On Sat, 6 May 2006 11:54:45 -0400, (Arch) wrote:

Hi Harry,
Thanks for your ideas and what you do. Just to invite opinions and not
to disagree with what you and the rest of us are often forced to do.
I've sometimes gone farther and fared worse by letting the wood's size
and form dictate what my turned object's size and form will be. I've
turned some sad abortions by trying to get the largest possible turning
out of a piece of wood.

IOW, whenever possible I think it's best to turn to our design not the
blank's. Not everyone will agree and of course, there's a big difference
between wasting the wood we bought and the wood we found.

I guess my theory is that I should get as much as I can out of the
blank- but I like to basically finish the outside to a pleasing shape,
and then worry about the inside. As Robert said, there have been
times where a 12" dia X 6" tall hunk of wood ended up as a 4"
mini-bowl.

As far as the design goes, it's like jazz- I just turn away until
something nice develops. Maybe if I get into something a bit more
complex than making smooth bowls out of salvaged wood it'll take a bit
more planning, but so far it's working fine to play around with it.