Thread: Lathes

Originally Posted by cannonfodder

Darn. Now you tell me. So I guess these
Attachment 127530

and these
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and these
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or
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or the other 1200ish brushes are any good.

You can certainly turn a good brush between centers. A thin kerf parting tool and some practice is all it takes but I spend 20 or more hours a week in front of a lathe. If you are doing inserts or in-line boring you certainly need a 4 jaw chuck but for a basic starter setup it is not needed but to each his own.

A hepa filter for a shop vac is not your average shop vac but if you turn a few thousand parts a year plus cabinets, tables, etc... replacing the hepa filter bags will rack up more than enough cost in a year to purchase a good canister dust collector. I also run a ceiling mounted 2 micron air filtration system. If you expand in the future you will need a lot more CFM for collection than a shop vac can muster but as I said, that is overkill if the only thing you are going to do is suck dust from a lathe and only turn one or two parts a month. The point is you need a fine micron filter for exotic woods. I know more than a few people that spent time in ICU after breathing dust. I would suggest anyone wanting to work exotic or even domestic wood read up on the wood toxicity, just google it and there are pages of information. I know folks that wont even turn some woods without a full Tyvek suit because of the reaction induced by some of the exotic woods.

That aside, I would love to know where you are getting carbide lathe tools. The only carbide tools I have seen are small hollow form tools and they have been as expensive or more so than a HSS. You can get good cry treated Pinnacle tool but they are no less expensive, often more expensive than a Sorby

Hereya go: Carbide Woodturning Tools USA $44 & up - Things Western, Other than the repetitive designs and the plastic finishes,your brushes look okay.
You know people that have spent time in ICU after breathing wood dust?,thats interesting,my wife was an ICU nurse for 30 yrs and never heard of such a thing.
granted, people can get skin and eye irritations from woods of all sorts,all the dalbergias make my skin itch.
You know people that will not turn some woods without a full tyvek Suit? (not a clue as to what that is) what woods?
And Yes I have read all the info on all the potential toxic woods that I have been using for the past 50 yrs,make chips, not war

Yup. Dad spent nearly a month in the hospital with double pneumonia after getting a bunch of cocobolo dust. I have been doing it for 20 or so years and need sinus surgery this year in part from reactions to the dust. Rosewoods are particularly bad. In the summer I have to make sure to ware log sleeves when I turn bolo otherwise my arms will look like I have poison ivy and there are a few in my dads wood workers club with similar experiences with other woods. I will check out those tools, thanks for the link.

My understanding is that wood dust is like many allergens. Some people are allergic to it, and some are not. In some folks, the affect is cumulative - the more contact, the more problems they have. I have been lucky, so far, but I'm going to be more careful from now on. Long sleeves, nitrile gloves, respirator, more careful cleanup of shavings.

I've recently been diagnosed with sarcoidosis. Doctors aren't sure what or where I got it from, I'm thinking probably work. We do a lot of renovations and I'm exposed to a lot of dust and junk that I have no idea what it is. I also work with these toxic woods from time to time and never use to really care about the dust. Of course now I'm more aware of what I'm breathing in and I've been proactive to protect myself against the unknown. I use to wear 3M N95 masks, which are pretty good, but they only filter about 95% of airborne particles. What about the other 5% ????? Now I use a North 7700 with Hepa filters on it which gets you very close to 100% filtration. All I can say is, protect yourself. You never know what kind of weird disease you might wake up with.

North 7700 with Hepa filters.




Sorry for leading this thread more off topic. Just wanted to say a safety spiel.

All very good info.As above some are more sensitive than others.

Like I mentioned early in this thread...If you are looking for a deal its takes patience. I bought a second lathe this weekend, much samller than my first.

Atlas Lathe Model 618 (I will try to get some pics before I start the clean-up).
Excellent condition (needs some light cleaning), box of parts/tools/chucks, and some wood and metal for turning - $100. In the condition it is in currently I have seen them go for $1000+

I'd suggest the OP check out local options for shared workshop space before dropping major money on a lathe and tools. A quick Googling turned up this place (artist studios, woodworking space and shop memberships, photography studio, gallery space, classroom space in Sunset Park Brooklyn) and there may be others.

A one-month membership could be valuable if only for finding out if you're suited to this particular hobby. It also solves a lot of noise/dust collection/tool proliferation issues.

Ck out local JCs,I taught wood and metalshop for yrs at adult night classes.

I jut finished my yearly MRI series and got bye ok. I am not able to breath as well as I used to. Old age reduces that ability and some of the gunk inhaled from the shop reduces it drastically. I have to have a series of Xrays and MRIs once a year or as needed due to toxics that I have worked with over 50 years in shops. Breathing is a good thing, don't ruin your enjoyment of it by skipping the good mask.
~Richard

I have always used a chuck when I turn brushes. After looking at the set up Cannonfodder posted, I decided to try his method, with a spur drive on the motor end. I like it much better. No problems getting the wood in square, and there actually is less waste. I have been turning 8 inch sticks, and getting 3 brushes essentially at the same time. Never too old to learn new tricks. Thanks, Cannonfodder.