007 -Smart Choices for Turners

Smart Choices For Turners

This morning I was purchasing bolts for a project I’m working on and one of the store employees, who knows I am a wood turner, asked for my advice. He wants to get into woodturning and wanted to know what lathe I would recommend for someone just starting out. I have a philosophy about buying equipment and it doesn’t matter what kind.

Buy what you need that will actually do the job at hand without being excessive. A used car salesman uttered a line to me once that I have never forgotten when he was trying to upsell me on a rather expensive sports car that had caught my attention. He said “That is a lot of car for the money assuming you want that much car and have all that money!” So since price matters, unless you are fortunate enough to not care how much something costs, we all want to get the most value for our money without over spending for something we don’t need. The lathe I recommended was the Jet 1221 VS. It isn’t the lease expensive, but it isn’t the most expensive either. That Jet has a 1HP motor and is solidly built. He had the budget to afford it and it was a good fit. Some folks would rather spread their purchasing dollars out and begin with a smaller lathe such as a Rikon, Turnmaster, or Excelsior from Rockler. They choose to spend the rest of their budget on chucks and lathe tools, etc. I rarely recommend someone starting out purchase a big Powermatic, OneWay or Robust to the tune of several thousand dollars.

If you are an occasional woodturner or new to the craft, the tools you purchase will be different from someone who turns 8 hours a day and sells their work to make a living. Professionals need and expect different things from their tools. My recommendations always begin with three questions; 1) What are you planning on doing with it? 2) What are you using now if anything? 3) How much of it do you expect to do? Only then can I make a suitable recommendation. Someone who has an inexpensive 10” mini lathe and turns mostly pens and bottle stoppers probably doesn’t need a $700 heavy duty chuck. On the other hand, a person with a $5,000 lathe who turns 24” bowls might just need the heaviest duty scroll chuck he can find. He may also need cobalt and high speed steel bowl chisels that could easily cost over $100 per tool.

As much turning as I do, I’m not usually a production turner, in that I don’t make hundreds of items day in and day out. But, I’m not a beginner either. I opt for good quality medium priced lathe tools. I like a tool which will hold an edge a reasonable amount of time before it needs sharpening but it doesn’t have to hold that cutting edge forever. I would rather spend my money on a good quality tool rather than pay a premium for a prestigious name brand tool.

On the other hand, sometimes we just want the biggest baddest beast we can get. Yea, me too. In that case, just do it! Because wherever you go, there you are.

Here is my inspiration for this message: Lev 25:17 NIV2 Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the LORD your God. Jer 5:1 [NIV2 “Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around and consider, search through her squares. If you can find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city.

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