In message , Arch
writes
..plus a couple of his "inconvenient truths".
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Reading books and viewing videos may not be experience, but they leveled
the turning field and probably saved a couple of my fingers.

So you used the books to stand on so you could achieve that perfect
position for turning as defined by those who know

I turn what I like and I don't care what anybody thinks of my turnings.
That's why I never ask 'anybody' what she thinks.
If when you finish your turning you are as relaxed as you were before
you started then you have enjoyed your time at the lathe. If you are
up-tight, then you need to find a hobby, or a beer , to take your mind
off the stresses of life If your more relaxed, the hobby worked


Files and cut nails are cheap tool blanks and pose no danger to me. I'm
sure since I've never fractured a file or a nail. Well, once when I
dropped a file and once when I hammered a flooring nail off center.
What's that to do with scrapers & skews?
There are tools for every job, a hammer for every screw ( did I say
that?)
If the tool you use achieves the goal you are aiming for, and your
safety is not compromised, then ends justify means.


I'm not likely to pay over a hundred bucks for a gouge, but I'm sure I'd
be a better turner for using it. Guess I'll never know.
A bad workman always blames his tools, but does a good workman praise
his tools, or boast of his ability? If your happy with what you turn,
then the tools your using are right for you. Is it better to be
continuously happy turning, or to have that one ecstatic moment when you
turn, and mediocrity the rest of the time?



Making the same mistake for a year is a mistake. Making it for two years
is vast personal experience. Making it for longer than that is
expertise. I must be an expert.
I am an expert in but one thing and that is my life. No one else could
have done it the way I have. I may never become an expert in any other
subject , but hopefully I will become knowledgeable, and possibly pass
some of that knowledge on.


The fact that something worked for me three times is not an experiment,
it's an anecdote and may even be an antidote.
Once is luck, twice, coincidence, three times is a trend, but four times
may be a pattern, but even patterns can be broken.

In my mid 70's I didn't bother with dust protection cause I figured that
I wouldn't last long enough for cancer or lung disease to ever bother
me. Now that I'm past my mid 80's I'm beginning to wish I had bothered.
I'm glad that I lived long enough to regret that I didn't bother. but I
suggest that you bother unless you are in your mid 90's ...and even then
maybe you better bother if only to save on kleenex, but don't bother to
argue about it.
If we knew when younger what we know now, we would probably worry
ourselves to death, or isolate ourselves in a cocoon, never going
anywhere nor doing anything. Life is a risk that we take from the day we
are born. The level of risk we are prepared to take is ours to decide,
but we need knowledge which to base our decisions and experience, to
temper those decisions. If only wisdom were available in a bottle.

If it's posted on rcw it's truth, whether or not it's convenient. OTOH,
it could be false, but it's always convenient.

It may not be truth or it may not be falsehood but its definitely
entertaining

Arch, your musings are always food for thought, keep them coming as
without we may forget to look at ourselves, others and the world around
us.
--
John