"charlie b" wrote in message
...
Turning chunks of wood into a nice bowl, plate or
other hollow form is typically a crap shoot. What
is beneath the surface of the starting point is
often only discovered as the piece is turned. But
what if you had more info about what's inside?

Did some of that "visualizing what's inside" work
on my current piece - black walnut - thick bark
still on it. Have posted that to
alt.binaries.pictures.woodworking


A lot of the mystery fades after the first thousand turnings. The first
hundred cords of wood you split and stack teaches you a lot about
interpreting the bark and branches, which also cuts down on the number of
pieces fulfilling their ultimate destiny as heat rather than filling your
pocket.

You can't change the size or composition of a piece, only its shape and
orientation. Some pieces are extremely high failure rate propositions, so
you do them only when the shelves are full of sellers. Did one between
"standard" bowls of outstandingly figured wood yesterday, probably taking
longer than the preceding two roughs on it, and it just didn't look like
what I wanted as I approached final. It gets one more look this afternoon,
and if it hasn't shaped up, it'll sizzle and singe tonight. All the
planning and effort in the world won't save a bad piece of wood or overcome
a bad design choice.

Fortunately the materials grow on trees, and I have pallets of possibilities
out there. Never be afraid to throw something into the fire and move on.
Life's to short to turn crap.