Where it all happens...

Thought I would show you the “office” where my turnings are done. The shop is actually 2 bays of a three car garage at my son Jay’s house (but that’s another story I may share later); my work horse is a Powermatic 3520 lathe shown above along with 20 or so gouges (the tools used to do the shaping of the wood) and a bunch of sandpaper; other shop equipment, like most shops, includes a chop saw, table saw, planer, sander, drill and, in my case, a band saw (with a 15” throat) and lots of clamps. The large band saw is important as most pieces of wood are rounded prior to putting on the lathe for turning – with either the band saw or a chain saw.

For the non-wood turners, the large number of gouges is needed for the variety of turnings on the lathe – from bowls to salt and pepper grinders. My ”go to” gouge is the ½” Sorby Sovereign System fingernail bowl gouge (as many turners would agree); a versatile tool, it can be used for many turning applications, including roughing the outside of a green log, turning the inside of a bowl and fine scraping.

The picture shows a 16” walnut bowl in the final stages turning; like many bowls, it is from a nearby farm in central Virginia; this unique piece is from the crotch in the tree and has a beautiful bark and sapwood inclusion that adds interest to the fine figured grain that the crotch yielded.