>After debateing between the Jet mini and other lathes I finaly decided to come off a couple bucks and went on and ordered the Jet 1414vs, Hope I made a good choice.
So now I need a good basic turning book to get me going in right dir from the start, no bad habits to break in the future if you know what I mean.
If anyone has some recomendations I would appriciate it,
I havce been doing lots of other woodworking as a serious hobby and a wood lathe is the only piece of equipment I dont have, so im looking foward to a new drug to go with the rest :-)
Good beginner books: I strongly recommend Richard Raffan's turning wood series, which includes 3 books:
- Turning Wood With Richard Raffan
- Turning Boxes With Richard Raffan
- Turning bowls With Richard Raffan
These are available separately, or as a boxed set. If you want a single volume, get the first. I believe there is a video to accompany each book, and both the books and videos are very well done, with excellent photography. I have all 3 books, but only have the box video.
Many people will recommend Woodturning: A Foundation Course, by Keith Rowley, which I bought to use with beginners -- I haven't gotten too excited about it, but many like it a lot. It does cover the basic information, but leans toward spindle turning (while, to be fair, Raffan leans toward faceplate turning of bowls and boxes).
Don't omit videos, which add the dimensions of motion and sound -- your ears are an important tool in turning, too. Not all videos are created equally -- if you search on this site under videos (at top), you'll find plenty, as this issue was raised about a month ago.
Books and videos will only go so far -- one on one learning at the lathe is by a long, long way the best way to learn. Do look up whatever local turning clubs (especially AAW affiliates -- see link, below) in your area, and make the effort to get involved. There you will find the knowledge you seek.
>I have both Rowley's book and the three volume Raffan set. For a first book, I think Rowley's is a bit better because his photos give a better sense of what's going on. His chapter on sharpening is much clearer than Raffan's.
Raffan's box book is quite good, and, on the whole, I like all three Raffan books, just for different reasons.
>..>> I went through Raffans books and videos first and the Keith Rowlings and recommend thye revers order. Rowling gives you very basic but valuable rules of woodturning that are goo habits to develop. I also Highly recommend the complimenteray videos, you really need both to make it work. Another recommendation is the AAW's video on sharpening. I got the DVD version and learned quite a bit.
>I bought Raffin's and Rowley's books at the same time. I think if you are only getting one book I'd get Rowley's first. But I getting both would be best. Did you check your local library for books?
>There are simply tons of books out there, and many of them are of use in one way or another. COuple of things that can help reduce the cost:
1. As Ron mentioned, check your local library. In addition, I can get into the PA library database, and ask my librarian to get me any book in the system that is anywhere in PA for a very nominal cost (the last time I did this it was a quarter).
2. Keep an eye on Amazon and other online book stores and see what they have in their used book section, but be careful---sometimes the used book costs more than the new one.
3. Go to eBay and search for woodturning books and videos.
The sites I use for 2 and 3 above are:
http://www.bidxs.com/
http://www.bestwebbuys.com/
http://www.ebay.com/
http://half.ebay.com/index.jsp
Too bad your club is so far away, as the two clubs I belong to have saved me a lot of money on just books and videos.
I just spent two pots of coffee going through Keith Rowley's book (faster and faster) over the past 2 days, and there is more there than I remembered. He also gives very nice drawings of various cuts, drawn right on the wood, which is effective. Since it is intended for beginners, and his philosophy is to master spindle turning first, there are only 15 pages directly related to bowls and platters, and all the rest is essentially spindle turning -- fair enough.
I have 2 editorial beefs with the book:
1. There is excellent information about how to start a cut with spindle and roughing gouge, presenting the bevel to the wood, etc..., but almost nothing about how to do so with a bowl gouge. There's also almost nothing about why a bowl gouge has a deeper flute, and how to avoid catches with one. While his "Rules of Woodturning" certainly apply to both, he only shows how its done for shallow gouges. Its probably worth keeping in mind here that when Mr. Rowley was learning to turn in England, there were no "bowl" gouges, just shallow (spindle) gouges, deep fluted gouges, and scrapers for bowls.
2. The publisher, GMC, a source of some of the best turning books in the world, does us no favor by editing this book so liberally with respect to local terms. There are references to the shape of a scraper being "quicker" or "slower", and the terms are repeated in descriptions of coves and other curves, and I think anyone outside the UK would find these colloquialisms quite confusing. To sell this book on the world stage, they ought to have found clearer descriptive terms.
Beefs aside, it's still a good foundation for learning the sport of turning wood, which is what it sets out to be.
I am all for books and reading and this doesn't answer your question, but for pure information I suggest that you visit and revisit Brian Clifford's, Russ Fairfield's and Darrell Feltmate's Web sites. True, you can't prop your monitor behind the lathe as you practice, but on these, as well as other, sites you feel that you know the authors and you can ask them questions. I would rank for getting started _right_ from best to least: 1-Lessons from a competent turner/teacher 2-group workshops 3-good videos 4-recommended multiple websites 5-books that stood the test of time 6-periodicals 7-self teaching by trial and ERROR. There is NO substitute for Practice, Practice and more Practice. After the sites are visited, the tapes are viewed, the teachers are listened to, the books are studied and the club is joined, you can learn to turn _only by turning! Arch
