Thread: Must have gear for making brushes ???

My lathe showed up yesterday. I still have a lot to do before I even have it set up. I want to take an intro turning class before I get into the thick of things anyway. Hopefully this hobby will take my mind off searching for razors and hones!

Originally Posted by prodigy

My lathe showed up yesterday. I still have a lot to do before I even have it set up. I want to take an intro turning class before I get into the thick of things anyway. Hopefully this hobby will take my mind off searching for razors and hones!

Uuuuummmm, ya it won't.

What Lathe??why am I not seeing it?? pics dude.

It was free from my girlfriends dad, and its definitely capable. Its a Ryobi ML618 Mini Lathe. It has variable speed, but other than that I dont really know anything else about it. I have a 5 piece set of tools that are pretty much new. Im going to take the intro class at wood craft at some point. They should be able to look at my lathe and let me know what i need, and they can show me how to sharpen my tools. Will I need different grinding wheels? Most videos I've seen people use white ones, not gray.

Ok so I'm thinking my tools are:
Parting
Skew
3 sizes of roughing gauges
Is that a correct assumption?

Your grinder and wheels are fine. All they need is dressing which is done with a dressing tool. Same idea as lapping your hones, your just bringing fresh material up. You can get a cheap wheel dressing tool from the hardware store for cheap. All it takes is a few seconds on the wheel.

Your tools are, from left to right parting tool, skew, gouge, round nose scraper, and a roughing gouge. Probably all you'll need to get started. Make sure you have them the right way up when your using them.

The lathe looks to be a good starter lathe, but make sure you get rid of that rust. That tool rest you want nice and smooth so you can slide the tool across it nice and easy. Figure out what your Morse tapper is on the head and tail stock, and the tooth per inch (TPI) on the headstock spindle if your wanting to purchase after market parts like face plates, jacobs chuck etc.

The class you go to will help with all the basics you'll need to know. Youtube is also a great source for videos on how to turn projects on a lathe.

Click on Turning and have a look around.

Lee Valley Tools - Woodworking Tools, Woodworking Supplies, Woodworking Books for Woodworkers

This place is my Candy store!!

Looks like your off to a nice start! Wish my lathe had variable speed control..

Ok thanks for all the advice! I had those tools upside down so they were easier to identify. I'll be constructing some form of stand/table for it soon. I know the rust needs to go, it was like that on the tools too. Just some surface rust. The variable speed does seem nice, but I think it won't be long until I upgrade to a JET