Is there any advantage to a metal lathe vs. a Wood turning lathe for turning cork grips? Bill

For cork? No, in fact, the additional "pieces" involved are more apt to get clogged with cork chips and dust and require more time spent on cleaning and maintaining the lathe than if you had just bought the more simple wood lathe.

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Metal turning lathes will allow you to do more than a wood lathe will if you ever decide to get involved in making lathe parts, or turning objects other than wood. Doing this will take longer to set it up but the opportunities for craft usage would be tremendous. But I will not argue that for just knocking out a cork or wood grip, the wood lathe is going to be less expensive and somewhat quicker and easier to clean up.

For doing wood, acrylic, etc in non straight shapes such as shaped grips and "free formed" things such as game calls, bowls, botle stoppers, etc, I think that the wood lathe is WAY more versatile than a metal lathe. Not knocking metal lathes at all, it just depends on what you want to do. Most builders that I know that use wood lathes have branched out to turning other things.

Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!

A lathe is a lathe, so even with a metal lathe you can remove the machine tool post and replace it with a standard wood turning tool post. Some metal lathes offer such an attachment for times when you want to use it as a wood lathe. As I said, the only real downside is that the metal lathe has more "pieces" involved and dust and debris gets into more crevices, openings, oiled parts, etc. Not a really big deal but something to think about. Once you get it all oiled up and even have some lubricants in there for your metal turnings, turning wood without removing all that stuff results in a pretty good mess.

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