Paul Coffey, Woodturner

I got my first lathe when we bought our floathouse, back in 1982.  The previous owners of the house packed a couple of suitcases and left everything else behind, including a late-1940's Sears Craftsman lathe.  It didn't have a powerhead, so I rigged it up with a motor out of a scrapped washing machine.  Washing machine motors are powerful, and almost always outlast the rest of the washing machine components.  I played with that lathe a few times over the years, but it had a lot of limitations.  It was small, it could only do spindles about 30" long, and it had no capacity for face-plate turning.  It was also only about 4 inches from the drive center to the lathe bed.  I did manage to make a couple of small bowls with this lathe by turning the bowl with a spindle in the middle, that was then removed, and the inside of the bowl sanded flat.  

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As my skills developed, I decided I needed an equipment upgrade.  I bought a Grizzly floor model and, as this coincided with my retirement in the spring of 2016, I was able to jump into woodturning in earnest.  I've learned a bunch in the few years that I've been at it, but I've got a ways to go yet...