Shopsmith Forums

Greetings, my name is Jim Wright, I'm a retired Navy Officer living in Palmer, Alaksa. Nowadays I'm a bowl turner and woodworker. I have a very large dedicated shop and use a variety of stationary tools, but the SS remains the heart of my shop. I've got a circa 1982 505 that I use as my primary lathe, equipped with Nova chucks and variety of add-ons, and I'll be adding a second SS (an upgraded 510) later this spring. I'm a regualr visitor to the SS site, and have been for some time, but only recently realized that this forum existed.

Here's a sample of some of the work I do.







Over the years I've used a variety of lathes, but still prefer my SS over just about anything else. I work primarily in green birch, harvested in South Central Alaksa, though I do occasionally work in beetle killed Sitka spruce.

Hey Jim, Welcome!
That is some beautiful work. Hope to see and hear more from you in the future.

Thanks, George. I expect I'll be hanging around here a lot in the future.

Jim:

Welcome to the site. We're glad to meet ya!

I bought a Shopsmith for my son-in-law 3 years ago and he has really taken to bowl turning. If you don't already have it, the Universal Tool Rest pkg (555868) is a great up-grade.

8iowa wrote:Jim:
If you don't already have it, the Universal Tool Rest pkg (555868) is a great up-grade.

8iowa. I have it, and just about every other lathe accessory for the SS. It's a good thing I sell just about every bowl I make, or my wife would have my ears for buying every accessory that comes along

It's an addiction.

Howdy Jim,

Welcome to the site. I'm a retired Army officer living in Texas. Your turning work is especially nice. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your work.

I am just learning to turn, and your work is truly an inspiration to continue.

Best Regards,
mike

Jim:

Welcome to the forum.

I am not a turner, but am often amazed with the work turned out on the lathe, and these fit right in there with the best. I hope we get to see more in the future.

John

Well, John, considering that wood turning on the SS is more of an addiction for me than a hobby, I'd say the odds of that are pretty good.

FriscoMike, thanks. Be careful learning to turn, it becomes addictive very very quickly. If you're just getting into turning, the line of HSS turning tools offered by SS are top quality, and I use those right alongside my Robert Sorby chisels and scrapers. Two things make turning a joy, 1) a quality high volume dust/chip collector - I use a 1200cfpm dedicated cyclone system and don't have any experience with the SS dust collector, though I hear very good things about it. And 2) a professional, high quality sharpening station. I have several, including a Tormek, but I recently purchased the WorkSharp 3000 horizonal glass disk system and perfer that above anything else I've ever used. If you buy one ($200 from Amazon, a little more from Woodcraft) get the $30 leather stropping wheel with it. Sharp chisels and scrappers make all the difference when it comes to turning.

Howdy,

I just put the SS DC3300 together, and it seems like it has good suction, although I have used it to collect sawdust yet. As for turning, how in the world would you collect the debris from turning. Do you use a special device to catch it?

Thanks for the encouragement. I picked up all the SS turning tools, but haven't sharpened them yet. I just moved the SS to a new shop and am in the process of realigning everything. There are not enough hours in the day.

I had intended to use the SS sanding disk to sharpen the tools for now, and get a nice sharpening station later on.

Thanks again,
mike

Beautiful work, Jim. I appreciate the good information, too, great for anyone (like me) who is interested in turning but not quite sure about equipment, etc. Thanks for the warning about the additiveness of the pursuit. Again, nice work!

Terry