IT won't hurt anything to turn wood on your metal lathe. You just need to turn your speed up make sure your tool is nice and sharp. I would hone the cutting faces to get a better finish on the wood. Some species of wood you need to stop a bit oversize and sand down to final dimension to avoid tear out.

WHen I build a fly rod I turn the titanium, the wood and even the cork on the same machine.

IF you don't want to do it yourself my daughter is about to do a couple for me on her wood lathe. I will post pics and if you like what she does with them, I'm sure you can talk her into doing one for you.

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