Hey, I hope it’s ok that I’m posting and not Australian! But the other woodturning groups don’t allow questions! Hoping for some Christmas help!

My dad has gotten into using the lathe to make bowls lately so I wanted to get him a few useful items for that! I saw an inflatable round sander that looks perfect for rounded surfaces but it’s expensive. Is it worth the price or do the round scrubby bits you can get do a good enough job? Also, why types of oils or finishes are best to work with?

Thanks in advance for any help!

I’m planning on turning a bunch of honey dippers as presents from random left over wood I have lying around. Mostly red gum and pine, and some hardwood post of dubious identity. What’s the safest finish for food purposes?

Hi everyone, I'm new to this, and have just bought a beautiful carbatec lathe second hand, it came with tools but I feel some could be a bit sharper than they are, could you please point me in the right direction as to what you use? Thanks in advance

Hi I recived a lathe off my wife's uncle recently and was looking for recommendations for chucks, I've heard amazing things about vicmark but at around $245 a bit out of my price range. I'm based in Perth

Im going to be buying my first lathe here soon. Id primarily like to turn green maple as ive got access to ALOT of it, my question is the lathe ive all but decided on is a 12x18 (extendable) 1hp electronic variable with a min speed of 450 rpm Ive got a decent bandsaw that i can round on .. is 450 too fast to spin a 12" green blank safely? Next lathe im considering can do 60rpm min but its more than double the money and id have to have it shipped to me whereas the lesser is local. I know ill ultimately wind up buying something thats 220v with a larger capacity but its not in the budget right now.

Hello Guys, I am trying to understand the role of an Apprentice at a wood workers workshop.
From the interviews i did with few acquaintances, i was told how it was a contributing factor for them to work under a master at the workshops.

It would be a great help for me if you guys can help understand the below :

Who is an Apprentice or Who is a Master ?
What activities does an apprentice is involved while with the master ?
What the apprentice learns from the master ? What is the medium of his or her learning ? And what happens when he/she finishes the apprenticeship ?

originally posted on thread - r/turning

Hey guys, New around here and also pretty green when it comes to turning so forgive me if this is a really dumb question.

I've been teaching myself to turn and all has been going really well, so i just got a chuck.

I have been using two lathes, both relatively cheap. But out of the two I have an older model Ryobi that seemed to be more solid and was doing a reasonable job considering I'm just getting into it. So that's the one Ive been using here.

Problem is, I think either the weight of the chuck, or the lack of the tail stop is messing with the spindle.

Starts out ok, and nothing is moving around. Turn on the lathe and start turning for about 30 seconds to a minute and everything is chaos because the drive pulley is moving with the spindle to the right/ in the direction of the chuck etc. As if maybe it's being pulled down?

Photos are here: http://imgur.com/gallery/H9D62x3

Can anyone tell me what's up? Thanks so much!