charlie b:

Intersting post, and opens up other facets of woodworking as well. I
have been doing general carpentry of all sorts for almost 35 years.

I have built everything from concrete forms to barrister's bookcases.
When I started, it was just at the end of the era where a carpenter had
to know how to do anything
with wood. We made our own jigs on site, made our own trim from time
to time, made doors from scratch (including jambs, stops, and hinges
without templates), paneled walls, framed walls and structures, hung
sheetrock, etc. We regularly made small custom cabinets for kitchens,
bathrooms and the helpers made the cabs in utility areas and put up the
shelves. We even did some simple finishing in those days.

I was pretty much on the job from start to finish. I worked with some
excellent craftsmen along the way that taught me more than I could tell
you in a week about carpentry.

Now, all this time later as a self employed remodeling/repair
contractor, I am not too excited about woodworking. Design, measure,
fit, sand, secure. Yawn. Every once in a while an interesting project
will peak my interest like a new built in or a request for a piece of
furniture to fit in a specific space, but not too often.

But I found a few years ago that I missed the sawdust for fun aspect
that got me into carpentry. So on a lark I got a lathe. I started
having fun again.

I loved it as I saw it as sculpting wood. I started having fun again.
And back in "96/'97 when I got my Jet mini, it was the first time I had
turned since high school shop class, almost 25 years before. Also in
'96/'97 there weren't nearly as many turners and I was able to pay for
my lathe, tools, and goodies by making pens and ornaments and selling
them. Those are now a high school projects for the local shop class.

I have turned several cords of wood, and have even had to rebuild part
of my Jet. I still love turning as it is like no other aspect of my
carpentry business. I am now working on several Christmas projects for
family and friends, as well as a few to sell. I have four lathes, and
at least two of them see service for one thing or another almost all
the time.

I now do some teaching and give demos on different aspects of
woodturning. With my own personal experience as a flat woodworker I
think I have a different look at the spinning of wood, and having
trained many a carpenter over the years has made me a better teacher
than I would be if I was just getting the hang of this one aspect of
woodworking.

It is too much fun to spin the wood, and now most of my flat work is
for clients only. I really feel like anyone that has any interest in
the smell of sawdust, the feel of wood, and the personal drive to make
something should look at all aspects of woodworking.

As a personal opinion, I don't have too much respect for many of the
wood turners in our club as they like to think of themselves of some
kind of classic woodworkers, linked to the ancient craftsmen in their
values, skills, and art. And damn are they snobby. Yet, just a
hundred years ago, a carpenter or cabinet maker had to be proficient at
many aspects of of woodworking. Wood turning is only one aspect of
what woodworkers do and I think your analogy to the mango tree fits
this well.

I can take bowl man out to adjust a door on a shifted frame, and all
his knowledge back to the ancients fail him. I can take spindle guy
out to build a bathroom vanity with half lap doors over
rail/stile/carcass and get out the skill saw, router and sander and he
will be lost.

It is not lost on me that most of the finest turners I have met turn
out to be the nicest, most generous people you could meet. Even our
guest demonstrators are usually great guys. The absolutely best
turners in our club (except one... there's always one...) have invited
me to their houses so I can check out their setups or check out a tool
or technique. They have stayed late after our meetings to show me
something, or now on occasion when they have a question for me.

The tree of what we do is indeed quite large. There is no end to what
you can do with wood and imagination. And if you please yourself, that
is certainly enough. I believe you should go wherever your heart
desires, do what you want, and when you are suffieciently pleased with
your results and your skills in a certain area, move onto the next
project, whatever that might be.

A turned ornament, a birdhouse with the grandkids or nieces/nephews, a
new coffee table, a new deck, a new front door, a tree house, new
kitchen cabs.... I say "jump in, the water's fine!"

Robert