With pole lathes traditionally spindle turning and bowl turning were completely different trades done by different people. You can turn an odd bowl on a spindle lathe and I can turn an odd spindle on my bowl lathe but it's not very efficient. If you can borrow a copy of this book
http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?an=mike+abbott&bt.x=0&bt.y=0&sts=t&tn=green+woodwork it is still the best intro to pole lathe spindle turning. You can save a whole lot of time by seeing someone else doing it well, there are a lot of folk scratching away at pole lathes at country fairs and not many people really doing it well, the shavings should fly off and leave a crisp clean finish. There are quite a number of folk in Dorset and a local group of the APT
http://www.bodgers.org.uk/local-groups a visit to one of their meets would be time very well spent.