New here, registered with the site yesterday and was authorized today.  Name is Ed and I have a small farm in North Idaho.

 

I have always been fascinated with wood lathes but for most of my life I have never owned one and never got around to buying one.  When I sold the last farm and bought this one I was cleaning out my shop and lo and behold I unburied an old Shopsmith lathe in the middle bay of the outer shop.  I t was missing the drive belt on it but it took a little bit to remove a belt and idler pulley from an old dead rototiller and mount that on the backside of the lathe.  I then grabbed a couple old v belt pulleys and drilled them out to fit the shafts and welded a nut and bolt together with an old socket to use as a tensioner and voilla the Shopsmith ran.  I then lubed up the speed mechanism and looked around for various parts to it.

 

 I was never able to find a lathe chuck or face plate so I mad a redneck driver mechanism and started turning some dowels and what not with a modified vice and old file.  Over the years I have turned many handles for shovels, axes, sledge hammers, pick axes etc, but other than a bit of screwing off once in a while I have never really tried anything else.  I also made a little setup for my sawmill so that I can cut out octagonal blanks for the lathe a few years back and cut a few dozen little 3 and 4 inch octagonal lathe blanks from some poplar I was milling up.

 

After making quite a push to get handles in all the broken shovels and tools this fall I am finally finished and in doing all that lathe work I got to thinking that I would like to do other projects on the lathe besides basic necessities.  I quickly realized that I didn't have the setup I needed or the know how to do much more than handles.  I have been working the last week and half or so to set the lathe up better and allow me to do some projects.

 

I am here basically to learn, at this point I know nearly nothing about turning or wood lathes.

Welcome to TPW.  

 

Try this link to the Turning Forum, LOTS of good stuff there.  Feel free to ask questions I am certain you will find solutions.

 

https://thepatriotwoodworker.com/forums/forum/28-wood-turners/

Welcome, I'm not a tuner (just a wannabe) but there are some talented ones here and they will be happy to assist.

Welcome aboard Ed.

Welcome to TPW, Ed!  Home of some of the best woodworkers around.  There are lots of folks here that turn so cruise around through the forums and get to know them.  We’re a pretty friendly bunch.

Glad you joined Ed.  We can use more wood turners.  No matter your skill level you are still a turner.  Look forward to your participation.

Welcome to the forum. Some great lathe operators here. And, a few of us other guys use Shopsmiths, too. 

Another turner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Watch for our Wednesday’s Wisdom For Woodturners. We are always looking for projects, ideas and suggestions. Please jump in and tell us what you think!

 

Lew

Good to see you here Ed.   Pictures (of your lathe, shop, sawdust, etc.) always welcome. 

Welcome aboard Ed. Not a turner myself but we have some really great turners here and they're always ready to help.

Ed you got the best of both worlds here, turners and some Shopsmith owners so maybe we can answer some questions. By the way I saw a SS on FB here for 250 yesterday.