Dear Santa

Congratulations on the early Christmas present. All of my lathes have had at least 32” capacity and 10” swing, so I have no direct knowledge of the smaller lathes that I can pass on to you. Hopefully, our pen turning members will chime in on what lathe they know or think will best suit your needs. Which ever one you go with, make sure you can get a bed extender for it and maybe find one with a swival head that way if you decide to do bowl turning, you won’t be limited to just 10 or 12”, even though that is a pretty good size. As you get the fever, you’ll probably find the need to turn spindles

-- Jesus is Lord!

I have a Jet Mini VS lathe. Love it. I highly recommend the Variable Speed motor. Speeds up the process quite a bit not having to change belts.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

Thanks!

Wayne, I know you have a few lathes, do you think the variable speed trumps the larger capacity of the “next step up” from Jet? I was all set to get that one, until I read about the one with the 12×20 capacity. – the only thing the reviewer didn’t like about that one was no VS. (maybe that’ll be a feature down the road?)

I’ll mostly be making pens and smallish projects, as I can still use the shopsmith for bigger things. I may be able to upgrade to a Proper lathe when a midlife crisis or somesuch rolls around.

-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso -- http://blanchardcreative.etsy.com -- http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/

Scott once you get the OK. Go for the biggest baddest hog around.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

I would get the mini lathe and then buy a second lathe when the mini becomes the limiting factor. Especially if you have the shop smith….

I would agree with Karson if you could swing a much larger VS lathe….

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

Ooh, good call, score some points by saving a little cash on this one – use it as seed money for the bad boy.

-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso -- http://blanchardcreative.etsy.com -- http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/

Lathe-smathe, can’t you just hold the tool and run around the log really fast??

-- Rob (A) Waxahachie,TX

I have the Jet 1442 – a larger lathe. You can turn a lot of things with it, but it is about 3 times the price of the mini lathe. I guess it depends on what size of things you want to turn. If you are doing pens and small items, I would say go with the Jet mini lathe since it has the variable speed. That is a great thing.

-- Bill, Turlock California, http://www.brookswoodworks.com

Penn State Industries has a pretty nice lathe. They had a combo with the extension table. But I didn’t find it just now. But I suppose its around there somewhere.

Here’s the lathe with extension.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

I think it was a Rikon I saw at Woodcraft that could be extended with a second bed. That looked like a good deal. My old Rockwell is VS. That is if you move the belt. Low tech. But the ShopSmith will really go fast.

-- Thos. Angle

Birthday Santa is letting me pick out my Lathe! – WooHoo!

Now for someone whose lathe time is limited to spindlework – what would you recommend as necc for chisels for doing bowls, lidded boxes and ornamenty type things? The tools you couldn’t live without.

I already have some nice old skews, a gouge, and parting tool… being totally overwhelmed by the offerings in a catalog – what’s the bare minimum you’d need to get by… and then what would you add next?

-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso -- http://blanchardcreative.etsy.com -- http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/

i have been kinda keen on the rikon lately…santa wants to count my new cyclone as birthday AND Christmas…so I have not done extensive research…

there was an article in the Oct 07 wood mag on getting set up in turning for <$500 or something along those lines…

-- Mike - Columbus, Ohio