If the 'finishing touch' is putting on the finish or signing the
piece, the
line has been set back so far the signature might as well read "Made in

China".

Probably truer words were never spoken on this subject.

As far as Ellsworth goes, you and Owen are probably right on that one,
I just had not heard it. I am wondering if Ellsworth is worried that
he will be left behind since he is not viewed as an innovative artist,
but more of a one note samba. When is the last time he revealed an all
new, never before seen totally original work?

But in my view, as Shakespeare said (see how I properly attribute
;^) ) "methinks the lady doth protesteth too much".

If he is worried about someone hijacking his designs, he needs to keep
them a secret. Even DaVinci kept his notes written backwards and
incomplete to fend off pilfering. Further, he should have no classes
teaching his methods which he knows people will surely go out and try
after spending a few hundred a day to learn them, and last, he
shouldn't have stolen his grind from the guy I can never remember his
name. I would need to go to the club's resident grind expert for that
one... he has met the guy and HE was miffed that Ellsworth takes all
the credit for the pattern.

It was the Irish grind, then the English couldn't live with that, so it
became the "Celtic" grind. Sure Ellsworth changed it a little, but I
have never heard him give proper homage to those that paved the way for
his grind.

OK, so substitute Mike Mahoney for Ellsworth. He has 3 apprenitice
grinders that help rough, shape, and finish as needed. I don't know
how much lathe time MM puts in himself on a MM bowl, but if you see how
many he turns a week, it can't be much.

And here's something funny one on me. I was trying to come up with a
grind that would allow a smoother transition from the side to the
bottom of a deeper bowl (aren't we all?). I played around with some
different designs, and then thought of actually curving the nose of the
grind to give a scooping action, and leaving the side short so I
wouldn't have the tool knock my teeth out. And finally... success!!
Wow!! The Robert grind was born. I was going to go with the Robert
grind because all the big guys only have one name; Bono, Batman,
Tarzan, you know. I was pleased.

Then, the Craft Supplies catalogue came and I was perusing the pages to
see how much everything has gone up and if there was anything new. And
there was! But how could someone have stolen the Robert grind? It
hadn't been released to the general public!

But alas, the very same MM had come upon the same grind. No kiddin'.
And worse, he is now selling his signature line of tools with the same
grind. But on my end, it was too late for MM. I already showed the
club what I did and the cat was out of the bag. Some tried it and
liked it, and I think they are still using it. I will not however give
MM the nod for coming up with that grind.

Personally, like most, he probably doesn't care.

Robert
(almost a household word.... HAH!)