I'm looking for a small wood lathe. My 12 year old Son has been making varmint calls by hand and he wants to step it up.

He built a duck call and he's claiming that once he gets his hands on a lathe he's gonna put Duck Commander out of business.

Anybody have an old one or know where I can find one on the cheap?

Harbor Freight

Dave

Where are you located?

I'm in dfw

I'll buy one.

Which one at Harbor Freight is the best for call making?

I started out with cheapest one on HF. That thing made MANY calls before it finally died.

Harbor Freight

My advise will be save a few extra bucks and go with a base model Excelsior and they are reasonably priced. The problem you will face with a Harbor Frieght Set up is the thread on the head stock is metric and no collet chucks or 4 jaw chucks will mount to them with out having an adapter made which in most cases causes run out. If he is serious as well as your self suporting him this would be the route I would take. Looks like they are on sale for 199.00 see link below. I have used this lathe since 2008 and the only thing I have changed is the belt.

http://www.rockler.com/excelsior-mini-lathe

Robert A.

I hate to be of an apposing view to someone I respect, but I have to point out some fact here. They are the exact same lathes made by the exact same chinese people in the same chinese factory. They paint them different for different retail stores. I needed no adapter, my Barracuda 4 jaw and pennsylvania Collet chuck bot screw right onto the threads.

http://www.harborfreight.com/garage-shop/stationary-wood-lathes.html

This or the Rikon. Get one with a 2MT and 1-8TPI headstock. If he gets tired of callmaking they will be easier to sell. Both are great lathes and if you take care of them they will take care of getting the job done.

Remember the lathe is only part of the equation, you need saws, drill press, chucks, mandrels, sharpening system, chisels, dust collector, eye protection, wood, finishes, sand paper, drill bits, toneboard jigs and the list goes on and on and on. Depending on what and how much you know, and the quality of tools the list can cost from about $300 to several thousand dollars. This hobby cost is sort of dictated by how much you know about your tools and how to get by without buying the extras.

As an example the saws, you can get a way with a coping saw and a handsaw, but most will opt for a bandsaw, miter saw and maybe a scroll saw. Another example, the toneboard jigs, buying one will set you back $80 plus shipping, making one about a $1 in scrap wood and a thumb screw.

Check the East Texas Woodturners site, look at their newsletters (they have back issues on line) the widow of one of our members was trying to sell his tools several months ago and one of the things she had was a Harbor Freight lathe "free to a good home" it was in their classified section for 2 or three months, I don't know if she still has it. There is also a Dallas wood turning club that meets at Wood World on TI Blvd. Most clubs have a for sale section in their news letter and mini lathes often show up for sale.

Well thank you Wal for pointing that out.. However in earlier models that was a problem and they all used to run on MT1 as well.. I stand corrected enjoy your Harbor freight Lathe..

My old harbor freight lathe paid for itself over and over and over. I think it was like $150 for the lather and a set of lathe chisels.