in the project plans, there is a Genius "dresser, with a tool lazy susan". That has to be the slickest thing i have seen yet, well maybe next to the wooden chuck jaws!!!


But my question/concern is this. With all those tools pointing "business end" in the air, it seems it would be a possible hazard. I mean, some guy in England impaled himself with a wooden stake that went all the way through his torso (the LONG way). He lived, but dang man, thats scary!!


Wouldn't it be safer to make such a rack where the sharp pointy end is facing down, into the wood, and the big, soft wood handle is sticking up?? maybe a colop coded handle system to assist in seeing the tip without actually seeing the tip..


i don't know, i guess everyone has their own way. There will be kids in my shop, so i have to be VERY safety aware, And you better believe my tools will be pointy end down!!!



(just in case anyone is wondering.....

I AM GOING CRAZY....... i go to sleep thinking about turning, i wake up thinking about turning, i get excited when i go to work because i know that i am making money to buy a lathe. I install floor covering (carpet) and today, i did the floor in the back office of a craft store. they rent booths for $50 a month, all you gotta do is put something in it with a price tag. they had ZERO turned products. they had all kinds of other stuff, but anything turned sitting next to ANY wooden product in that store would be a blow out... were talkin hobby lobby craft department kits!!!

some of the stuff was nice, there were some nice blankets, and such, but anything that was made out of a tree was simple, and plain compared to anything in the gallery here!!!!!

i know i have a long way to go before i start setting up booths at craft stores, but i cant help thinking about it.

my mind races from project to project, drying labels, shelves, electricity, chisel, gouge, sharpen, gouge.

i have a tendency to be a fanatic about things, but this is rediculous. im a red blooded American man, and i have never thought about WOMEN as much as i think about turning.


sorry... i know a few people here have seen me asking about lathes and know i dint have one (yet, about three weeks!!!) but still i come here every day and post...



i want to find a cool wood that turns some wild color after being handled by human hands alot to make my tool handles out of!!! that would be neat.. the more you turn, the cooler your handles look!!!   AAARRGHHHHHHHHH this is frustrating.... i want to be standing in my shop throwing wood shavings all over the place!!!!!!!

I built one these and didn't use it very long for the exact reason you state. Very easy to get cut reaching for the tool you want.

I didn't build one because if I had, I would have had to find room on a flat surface for it

JimQ

The "reasoning" behind the cutting end up is so that one knows which tool one grabs w/out sorting through the entire collection. This is good "reasoning" from one point but faulty from the safety point. Ergo, I didn't build it either.

I went to my local "junk auction," bought an old, beat up, roll-around, tool chest for $10.00. I beat out a few dents, cleaned it, oiled the draw slides, and put it to the left of my lathe. When I'm cleaning up (yeah, yeah, yeah) I roll in under the bench.

Another thing about which you may not have thought is lathe height. The bed of my lathe is 47" above the floor=60% of my height. If the bed is too low then it's sore back time. If it's too high then it's sore shoulders & neck time. Note well that I said BED of the lathe, not the bench, stand, etc. So the ergonomic formula for lathe bed height is your height x .60. So if you're 6' tall the first lathe bed height you'd want to try is 72" x .60=43"-44". If it doesn't feel comfortable adjust to fit.

Philip, I have had this mental battle hundreds of times already. i know it will take me a LONG time to get to the point of even letting people see what i make. i know it is gonna take me some time.......


But,,, I am an EXTREMELY FAST learner, especially when it comes to physical things. One hobby i have had for years and years is building model cars. When i build a model car, it takes me MONTHS. every part is carefully test fit, airbrushed, and glued in place. My models are NEVER "factory". i modify everything i can, and alot of things i "can't".


I love getting my hands dirty, and actually producing something at the end, no matter how long it takes!!!



and as far as me getting discouraged....I will make a big boast today, with zero minutes on a wood lathe...




I WILL BE A WOOD TURNING INNOVATOR!!!!!!!

mark your calanders, and hope you get to trade with me when the group project/trade thingy comes around, just so you can say that you have an EARLY piece that I did!!!


i have ideas that i dont know if anyone has ever done... LOTS of ideas. alot of them will have to wait a year or two, till i get my skills up to par with my imagination!!!

actually, Bud, the guy i am buying my lathe from is the same height as me, and he is throwing in the box he built for the lathe to rest on. He said it was perfect for him, so i figure it should be a good place for me to start.


and Negeltu, I actually have almost this much enthusiasm with everything i do!! I own three small businesses, I own a two bed brick home just a stones throw from a beautiful lake, lots of hobbies, and interests (tattoo's, water ski'ing, fishing, skateboarding, music, computers, video games, hunting, frisbee golf, CHESS, and a few others i can't think of right now. I am also raising three excellent kids.


So i am not the "average" person. I learned how to slalom water ski at the age of 15..... on my SECOND attempt. and i dont mean the second day of trying all day, i mean i tried once, and fell.... then i DID IT. I learned how to play the Guitar so good, so fast, my instructor refused to teach me (cause i was better than him)... that was after 4 lessons... I went to a floor covering school when i was a YOUNG man. The class was a 6 month course designed to teach you to be a "helper". They had an "Installer" level ranking, but had never graduated anyone at this level. After 30 days of the class, I was 55% complete.... yeah, you guessed it, at the Installer level!!! I quit the class, again realizing i knew more than the instructor. I went to work at a factory on an assembly line. They told me it would take me 6 months to learn the entire line... I did it in two weeks.



My father always taught me not to brag on myself, or act like i know everything... "A true wise man is wise enough to know that he has much to learn" he would always say.

But my father also taught me that, to the other guy, I am the other guy. And if i can't out learn him, out work him, out smart him, and be in a better mood the entire time i do it, HE WILL BEAT ME. I strive for only one thing in everything i do... to be the BEST.


*thinks to self----geesh,,, c'mon Junior, get a lathe and leave these people alone already!!!

Once you get to turning, you will probably forget about all the other stuff you do.  TURNING WILL CONSUME YOU!    And it sure is nice when someone thinks enough of your work to give you money for it.

Good luck, have fun and be safe.

~Paul

its cool with me you went off topic... I AM off topic... lol... i actually am into stuff a little harder, and softer. i like Extremes. Slipknot, Disturbed, old Metallica... the bands most people here cant stand, but then on the other hand, i like spanish classical too!! it is so peaceful, and melodic. as a matter of fact, i prefer to play on a classical guitar with nylon strings, accoustic of course. I am currently without a guitar, due to my sons interest in the instrument!!


and i have a decent digital camera, so as soon as my lathe gets here, you ALL will know it!!! i think i am gonna start with trying to make a round log!!! then maybe a rounder log!!! lol,,, i can't wait.


*last night i dreamt of wood tops, spinning in bowls.