I want to start turning my own grips , however I don't build that many rods. So I'm leaning toward a Power Wrapper to do this rather than a small metal lathe. I've gotten by all these years with a hand wrapper so I'm wondering if the lathe might be better for what I want to do. Thanks Bill

If you're talking mostly cork, then a power wrapper is fine. Once you move towards hardwoods and acrylics, a dedicated metal or wood lathe is preferred. And between the 2, the wood lathe will give you much more freedom in terms of the shapes you can quickly achieve. Of course you can also remove the tool post on the machine lathe and use it like a wood lathe, if you want.

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We've had a guy at the Woodland Washington gathering that has set up a metal lathe to turn wood inserts very precisely. It's pretty slick.

However, I agree with Tom that if you are making a choice for turning, a wood lathe offers lots of capability and freedom to turn either wood or cork.

I don't like to have my turning area in the same room as my wrapping and finishing area so I keep the lathe in the garage and all my wrapping and finishing in the rod room. It works for me.

Terry

Here's my opinion ...

Get a variable speed wood lathe, set it up in a different place than your wrapping/finishing area, and skip the power wrapper. You can turn grips, inserts and even make a few nice pens for yourself.

IMO, basic power wrappers are great if you are building larger rods - offshore, trolling, etc. Otherwise, they are more trouble than they are worth. I can wrap a fly rod, freshwater rod or inshore rod MUCH more efficiently AND with more precision by hand. Years of practice make a difference, but that is where you are at as well ... so I am sure the statement is applicable.

The ONLY power wrapper I have found that doesn't fit into this statement is a Renzetti, fully loaded. At that point, you are spending well in excess of $1,000 and we are talking a whole different level of acquistion.

Jim -

For cork grips, the wrapper works just fine, but I think you'll find that once you start turning your own cork, your going to want to expand and add some wood and or acrylics to spiffy them up a bit. Then as Tom says you will need a dedicated lathe. Terry makes a very good point in not turning in the same area as you finish rods. There is a lot of dust created from shaping the cork, and you certainly don't need it in your finishing room. That being said if you are just turning cork, the wrapper is very portable and can be moved outside to a different area.

Cheers

Part of the desicion may depend on your work area set up. If it's your intent is to have the power wrapper double as your drying motor/stand then I wouldn't want to use it to turn cork. I don't want that amount of dust anywhere near where I'm applying finish. If you've got a separate area or equipment set up to apply finish then I think the power wrapper will suffice if all you're turning is cork.

If you're wanting to try a lathe, I'd look at one from Harbor Freight. The have a few cheap models that are often on sale for $100. It should meet your needs and if you find you don't like it or want to upgrade, you can do so and haven't invested much money in the HF lathe.

A wood lathe. We like the Jet, but the TunrCafter is excellent too. If I had it to do over, I'd have got the size one above a mini lathe, just so I'd have the flexibility to make loner stuff or drill center holes more easily.

Uncle Russ
Calico Creek Rods

Yup, Russ is right. I bought a midi-lathe because I turn some long grips and didn't have the space for a bed extension. The midi's run around 17" to 18" between centers so I can get a 14" grip done pretty well. I did opt for the turncrafter pro, but wish I would have chosen the variable speed model now that I'm doing more wood. I can upgrade to the variable power kit for $100 but cheaper to chose this option at purchase.

If you must turn in the same area you wrap, a decent dust collection system, along with fan fitted with a furnace filter can be a good set up, but you have to mitigate the dust. (see other articles in the forum for this)

And Jim is right, you don't really need a power wrapper to wrap. You do need a lathe of some kind to turn grips. I used a hand wrapper for years and still do on occaision. If you can only buy one, I would pick the lathe over the wrapper and save that for a later purchase.

Terry

I have a 36inch 1hp craftsman wood lathe that I bought used from a flea market for 75 bucks and bought a craftsman drill chuck for 23 dollars to hold my mandrel. For 100 bucks it takes 15 minutes to turn out a grip and works so well its amazing.

Most metal lathes that you would be looking at will not offer a decent distance between centers. I have an older Atlas Metal Lathe and could not imagine turning cork or wood on it. There is no reason to get a metal lathe for it. You would have to purchase a tool rest and would never use half of the metal lathe features. My metal lathe has auto feed for cutting threads, and a few other specialty things. Besides the extra cost there would be nothing in a metal lathe for you.