Well, being totally new to this wonderful "hobby" has my head swirling with ideas and so on, and I can't wait to jump into the fray!
So, questions, questions, questions!
I went to the woodworking show here in NJ last weekend in Somerset, and spent way too much money, but I'm not sure I have what I really need to do things right. I have a mandrel with a MT2 and the fellow I got it from said to just unscrew the mandrel from the taper and mount it up in my 3 jaw chuck on my SS.
Now I'm thinking that I really don't like that idea and would rather do something else, like use this dedicated chuck from Penn State Ind to mount the mandrel and use it to drill blanks also:
http://www.pennstateind.com/store/CSCPENCHK.html
Mounted with this:
http://www.pennstateind.com/store/L5818.html
This would eliminate having to flip things around to drill blanks, in which case I would mount my drill chuck into the tailstock support to drill, and then just use this "mandrel saver" to support the end of the mandrel when turning.
http://www.pennstateind.com/store/PKMSTS2.html
I'm assuming this would eliminate the need for the dedicated SS mandrel which mounts directly to the quill, such as this:
http://www.pennstateind.com/store/PKM-CL.html
My other question: With a typical blank being only a few inches long, it seems as though the standard rest will be too long to get close enough to the blanks to turn them properly, so ...........
Will the short SS 4" lathe tool rest work, or should I get another stock rest and cut it down to the exact size I need?
Decisions, decisions, decisions!
Thanks!