[Arch]

I wonder if I am the exception that proves the natural history rule of
the woodturner's life. Please agree or disagree or tell us of your
personal turning journey, whether hobby or profession. Here's mine.



I started in the late thirties with makeshift equipment, under powered,
under engineered, under sharpened and used it with less than
understanding. I read and gabbed and practiced and of course the more I
learned, the more I upgraded.
The tools became more expensive, more dedicated and more sophisticated.
The bowls got bigger, the timber got rarer and my turnings spent less
and less time on the kitchen table and more and more time on the coffee
table or displayed on a shelf somewhere. Their surfaces became strangely
'enhanced', even assaulted and their shapes became less and less round
and more and more asymmetrical until some were quite grotesque, but
always pretended to be art in my mind's eye.



Over time I began retracing the same path I took as a fledging, then
later a decently competent 'up to date' turner. Slowly I happily
regressed back toward simple and small. I have a cache of 'big' blanks
of fancy timber that's slowly rotting, I have a 16 in. lathe with 22 in.
outboard capacity and a shop made mammoth contraption when in the day I
tried to progress from bowls to tubs. I have a cabinet of long, and
absurdly heavy turning tools and a bin of large chucks, fitments and
accessories, all beginning to gather the dust of neglect.



More and more I find myself going to the shop, picking up a small
nondescript blank, putting it between centers on my Jet mini, and
nonchalantly turning some small, round, coved, beaded, tapered and
sometimes sanded sometimes not object that's almost never given a chance
for a drop dead gorgeous finish. Then tiring or bored and quickly losing
some of my previous drive and turning enthusiasm, I opt for a glass of
ice cold sweet tea or maybe a beer and sit down to watch a game on TV
or read a rcw that's being taken hostage by spam, but still has life.
Don't misunderstand me, I still love the hobby, just not with white hot
enthusiasm and it's not my living or be all and end all.



Sometimes I turn a small toy. a tiny lighthouse, a chain pull, a pen,
maybe a tool handle or a birdhouse or two and truly enjoy doing so. Or I
might turn a useless spindle or finial and call it art or more likely
throw it in the 'no need to keep, too good to dispose of' bucket. Anyone
need a a useless 'thingamajig'? I've got a few dozen laying around, not
to mention various purpose made tools, fitments and other abortions made
over the years on my now little used mill and metal lathe.



The old axiom that the older we get, the smaller our toys (and
woodturning pursuits) become, certainly applies to me. How about thee?
Just be sure to know that altho I'm now in my late eighties, I can still
applaud with respect and admiration all the new and innovative
approaches to a turned wooden object and my return to 'small and simple'
is not to denigrate any one of the great new breed of Turners. Rather,
I'm just musing and have been known to exaggerate just a little.


Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter


http://community.webtv.net/almcc/MacsMusings

[Larry Blanchard]

On Sat, 29 May 2010 10:39:39 -0400, Arch wrote:

The old axiom that the older we get, the smaller our toys (and
woodturning pursuits) become, certainly applies to me. How about thee?
Just be sure to know that altho I'm now in my late eighties, I can still
applaud with respect and admiration all the new and innovative
approaches to a turned wooden object and my return to 'small and simple'
is not to denigrate any one of the great new breed of Turners.

I guess I'm a late starter - I'm 73 and haven't made it past the small
and simple stage :-). Of course, I just started turning a few years ago.

And I don't find that my toys are any smaller, just that the days
(months, years) are shorter :-).

--
Intelligence is an experiment that failed - G. B. Shaw

[charlie b]

Arch:

It's a Siddhartha Thing.

You're born in a place and setting. As you "grow up" you may feel
impelled
to go see What's Over That Hill, to explore, to look for new places and
new
things and new experiences.

After a while you may find a place you like - and settle there - for
a while. But eventually, after you've got all the Been There, Done That
T-shirts, you find yourself returning to the place where you had the
best time doing the things you now know you enjoy most.

Often that is the place from which you began your journey of
exploration.

Perhaps only after you've experienced other possibilities, can you
fully appreciate the one that you get the most from - and give your
most to - and find contentment Just Being There.

Sounds like you've found That Place.

I hope, after all my running around, trying this and that, I'll find
That Place.

Don't see that happening any time soon, based on all the interesting
places I've heard about or found and haven't been to or explored - yet :
)

As usual, another of your Thought Provokers.

[tom koehler]

On Sat, 29 May 2010 9:39:39 -0500, Arch wrote
(in message ):



I wonder if I am the exception that proves the natural history rule of
the woodturner's life. Please agree or disagree or tell us of your
personal turning journey, whether hobby or profession.

My dad influenced me more than he probably ever knew. I remember watching
him, in his "man-cave" the shop in the small garage, when the car was parked
outside. He used a shopsmith back in the '50's because he did not have the
space for anything else - or the money, I suppose. He learned how to wring it
out and do things that were very pleasing. I remember him turning a pair of
large table lamps from Keene's Cement, a type of plaster. He had a book that
he learned from. It was "The Wood Turning Lathe" published by Van Nostrand
Co. in 1952, and I have it now.

I started learning my basics from that book in the early '70's after I got
out of the submarine service. I started on a home-built 1/4 hp 3-speed lathe,
moved on to a somewhat bigger Sears unit, using the same 1/4 hp motor, and
now have a Shopsmith of my own for the past 30 years. I know it has some
significant limitations, but it serves me well in my very small shop and my
very limited budget.

