Wood turning for fun or maybe profit!
I have been turning for quite a few years now and you can judge my level of expertise by viewing the gallery pages on this site. I do turn items for people, commissions if you like. It all started as a hobby and what follows, I hope will encourage others to try wood turning.

Why is it such a popular hobby?
Well there's the equipment and tools - lathe, chucks, faceplates, centres gouges etc. - tools can be beautiful things in their own right. Just like fishermen, buying "tackle" and planning the next fishing trip is almost as enjoyable as the actual fishing. The enjoyment of turning is derived from the whole creative process i.e. planning your project, finding and preparing the wood, working on the project and finishing it to your satisfaction.
Touching and looking at a piece of work with beautiful figuring of grain is a joy to many people. Then there's the praise, we love praise and that motivates us to move on to the next project - which may be better still !
Do try wood turning as a hobby! You won't make your fortune but you will gain great satisfaction and others will benefit from your many gifts.

Setting up - some considerations:
One of the first things you will need is a suitable place to site a lathe and other equipment. Choose carefully because turning can be noisy work! I needed somewhere far enough from my neighbours so as not to disturb their peace. So I invested in a 3.6m x 2.1m (12ft x 7ft) shed and sited it at the very bottom of the garden. Power was laid on using caravan hook-up cables but later on I did summon enough energy to dig a trench to lay a permanent cable.

I spent many a happy hour setting up the shed with benching, shelving etc. Now the lathe: I needed to buy one that was not too expensive. You don't really know at this early stage whether or not you will like turning or indeed be any good at it. Investing too much money, at the outset, may be an expensive mistake! Perhaps it would be a good idea to go on a beginners course. However I jumped straight in with a moderate choice a Record wood turning lathe (made in Sheffield - my city of birth). This could be described as a starter lathe, which came with a combination chuck and a set of various gouges. Starter lathe or not it turned out to be very versatile with relatively weighty lathe bed bars, headstock and tailstock. After a few years of turning, on a very steep learning curve, I did come to appreciate that the heavier the lathe then the better finish can be obtained (a weighty lathe will mean less vibration and less vibration means better finish). Additionally a heavy lathe will broaden the type of work that can be undertaken e.g. the turning of un-balanced pieces such as natural edged bowls. (imagine how those can vibrate - dangerously so if you turn them too fast !!)

It's a long process to become an expert and I am too modest to classify myself as such but I do consider that I have attained a good level of competence. The items I have crafted include: Various bowls and platters, occasional tables and smaller side tables all with turned legs of course. Other items include table lamps, candle sticks, salt pots, pepper pots, salt and pepper mills, coffee grinders or coffee mills, bottle stoppers etc. I have also had the privilege of undertaking some architectural turning i.e. roof finials. Anyone who is replacing old and rotten roof finials really should try to replace like with like and retain the original form of the building. This is not necessarily expensive - especially if you find someone like me to do the turning!

I also have done some turning of replacement parts for antique furniture - again it is a pleasure to help in the rescue and restoration of a nice piece of antique furniture.

Jonathan Siddall