vbritt
Member
Hello everyone, my name is Virgil and I know absolutely nothing about making pens, bowls, or turning wood for that matter. I am retired so I have lots of time and would like to learn the art of pen making, along with owning, operating, and maintaining a lathe and tools. I had no idea that it would take such an investment just to get started.
I have read lots of suggestions and talked to a number of people about which lathe to buy and each person had their own preference. I am not even sure that I will like this hobby so I did not want to invest a fortune up front.
I ended up buying a Jet JWL-1236 clone from Harbor Freight (Central Machinery T34706) after reading enough reviews from people saying that it was a good beginner's lathe. Some people even stated that you could buy parts for the lathe from Jet and after carefully looking at the exploded diagram it looks like they are one and the same. The differences I noticed are that the HF 34706 has a 25mm tool rest and Jet has a 1" tool rest and the bed isn't finished as well. However, the head stock and the tail stock line up perfectly and the machine runs very quiet so for now I am satisfied with my purchase. It certainly leaves me with extra cash so that I can invest in some quality tools.
I look forward to learning all that I can from each and every one of you guys.
Virgil
I have read lots of suggestions and talked to a number of people about which lathe to buy and each person had their own preference. I am not even sure that I will like this hobby so I did not want to invest a fortune up front.
I ended up buying a Jet JWL-1236 clone from Harbor Freight (Central Machinery T34706) after reading enough reviews from people saying that it was a good beginner's lathe. Some people even stated that you could buy parts for the lathe from Jet and after carefully looking at the exploded diagram it looks like they are one and the same. The differences I noticed are that the HF 34706 has a 25mm tool rest and Jet has a 1" tool rest and the bed isn't finished as well. However, the head stock and the tail stock line up perfectly and the machine runs very quiet so for now I am satisfied with my purchase. It certainly leaves me with extra cash so that I can invest in some quality tools.
I look forward to learning all that I can from each and every one of you guys.
Virgil