Here you'll find various lathes from a small benchtop pen turning model to huge 14" swing and 40" bed lathes. A lathe is not always a must have for the wood shop, but it does come in handy on occasion and is very fun to use. But beware, turning can become addictive and you may end up looking for any thing laying around to throw on the lathe and turn. You may also give up on flatwork so that you can spend more time on the lathe.

Here are some points to consider while choosing a lathe.

• Decide now, what will you be doing for projects. If you plan on doing only spindle work, you may want a long bed. But if you want to do big bowls and platters, you will need a large swing or a head capable of outboard turning.
• Variable speed is very handy. And absolutely necessary if you plan on turn large pieces of wood. Most bowl turning starts out slow until the wood begins to be cut into a balanced shape. Big wood on fast speed is very dangerous!
• You will want to either bolt the lathe to the floor or bench, or load the base with plenty of weight. A large unbalanced piece of wood can get the lathe jumping across the room.

Grizzly Lathes | Delta Lathes | Jet Lathes | Powermatic Lathe