Setting up new Powermatic Lathe

Oooooh! NICE NEW TOY! Keep us posted on your work, it looks like you’re due for a lot of creative fun!

-- "They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night." ~ Edgar Allan Poe

Nice looking tool good luck all your new project….Blkcherry

Sweet. You should get many years of enjoyment out of that beauty.

TOOL ENVY!!!! SWEET

-- DocK, WV

That is a nice looking lathe that you have in your shop. About a year or so ago I saw one of these in the classifieds that was 3 years old and came with a complete set of turning gouges and tools for $1800. I thought about it over the weekend and when I called on Monday it had already been sold. I have kicked myself many times for hesitating on this. This is a solid lathe that should last you a lifetime.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

Great lathe and looks like your first project turned out just fine. Look forward to seeing many more creations coming from that lathe. Keep us posted.

-- John @ Myrtle Beach

Tool envy !! I to have a yearn to turn!

Very nice job. and looking forward to seeing many more projects comeing from this new toy.

Keep it up.

Scrappy

-- Scrap Wood's the best...the projects are smaller, and so is the mess!

Great lathe. I bought one about 3 years ago and wish I had done it sooner. In my opinion it is the best lathe for the money on the market. Enjoy it.

-- Les B, Oregon

You lucky dog

-- Billp

Man can I use one of them. I envy you….............LOL

-- Jerry--A man can never have enough tools or clamps

This is a great lathe I also have one in my shop, I love it.

-- Whether You Think You Can or You Think You Can't, YOU ARE RIGHT!!!

sweet lathe

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon

Nice lathe Reggie! But are you sure that’s padauk? It doesn’t look like any I’ve seen so far. The tree is a deep orange heartwood all the way through with very little sapwood, and all the stuff I’ve seen made from it is deep orange, too, like this pen and blank, these bottlestoppers, this dulcimer back, and this speaker enclosure. Also, the slab I got from Rockler, and my sample from Woodworker’s Source were deep orange, heavy, and very tight grain as well. I did find this plate with some sapwood that looks closer to what you got there, but your piece is from the heart (pith is where all the cracks are radiating from).

Anyway, just curious. I’ll have to ammend my ideas about padauk if that turns out to be padauk, too :)

-- Gary, Los Angeles, video game animator

Gary, sorry I didn’t see your post until today.

I too was skeptical about this wood when it was given to me (it had too many checks to be a saleable blank). It was in a stumpish round and had no bark of course. It did act somewhat like the redder colored Paduak that I have turned in the past (as far as how it came off when using different tools)....yet I just could not see how such a reddish/orangish wood could bleach out to yellow…my experience with Paduak is that it will typically darken with age. Anyway…I have looked through many identification sites….and to me it looks a lot like the mango type wood or white milkwood….Anyway, this wood came in a mixed shipment from South Africa and South America…so it’s real identity would have to be confirmed by some kind of arborist or such…

-- Woodworking.....My small slice of heaven!

Thanks for the reply, Reggie! You know, crazy as it sounds, I’ve actually sat for awhile thinking hard about the idea of picking up a microscope. I’d like to be able to look at things like cell layout and structure, and understand wood at an even deeper level. Maybe one day in a few decades I’ll be that arborist!

Cleary, I am insane ;)

-- Gary, Los Angeles, video game animator

Well if you are insane…I’m right there with you….

Curiosity would probably explain it better. I seem to have the need to try and understand the dynamics of what is happening to the piece of wood I am working on and what the results would be on different woods and different grain directions. I hadn’t gone so far as putting it under a microscope but that would be cool to see….The AAW journal had an article about tool sharpening/honing and showed some microscopic shots of the tool edges and the results on the wood…it was very interesting and explained alot about how tools react with the wood – cutting vs scraping…..I’ve been playing around with different shapes and different contact angles on tools and even on trying the grains in different directions…to see what results on the wood…part of this playing has included doing a bit of slow eccentric turning (called Ornamental Turning – OT) – it turns out some interesting designs….its like kalaidescoping…...I wish I could be satisfied with just turning a darn bowl sometimes…

-- Woodworking.....My small slice of heaven!

Reggie it’s been over 101 days since you got your lathe…
Just wondering if you are using it LOL
What are you doing with that piece of machinery Besides the pens.. (which look really cool btw)
With all these techniques you’ve been using i’m sure there is something that you can show….
:-) Hey i’m joking… NO PRESSURE>>>>
I got myself a Electra Beckum HDM 1000 lathe about 3 months back. The only thing I turned was a handle for a teeny tiny claw hammer head I had lying around for 10 years. So I should’nt talk…
No malice intended Reggie… Just a good looking lathe there…

-- "Even small steps makes a distance." (Shawn Phillips, musician)