Prometheus wrote:
Like I said, it's probably a personal shortcoming, but I had a hard
time imagining that there are not others who lurk on these groups and
have the same reaction to the general tone (less so here than on
rec.woodworking.) If I can help one other guy who is busting his ass
to make things with rickety tools by pointing out that you don't have
to have a Oneway to turn a weed pot, and it helps him get through his
learning stage, I consider that ample reason to risk irritating a guy
who has a Oneway, a Stubby, and a Vicmark in his garage, and declares
that anything less is unacceptable.
Yeah ... what he said.
The reality is that most guys already own the best they can afford. Some
guys have a ton of money to throw into a hobby ... others are scrapping
out a living with less prestigious tools. Some guys can't make ANY tool
work for them, others could turn out good work with a piece of broken
glass for a tool and a sewer drain for inspiration. The possession of a
tool is not synonymous with the possession of the skills to use it. The
two simply do not HAVE a relationship.
Me? I've mostly got cheap tools. My only top-end tool (a Milwaukee
router) is among my least used tools. I figure that when I learn to turn
out good work on the cheaper tools, I'll be ready to move up AND have
the money to do it with. In the meantime, I'm learning how to hold work,
sharpen edges, judge grain and apply finishes. While laying awake around
4 am today I had an idea of how to hold a shallow dish last night that I
am going to try tomorrow. It's a way to work around the lack of a vacuum
chuck. Probably not new (vacuum chucks are new, workholding on lathes is
ancient), but it might solve my problem of how to hold shallow work that
is near my full swing in diameter without leaving a mark on the bottom
or requiring a pedestal to cover up the mark.
I worked a lot of overtime as a machinist and die maker for years
before I got decent at those trades. I figure I've got about 5 more
years to get to the same point with wood.
I can make a Oneway from a pile of steel, a file, a hammer and a torch.
But I can't make the cover of AAW magazine. Yet.
--
http://nmwoodworks.com/cube
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