Well, I made a start.....

[Old Hilly]

I bought a lathe and some tools, found some wood to slice up into little bits, bought some cheap mechanisms to practice on and finally worked out that I had to start somewhere. Timber is what we call "Forest Oak" or Allocasuarina torulosa that was felled when we did some fire hazard reduction a while ago. Finish is a couple of coats of French Polish rubbed on while the lathe was running. It's a start. I probably need to investigate other finishes but the smell of CA glue drives me nuts so perhaps Acrylic lacquer is an option?

 

[randyrls]

Dennis; Welcome! A half face mask with a VOC filter will eliminate the fumes. Or setup a fan blowing the fumes away from you. I use a dust collector that sucks the fumes into the canisters.

 

[mbroberg]

It looks great

 

[egnald]

Greetings from Nebraska USA and welcome to the IAP community. I am looking forward to seeing more of your work. - Dave

 

[Fuzzy63]

Welcome Dennis, I too use a dust collector is pull the fumes away and I have never had any trouble.
Gary

 

[Old Hilly]

Dennis; Welcome! A half face mask with a VOC filter will eliminate the fumes. Or setup a fan blowing the fumes away from you. I use a dust collector that sucks the fumes into the canisters.

Thank you Randy, I hadn't thought of a respirator with VOC filters. I have one that I use with the big bandsaw mill, I have a friend with a Paulownia plantation and Paulownia dust is just awful! I will speak with the guys at the tool shop about those cartridges. I guess the next thing would be those white plastic cone-shaped spacer bushings so the glue doesn't stick to the metal ones. Then off to look at extractor fans. Good ideas, thanks.

 

[Kcimdrib]

I bought a lathe and some tools, found some wood to slice up into little bits, bought some cheap mechanisms to practice on and finally worked out that I had to start somewhere. Timber is what we call "Forest Oak" or Allocasuarina torulosa that was felled when we did some fire hazard reduction a while ago. Finish is a couple of coats of French Polish rubbed on while the lathe was running. It's a start. I probably need to investigate other finishes but the smell of CA glue drives me nuts so perhaps Acrylic lacquer is an option?

The Longest journey starts with the fist small step. Keep at it your pen looks great.