My work has been limited to what can be safely turned on this machine, and
what woods I can easily afford to use. My interests are eclectic and many of
the projects from this lathe have been in support of those other interests. I
have also turned things that were used in my household. Now, I am exploring
bowls and other vessels of a modest size. I did do one fountain pen from a
Penn Central kit, but the jury is out, on that pursuit. If I get another pen
kit, I am going to have to bash it around and modify it to suit my tastes,
and instructions be damned.

Whatever I am able to do I have learned pretty much on my own and from books
on turning. I've seen a few videos on the internet, mostly links I've found
here. I've no face-time contact with other turners. I am not afraid to make
or modify my tools, including digging into the wiring on my shopsmith so that
I now have a simple switch added to it that enables me to reverse its
direction of rotation - very handy for various sanding and polishing
operations. I've made my own hook tool and some other custom tools that
please me and serve me well.

Retired after 32 years of working in the track department of a local
railroad, I have the luxury of pretty much doing what I darn well please,
with the consent and "guidance" of SWMBO, and woodworking is my hobby and
pacifier and challenge. (along with any other manual arts activity that
catches my fancy.)

Respectfully submitted,
tom koehler

--
I will find a way or make one.

[Fred Holder[_2_]]

On May 29, 7:39 am, (Arch) wrote:
I wonder if I am the exception that proves the natural history rule of
the woodturner's life. Please agree or disagree or tell us of your
personal turning journey, whether hobby or profession. Here's mine.

I started in the late thirties with makeshift equipment, under powered,
under engineered, under sharpened and used it with less than
understanding. I read and gabbed and practiced and of course the more I
learned, the more I upgraded.
The tools became more expensive, more dedicated and more sophisticated.
The bowls got bigger, the timber got rarer and my turnings spent less
and less time on the kitchen table and more and more time on the coffee
table or displayed on a shelf somewhere. Their surfaces became strangely
'enhanced', even assaulted and their shapes became less and less round
and more and more asymmetrical until some were quite grotesque, but
always pretended to be art in my mind's eye.

Over time I began retracing the same path I took as a fledging, then
later a decently competent 'up to date' turner. Slowly I happily
regressed back toward simple and small. I have a cache of 'big' blanks
of fancy timber that's slowly rotting, I have a 16 in. lathe with 22 in.
outboard capacity and a shop made mammoth contraption when in the day I
tried to progress from bowls to tubs. I have a cabinet of long, and
absurdly heavy turning tools and a bin of large chucks, fitments and
accessories, all beginning to gather the dust of neglect.

More and more I find myself going to the shop, picking up a small
nondescript blank, putting it between centers on my Jet mini, and
nonchalantly turning some small, round, coved, beaded, tapered and
sometimes sanded sometimes not object that's almost never given a chance
for a drop dead gorgeous finish. Then tiring or bored and quickly losing
some of my previous drive and turning enthusiasm, I opt for a glass of
ice cold sweet tea or maybe a beer and sit down to watch a game on TV
or read a rcw that's being taken hostage by spam, but still has life.
Don't misunderstand me, I still love the hobby, just not with white hot
enthusiasm and it's not my living or be all and end all.

Sometimes I turn a small toy. a tiny lighthouse, a chain pull, a pen,
maybe a tool handle or a birdhouse or two and truly enjoy doing so. Or I
might turn a useless spindle or finial and call it art or more likely
throw it in the 'no need to keep, too good to dispose of' bucket. Anyone
need a a useless 'thingamajig'? I've got a few dozen laying around, not
to mention various purpose made tools, fitments and other abortions made
over the years on my now little used mill and metal lathe.

The old axiom that the older we get, the smaller our toys (and
woodturning pursuits) become, certainly applies to me. How about thee?
Just be sure to know that altho I'm now in my late eighties, I can still
applaud with respect and admiration all the new and innovative
approaches to a turned wooden object and my return to 'small and simple'
is not to denigrate any one of the great new breed of Turners. Rather,
I'm just musing and have been known to exaggerate just a little.

Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter

http://community.webtv.net/almcc/MacsMusings

Good to hear from you again Arch. I've only been turning wood for
about 22 years and have been writing about it for over 15 of those
years. I've turned a lot of bowls as well as bottle stoppers, baby
rattles, etc. I even thought that maybe I could help support my
retirement by making and selling woodturned pieces. Being a business
man, I kept records. After three years, I found that I had averaged
about 25 cents and hour selling my pieces. So in 1996, I started More
Woodturning magazine, which has made me more money than making and
selling woodturned pieces. Now, I simply turn what I wish to do. I
donated them for auctions, give them to friends and relatives, or
simply keep them to remember making them. That happens often to be a
simple Chinese Ball with four balls inside. I like this, because at
any time up until the last cut you can break the ball. The challenge
is to finish one without breaking it. So far in the last ten years,
I've turned over 200 of them and probably broken nearly half the many.
You would think they would become tiring, but they remain challenging.
I even recently turned a segmented bowl, which I hadn't done for
several years. It was pleasing to see how easily it turned with all
side grain to work with.

Hang in there and keep turning even if the pieces are small.

Fred Holder
http://www.morewoodturning.net