I finally received the insert for my Talon today. It is definitely threaded to be either right or left handed.  I know it took someone a lot smarter that me to figure how to do that (most people are though).

Anyway, I mounted a green bowl blank 11" in diameter (a half log with the corners rounded off) on the wormwood screw in the talon, brought up the tailstock, and turned on the old Oliver just to see what kind of vibration I got. Absolutely amazing! No vibration at all. My old lathe would have walked across the garage before I got the blank rounded out. I guess thats what difference 400 pounds of iron makes.

I'm in the middle of remodeling my folks bathroom and too tired tonight to actually put a tool to the wood. But I can see this is going to be a life changing difference for my woodturning hobby. Now if I can just get this bathroom project done.