Newbie from So. Cal

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rreidiii

Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2013
Messages
12
Location
San Diego
This seem to be the place I need to start. I am an aspiring knife maker who has a few under his belt. A friend who is a fruit carver has asked me to make him some carving knives and I thought they would look good as pens.
I've done a bit of reading and bought a couple of books to get an idea of what I'm getting myself into and I can see how this could become an addictive hobby.
This is probably a tough question but what are the overall feelings on the harbor freight 7"X10" mini metal lathe?
I look forward to your advice,
 
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Welcome from Northwest Arkansas, glad to have you on board a lot of brainiacs on this form you're gonna like it.

If you're going to do more and then just turn pens, maybe a little metalwork this lathe would probably meet your needs. A while back they had some trouble with the electronics on these lathes, someone else might jump in here and share if they know if it's been fixed or not. A lot of people have the lathe. I personally have a 9 x 19 HF metal lathe and it has served me well for years. If you do decide to go with the 7 x 10 if anything does go wrong it would probably be covered in the first year if not there's always there extended service plan.

Hey by the way I've got a question for you. You said you're a knife maker, I'm looking for the brass rivet type things that hold the word onto the blade. Could you share a source for me to get these if possible, thanks.

Looking forward to some of your pens
 
I think the brass things you refer to are corby bolts. Try Jantz supply for knife making. I'm sure there are numerous pen suppliers as there as knife makers suppliers.
Thanks
 
Welcome from another member here in San Diego!

The mini metal lathe would come in handy if you wanted to make or modify metal pen pieces,I'd think.

I started with a borrowed,old La200 Delta lathe,and that worked pretty good.After I used that I decided I really liked working on pens,so I upgraded to the 46-460 unit.It's a nice lathe.

I started out slow,so if I decided it wasn't for me,I wouldn't lose a bunch of money.


My first year,I joined the San Diego Wood Turners.That is a great club to join.I'll bet you can go to a couple of meetings to test the waters,to see if it's something you'd like to do.That's what I did. I'll bet that would be a good thing to do.

You are riight.....it IS addicting!.... but it's a lot of fun,and I like that you can start & complete a project in a rather short period of time,vs like building a large cabinet project yjat takes a lot of time til you see results.

Welcome aboard! Lots of great folks in here that will help you with questions.

Have fun,
Steve
 
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