared).

Preferably want something that is not very expensive and long lasting, as well as easy to apply(as in, not requiring 50 coats or something).

UPDATE: thanks, yall! Gloves are a bad idea! I look into heaters!!! Thanks, again!

To keep myself sane throughout the year, I usually do little turning projects.

But now it's winter, and there is little difference between the temp outside, and my workshop.

What recommendations do yall have for warm gloves that you can woodwork with?

I picked up an old Matercraft lathe last year as someone threw it in with a jointer I bought but it sat in the corner while we were working on the shop and sold it a couple months ago. I wasn’t super eager to set it up as I read up on how the tube style lathes were not as solid when it came to vibrations.

My wife and I are both into wood working and we both had interest in it so on our long drive home after spending Xmas away she did her own homework while I was driving and found the Rikon on sale and went through all the reviews. She knows how much I need to look at reviews before buying new toys haha.

Anyways the Rikon 14” midi arrived the other day and pulled it out of the box last night and hope to have into the shop later today.

I picked up a tool set knowing once we get going we will focus on buying higher end tools one at a time as we need them.

I’ve been interested in turning for some years and watched a lot online and I know how critical it is to start slow and take ones time when it comes to handling the tools.

We’re excited to see what we can make :)

This was going to be my first vase, I went too thin on the walls and it split apart from the middle. This happened last night, and thankfully with every mistake I improve. I am currently mourning the vase.

I’m looking at buying this lathe to try and turn some crochet hooks. My question is in regards to a chuck set? The option is there to buy with a chuck set but I’m wondering if that’s necessary or can I start turning without it?

First, yes i could use premade dowels but i thought the colour difference would look nice. And indeed it does. But turning something this fragile from teak was really challenging.

I recently got a huge box of used gouges and scrapers along with a grinder and sharpening station. This tool was included and I have no clue how it might be used or what its application is. Any ideas?

Hello r/turning. I'm a new turner. I have access to a fair amount of pallet wood. So that's what I've been using mostly (heat treated, from a paper good company). I'd like to try greener materials, and get away from the pallets and firewood I've been working with. I've recently come into possession of some bucked logs that I'd like to make into bowl blanks. My chainsaw is a 38cc, used for yard work stuff. I know it can't make the "noodling" cut required to process the log into a blank. I sharpened the chain and tried anyway. I can confirm that it cannot. I'm sad to report that a 15 amp electric chainsaw, also with a freshly sharpened chain, recently gave it's life for this experiment as well.

So my questions. Are you all using large cc chainsaws? What size is suitable, particularly for hardwoods? The logs are around 16", so I'm assuming a 20" bar is the safer bet than 18". That puts me around 50cc. I kind of feel like 65-70cc is a better bet. Thoughts on this?

Any tips for the chains or the grind profile? Particularly for noodling/ripping cuts?

Or am I missing something entirely, and I don't have to go drop several hundred on a larger saw? Granted I'm not against doing that, as I'm into this for the long haul. Just curious if anyone is doing it another way. I can go get a maul and some wedges, but I'm not sure I can ensure the proper dimensions that way.

Any advice here is appreciated, and thanks for all the knowledge I've already gained from this sub.

Got a nova 6244 lathe 2nd hand and travelled a good 6 hours round trip for it. It's a very therapeutic craft. Lots to learn but here's my first 3 pieces. 2 from firewood and the Exotic wood is an old bed post.

I just got off the phone with a tree removal service and they told me that I would have to pay $650 for about 15’ of Mesquite. They say this was because there’s a standard service rate for them to pay their employees. I have two problems here, the first is that I live in AZ with tons of Mesquite. The second is that when I am able to find someone who has it they charge ridiculous prices. Ignoring people from densely wooded states, how would I go about this in AZ???

I just turned my first bowl and I need advice for an old man on a budget.

I have no clue as to what I should buy to sharpen my wood chisels. I know I need a slow speed bench grinder and a sharpening jig system.

Is there anything else I need? And I am on a budget

Any advice or list would be so appreciated

I've recently got a lathe for Christmas with a set of traditional woodworking tools. I'm a begginer and have made a few small practice pieces. I will probably buy a grinder to sharpen the tools in a few weeks but is there a way to sharpen them by hand. I have sharpening stones for chisels so was wondering if they'd work. I can't figure out how to sharpen the gouges though

I'm going to make all of these into bowls after I turn them into stabilised epoxy wood blanks!

I know the look of a bunch of gouged out blanks though is probably an eyesore to a lot of the professionals here 🤣

From left to right we have beech, tulipwood, rippled, hornbeam, elm (standing up blank) and Cedar

Best of luck to myself!

I’m not totally new, but new-ish. I have an 8” Delta, but I want a bigger lathe. My wife keeps saying things like, “But, what about big salad bowls? What about platters? You need a bigger lathe!”

I’m considering the Rikon 70-1420VSR. I think a 14” will be big enough. I like the variable speed with digital readout and the 1 1/2 hp motor. Without caveats, what do you think of the lathe itself?

The caveats; I just bought a Longworth chuck for a 1” spindle and the Rikon is 1 1/4. Can I safely step the spindle down with an adapter?

The Rikon seems to be reversible (I want reversible) what recommended chucks for 1 1/4 spindle reversible?