Aberration

[Larry Blanchard]

I think I had a bout of temporary insanity today.

I've been doing less woodworking and more woodturning lately, and I suspect that ratio is going to continue if not grow even larger. Since I have a very small shop, I had decided to get rid of my large tablesaw and replace it with a top end benchtop. Something like the Bosch or the Porter-Cable.

So what did I do? I bought a used Delta at an estate sale today for $30.

Before you start congratulating me on a gloat, let me point out that the saw, as best as I can tell, was made between 1935 and 1946. It's so old the table tilts instead of the blade, and the motor is humungous for a 3/4 horsepower which I understand is what it is.

It's more than a little rusty, but mostly surface rust. All the parts appear to be there and it even runs. At least it runs if I hold down the start button, it appears a little work may be in order there.

I even found a parts breakdown for it but it's dated 1985 and even then Delta marked a lot of parts as unobtainable. The document says it's either an

1160, a 34-305, or a 34-307.

So as time permits I'll restore it. I'll post a picture on abpw when I'm done. By then I should have recovered my sanity :-).

[nailshooter41]

that ratio is going to continue if not >grow even larger.

It's OK, Larry... really. Join us on the dark side of woodworking at

rec.crafts.woodturning

In a more completely serious vein, I was really sick of woodworking (my business!) until I started turning again about 10 years ago. It made me appreciate the value of woodworking and why I started doing it for a living a million years ago.

And woodturners are a different lot. Join your local turning club and if it is a good one, you will see >exactly< what I mean. I think woodturners enjoy talking about their goof ups as much as they do their successes.

In my experience, it isn't nearly as stoic or serious a group as the folks that seem to populate other aspects of woodworking. Nonetheless, just as talented.

Robert

[charlieb]

Turners are the anarchists of woodworking. There's a million and one ways to do just about anything and twenty different gouges/chisels/special tools to do it with. You can work green or work dry, make any damn shape you like in just about any size and people will still go semi-nuts over it. You can turn little (doll house vases, bowls, plates etc.) or BIG 3 foot diameter stuff that starts out as a 500 pound chunk of wood. You can turn symetric or really weird (google Escoulen). You can burn the wood, grind on it, gouge it up, paint it, inlay it, hell, you can gold leaf it. You can take scraps of wood, glue them together and turn that. Few other forms of woodworking can start with a piece of fire wood and turn it into a thing of beauty.

HOWEVER - the cost of turning only starts with the lathe. There are chucks, drive centers, dead centers, live centers stebb centers, tool rests in more shapes and configurations than you can shake a stick at. Then there's the $200 - $1000 worth of gouges and chisels, another $200-$1000 in sharpening stuff - and the list goes on and on and on and on . . .

THE LATHE is a hole in the corner of the shop that you throw money into. They should GIVE you the lathe because they know they'll make a small fortune on all the stuff you'll buy for turning.

Ya'll are in a heap of trouble now.

charlie b

[Bill in Detroit]

It's not temporary, Larry. Welcome to the dark side.

Bill

[nailshooter41]

to do just about anything and twenty >different gouges/chisels/special tools to do it with. You >can work green or work dry, make any damn shape you >like in just about any size

*SNIP* of some ugly truths

As usual, well said charlie.

Especially the cost part.

Robert

[Puckdropper]

charlieb wrote in news:46208E18.5376 @accesscom.com:

*snip: Stuff we all know to be true about turning*

Would you believe I just spent $50 on a grinder so I can make and maintain tools for a $20 toy lathe? (Tools with other purposes don't count right? I can "hide" the cost of the safety goggles and dust mask, and power supply, right?) Oh yeah, there's also the $7 on a dovetail/thin type saw so I can cut the dowel rods apart smoothly.

Puckdropper