Tom and Billys Playstation: The creation of Tom & Billy's Playstation.

Hi everyone......
So in case you were wondering what I've been up to in my woodworking career,
I'd like to share with you my journey into...........

the art of turning trees inside out.

So let's get started........
So this is what we refer to as "hill-billys shop class"

First off let's look at the shop and the equipment we're using.
I say "we" because I'm doing this with my good friend, Billy.
Neither one of us has ever done anything like this before.

The basic tools needed for turning bowls are a band saw and the lathe.
First the band saw
We've seen these machines that are hundreds of dollars and take up 1/2 your shop and use lots of electricity.

Our fist discussions were geared towards trying to be "green" and not drain the grid of any unnecessary loads.
He likes to think "outside the box" and I keep trying to put him back into it....
So Billy came up with the idea of converting a treadle sewing machine into a band saw..........

That quickly got ruled out when we actually "fired up" the treadle and realized you need to be coordinated to do this. I think the pain in my knee will go away in a couple of weeks.......

So Bill donated this for our first upgrade

This was given to Bill from an old farmer/friend named Harley..........

it has the latest technology for the saw guide

a precision tensioning system

And of course this beauty has a brand name.........

A new blade, some tweaking here and there and it worked like a champ

Now we can cut circles so we can put round chunks of wood on a lathe.

Now we need a lathe.

These were the prototypes that Bill had in mind

First the history of how this whole lathe and turning episode in my life got started......

....

A friend of ours, Peter, bought an estate sale and asked if I had any use for an old lathe.
I'd always thought that would be a cool thing to try so I said sure.

We went to the estate and dug it out of the corner of a garage where it was sitting under piles of forgotten stuff. We brought it into my garage, flopped it on a workbench and Peter said there! Have fun! and he left.

So for a few weeks it sat there and I dubbed with it but had no clue what I was doing.

So I talked to Bill who has a friend nearby who does bowl & spindle turnings for a living. He said he'd be glad to take a look at but he lived an hour away up by Billy's.

Sooooo we schlepped this thing up to Billy's shop, set it up and invited

Robbie the Professional Wood Turner to come have a look.......

This is what would be at Robbies.......