Lets hear it,chances are, most of us can relate. Welocome from the mitten.
You maybe sorry you asked .... :tongue:
When I was a wee little lad my father had a lathe that I enjoyed playing around on and had fond memories of.
Now to fast forward many years ....
My father moved from OK to WA and did not bring his Lathe with him. The old fart never even thought that his #1 son might want it ( I probably would have hocked it for party money at the time anyway)
Now to the semi current time line...
I upgrade wife 1.0 to wife 2.0 but did not realize that all this would have even more bugs. I knew that wife 1.0 had 2 major bugs but she was a stay at home so I was the worker. Now like any upgrade there were still some major bugs this time 3. So I retired to become a stay at home Dad when we discovered the 1st bug, that was 9 years ago and now in my early 40's and most of the major flaws worked out so we can still operate with the bugs in the system I'm getting itchy to do more things.
(for those lost... bugs = kids and yes I have a total of 5 I know about)
I recently got into making natural hiking sticks and began to realize that I really wanted to get back into all aspects of woodworking. I have a 12 x 24 man cave (aka shop) that needs a major overhaul like insulation, sheet rock and power. Found out that my power was leaking and I didn't have enough when I bought a radial arm and it browns out the lights when I turn it on.
So with "she who must be obeyed's" permission I have started to convert the shop into a place I can use year round. 1st is power and drainage and hope to have that complete in the next month. Next up will be insulation and sheet rock , then finally some really nice benches to work on.
So all of this has lead up to what will I do in my man cave ... Well besides the Honey do projects in the house I also wanted to find a way to keep my mind occupied since I have seasonal depression and working thru it really helps as long as it is something I'm interested in.
So as I was wandering looking for staves to cut so they can be drying since it takes 4 to 6 months for them to be ready to work on I came across a downed maple and a fiddleback maple that I have access to. The downed one is part rotten and bug eaten so not good for staffs and the fiddle I'm just getting the branches off of. That lead to figuring out how to stabilize wood so these beautiful pieces can be used, which lead to pen turning....
So there you have it ... :biggrin:
Glad you are here. You live in a very beautiful part of the state. There are a few others on here from that area. What kind of a lathe are you getting?
Looking at a bench top model from harbor freight as a starter it is in my range and seems to be getting good reviews.
Well, hello, William. And welcome! I have a very distinct feeling that we are related. You don't see that particular last name very often.
Might be some where down the line... I'm originally from OK so just north of you. It is possible so of my weaker willed relatives moved south thus spreading the clan.:tongue:
