Wood turning is a highly skilled craft. It requires a very good eye for beauty, a great appreciation for working with wood, innate talent, and a high desire to keep on learning and honing your skill.

As in all great craft, no wood turner can skip learning the bare essentials. A good grasp of the fundamentals will provide a solid foundation which every budding wood turner will need to develop his craft.

Woodturning is a form of woodworking that uses a lathe to create wooden sculptures. The lathe is a stationary tool that moves the wood in constant motion while it gets carved out.

One of the first things to learn about woodturning is how to use the lathe. You will need to figure out the diameter of the pulleys, find the speeds and sizes and how to care for it.

The next essential is learning how to use the various tools for woodturning. Aside from learning how to use them, you will also need to know how to grind and whet the tools to keep them sharp.

The next step after this is to learn the methods and techniques of woodturning. How to cut the wood, how to secure the wood to a faceplate or in a chuck or jig and what direction of cut to make, will all make a significant difference on how the wood product will turn out. The wrong cut and the wrong support will cause the wood fibers to separate and tear, creating a rough, highly damaged surface that ultimately reduces the value of any kind of wood.

Any budding woodworker with a true passion for the great craft of woodturning will find it fascinating and interesting to learn woodturning. That keen fascination and interest will propel a true artist to practice and improve his craft so that in time, he can turn wood into stunning masterpieces!