Ken, as Gnomon has stated there are good books out there. If you are fortunate to own a South Bend, good for you. Fantastic lathe no matter how small.
After buying a book, and the South Bend one will most likely show you the different tool bits and how to grind them. The next thing besides tool bits is a good magnetic based dial indicator especially if you use a four jaw chuck. You will use this for many things, but the first thing is you want to check if the chuck has any run-out. A .001 or so is ok.
I have run lathes where you sat on the carriage and rode it along with the compound to a 9" one I use now in my basement. They all run the same.
If you don't have the booklet for it,. I'm sure you can find one online. Most compounds are set-up that 1 line is .002 off the O.D., some if you are very lucky will be 1 line is .001 off O.D. but you don't see these much.
Good luck and like stated, make chips, wear safety glasses and roll your sleeves up, and take off any rings.
And also (1) If you wear a tie, make sure it is a clip-on with a quick release (2) Never ever leave the chuck jaw wrench in place and walk away- always remove it and set it aside and (3) Never leave a file across the ways of any lathe-- I have a Soutn bend with a 8" swing, 3 jaw chuck and a 30" bed- compund gearing, like the bigger LeBlonds I learned on in my late grandfathers tool & die shop "back in the day"--
