On Oct 24, 3:33 am, charlieb wrote:

SNIP - of good stuff

Don't fall into the trap of Speed At The Expense Of
Thought And Good Execution. An airline will get you
"there" a lot faster than driving - but the trip probably
won't be as interesting.

For a long time, the measure of how accomplished one was as a turner
was how fast you could "hawg out" material. For years I saw picture
after picture, and saw demo after demo of turners stainding calf high
in shavings grinning like idiots, or looking like they had performed
open heart surgery.

I don't have that much time to turn these days, so I have a tendency
to piddle when turn. I look at the wood, check out the lathe setup,
play with my sharpening jig, use different tools, etc. It is fun for
me.

And since I am in the trades, I would look at another "tradesman" and
EXPECT him or her to perform their given task quickly and
efficiently. There would be no excuse not to do so. That is what
they do, and in some cases that is all they do, and that is actually
why they are there in front of an audience.

I often run into "beginning" craftsmen when I am working on their
houses. They are amazed at how fast I replace a door, put up crown
molding, etc. But that is from their perspective. From my
perspective I am where I should be time wise so that I can still make
some money. It isn't any big deal to me or to my contractors as we
are all about the same on projects.

I sure couldn't make a living as a production turner unless it was as
a cat box shavings generator. I can get the rhythm going to turn
certain things, but I can't keep that speed since it can be a couple
of months between turning times these days. But put me in front of a
miter box, and it is something I do sometimes as much as six days a
week, 8-10 hours a day. Anyone that does a repetitive task like that
will build speed.

still turning variations of Nude Dudes for the November/
December turning club President's Challenge.

OK... no one else bit on this... but I do hope we see pics of that -
whatever it is!

Robert