But I still think of it as a shop. Red Oak Hollow Lathe Works, as awesome as the name sounds, is really just my workshop in a small building on our property near Purcellville, VA. This is a new location for us and as of December 2005, I am pretty much fully operational. There are still infrastructure issues, but the place is mostly done. See the story about the new shop in the News article, Architectural Woodturning.
I have been using two lathes. My primary lathe has been a Stubby S-750, made in Australia and imported into the US by a nationally known woodturner, John Jordan. It weighs about 900 pounds. I got it in the Fall of 2002 and have found that it is a great piece of equipment which is quite versatile, allowing me to work even the oddest shaped piece of wood. I can turn pieces of wood up to 30" across, if I can even lift them up on the lathe in the first place.
Another lathe I use has been a small portable lathe made by Delta and called the Midi. Some other companies make a "mini-lathe" but Delta called theirs a "midi" because it has a bed extension available and because it is about 20 pounds heavier than its primary competition. The Delta Midi is a great lathe and I have carried all 77 pounds of it out of the basement many times to use for demonstration woodturning at craft shows and for woodturning club events.
Now that the shop is up, I also have a Oneway 2036 with two bed extensions and the outboard turning platform. The heart of the operation, though, is a Centauro T-5 hydraulic copy lathe, made in Italy. It is like a giant key-making machine. I mount the piece to copy at the rear and two tracers follow the pattern, the first controlling the roughing knife which slices off most of the wood and the second controlling the finishing knife, taking off that last 1/8", showing the details.
As a full-time woodturner, I spend most of the day as well as many evenings and some weekends in the shop. We have recently moved to Purcellville, VA, and you are most welcome to come visit, but remember this is a working shop located at our home so please let me know ahead of time if you will be in Northern Virginia and would like to come by. Call for directions. Please click on Contact with Red Oak Hollow... to find out how to do just that.