Wood lathes, who knows what?

[4570Man]

Good quality gouge, about 1" as a starting point, an aluminium oxide wheel on your bench grinder to keep it sharp, they do blunt quickly, a parting tool and just a few other blades as a starting point, I also have a 4 jaw chuck with T handle for tightening, a couple of rear points for the other end, a face plate if you want to turn bowls.
#2 morse taper on the lathe as it is the most common, other sizes are expensive, after this you can expand but HSS tools are best IMO for a nice edge and ease of sharpening.
I use Record and Vicmark lathes, plenty on the market but avoid the cheap Chinese pressed steel units as they flex and throw the work at you, watch sharpening videos too, I touch up the gouge in a few seconds, doesn't need much and makes working easier and cleaner.

A 1 inch gouge is a good spindle rouging gouge but not good at all for bowl work. Also a spindle roughing gouge has a pretty flat face where a bowl gouge is much more rolled back. That shallow flute gouge in the middle is one of my favorite all around tools. I like the carbide scraper for roughing out stuff. Spindles or bowls. It’ll pull off a pile of wood in a hurry, much more so than anything else I have. But the finish sucks. It’s not a start to finish tool imo.

 

[etpm]

About 15 years ago I bought the Grizzly G0462 lathe. I bought it for metal spinning. To spin metal the metal is usually spun over a form, and the forms are commonly made from hard woods, like certain kinds of maple, for example. I paid about 300 bucks for it new and now I see they are about 4 times what I paid. So they may be out of your price range. The lathe is heavy, which is very good. It has infinitely variable speed that is done mechanically, not electronically. This also is very good because the torque rises as the speed drops. And it has a digital speed readout that I find to be quite handy. The motor is 2 HP, another plus. It is long enough for table legs too. I think this lathe or one that is similar would be a good first lathe. Infinitely variable speed, done mechanically, sufficient power and heavy weight are three things you really want.
Eric

 

[Ken45101]

I bought a Delta lathe probably 30+ years ago. Didn't do a whole lot with it for many years until one day I saw an interesting chunk of firewood. That started my bowl turning.

My newer shop equipment (bandsaw, planner, dust collector) are Grizzly and I've been satisfied with it.