Some years ago, my wife, Liz, saw this cute little end table with bun feet in a furniture catalog. It listed for $750! I told her that I could replicate it with scraps I had left over from previous projects. And, of course, I would need a lathe to fabricate the bun feet. And with my birthday coming up, what better excuse to get one. She would get her cute little end table and I would get a new tool.

 

    I had just gotten a tool catalog in the mail that was offering a lathe for under $300 and an inexpensive set of chisels. I ordered them both. I also bought an instructional video and its companion softcover book. Now I was ready to attack those bun feet. With great determination, I hacked away at blocks of pine with dull carbon steel tools on a cheap lathe at a slow speed and I made those bun feet! Fortunately for me, the style of that cute little end table was rustic. And that was what those bun feet were. Rustic!

 

    That lathe sat idle in my shop for nearly two years gathering rust and sawdust until, one day, I realized that I should probably learn how to use it properly. So, I decided to take a class. But with whom and where?

 

    I settled on Ernie Conover’s five-day basic turning class. It was just what I needed. Basic skills in wood selection; tool selection and sharpening; spindle turning and faceplate turning; chucking; sanding and finishing. I was hooked! I purchased some quality High Speed Steel  (HSS) chisels from Ernie. I could not wait to get back home to make piles of shavings.

 

    I made and sold many crude bowls that summer and fall. I made enough money, in fact, to purchase an upgrade from  my cheap little lathe to my Jet1442VSK, the anchor of the turning portion of my shop.

 

    Now I was on a quest to improve my techniques and expand my turning repertoire. For instructors, I have targeted some of the best in their respective fields. David Ellsworth for hollow forms and natural edged forms. Curt Theobald and Malcolm Tibbetts for segmented turning. Jimmy Clewes for all types of turnings, form and tooling techniques. And many, many others in demonstrations and classes at woodworking shows and woodturning symposia as well as watching hours and hours of woodturning videos.

 

    What I find most satisfying about turning is its immediacy. The instant gratification of watching a form take shape before my eyes. The potential of being able to complete a project from start to finish in a very short time. And the complete concentration needed for the process. It is very therapeutic. And it occasionally results in the creation of an exceptional piece.