# Sorby RS3000 Ornamental Turning Device



## joesbucketorust (Dec 13, 2011)

Going through an old woodworking mag (Traditional Woodworking, a British magazine from 1995) I saw an ad for the Sorby RS3000 - a woodturning tool made to mount on any lathe and do ornamental turning. Original retail price back then was 375 pounds. It looked like an electric shock absorber with a cutting tool on the end. It mounted on the bed, or the toolrest. Has anyone seen one in action, know where something like that is available? Know of designs for somthing similar maybe with a power carver base? I keep getting drawn back to ornamental turning but all the plans for lathes I see are of the Rose Engine style, and the original Holtzapfels look more like regular lathes with some sort of cutting bit off to the side - and this Sorby tool looks like a start in that direction.


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## john lucas (Sep 18, 2007)

It only stayed on the market for a year or so. Apparently they didn't sell well enough and Sorby dropped them. At least that's what I assume. I'm always interested in ornamental turning so I watch what's happening in this world. I'd say the only way you could get one is on the used market.


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## joesbucketorust (Dec 13, 2011)

Thanks for the info. It's a bit of a bummer - I was hoping to at least see one in action. The design looks promising enough that maybe some mods would get it going - maybe attaching something like that to the cross-slide of one of those cheap HF 7" metal lathes, you could vary the lathe speed, feed, and then find a way to vary the carving tool's in/out oscillation. 
I've been googling, binging, and even yahood once or twice looking for info I could understand (I had the three holtzapfel reprints from Lindsay) but everything seems geared towards those rose engines and I want something like the old regular lathe. I've got a metal lathe and mill, if I could just find the right info I know I could start making one.


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