How do you use a lathe?

[farmerjohn]

I feel a little dumb asking but I missed out on using a lathe in shop class. I have a lathe and I have lathe tools, do you hold the tool straight into the turning stock or angle it up or down? Maybe someone has a link for a how-to video or can explain.

 

[NCWayne]

Check out the link. This guy has scanned in alot of old Southbend books and manuals, including one they put out called "How to Run a Lathe". It should have all the info you need to do everything from the basics like setting up your tooling for routine turning, to setting everything up for threading.

I've run lathes for years but just bought an old Southbend myself and found this site while doing some research on my new-to-me machine. Good luck.
How to run a lathe

 

[Anonymous-0]

See if you can take a course at a local community college. You will learn a lot more actually using a lathe rather than reading how to use one out of books.

 

[36 Coupe]

Sounds like he may have a wood lathe.

 

[VaTom]

Scraping tools are the easiest to master. First you need to understand how to sharpen them. Dale Nish was the guy who got me going, search him and read about it. Mostly you need to spend a lot of time with your lathe. Experiment, have a few losses. You learn.

This small table is an example of what you can do with a lathe. Almost all of it was turned, then recombined. I've been using turned pieces in furniture for many years.

 

[bruster]

You tube has quite a few videos on wood turning. The books that Richard Raffan has put are very good for learning how to sharpen and use of the different tools. All pics in the books show clear step by step instruction.

 

[jokers]

Great link Wayne, Thanks!