Watching the Super Bowl, America's newest national holiday based on the
Roman Gladiator circus, I thought about the analogy between woodturning
and other athletics that require manual ability and can be dangerous.
Baseball and certainly football are games that are preceded by a
necessary period of warming up. This helps to prevent injuries and
improve play.

If a highly paid athlete needs to warm up before swinging a wood bat,
then shouldn't I warm up before skewing or gouging a wood blank?
Actually, before I retired when turning time was short and seldom, I
often warmed up or I paid the price. I probably ought to do so now.

I suspect many 'part timers' would profit from warming up by cutting a
few coves and beads or hollowing a bit of wall on scrap before resuming
the unfinished work left on the lathe. I wonder if many do? Might be a
good reason to keep a second lathe. Then that pink ivory blank wouldn't
have to be removed from the big lathe and risk being caught by a skew.



Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter



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