I'm so much coveting an American Beauty Lathe right now, I'd probably not be a good judge of what to start with. My first lathe was a Jet 10x15 that I have since upgraded to variable speed. Amazing what you can turn on that thing as long as you have it clamped or weighted down. Next one was a Nova 3000. 16x24 I believe and I've used every bit of that a few times! Next one who knows. Unless someone wants to give me an American Beauty, one will likely never grace my shopajunkarage! Plus, I would likely be a cold day in h. e. double hockey sticks when my wife gives me permission to purchase one - the set up I want is north of $10k. I eventually want to do Moulthrop sized pieces - so will have to build one outside out of timbers likely.
As many have already said - avail yourself of frequenting a turning club. Of course every one of them will likely have a different opinion of what would be good to start with, but you will get very good ideas and reasons. And there could easily be some gently used equipment for sale, or they know of some locally.
Sharpening. I've sort of winged it for a few years - not necessarily consistent, but doable. One tip though. Keep a couple of credit card sized diamond sharpeners around to do touch up. Their use can make it so that you don't have to go to the sharpening machine as often. One of the wolverine or wolverine-type systems on a slow rpm grinder is indispensible. I've gone a different route though as I need to sharpen other tools and don't have room for multiple machines. I'm setting up a Tormek for turning tools also. Also have a knife grinder, that I will modify a sharpening system on to also do some turning tool sharpening on. I really want a Burke Sharpening System for my carving tools - but have not scratched my head enough to figure out and easy way to sharpen turning tools.
