I live in S.E. Florida on a river near the Atlantic. I'm blessed with
every kind of driftwood imaginable. The same with so many varieties of
fallen and trimmed tree logs and branches. As found, many stir my sense
of beauty ...whatever that is!

I like to think I am a decent hobbyist woodturner, a fair shadetree
machinist, a jackleg sculptor of welded objects and a self styled (as my
eye beholds) judge of taste and discrimination about three dimensional
wood art.

Many of the pieces of wood I find are beautiful or very interesting as
found, but I always want to put them on my lathe or incorporate them in
a welded sculpture. It is very hard for me to leave them alone and enjoy
them as is.

Too often after I give in and turn even a few coves, beads, tapers etc.
or combine the wood with various chunks of metal, my interference has
really added nothing to the inherent beauty of the wood and in many
cases detracted from the elegance presented by nature and its elements.

You and I turn wood of course, and it's natural for us to put every
piece of wood we find on our lathes and turn it. At least just a little
bit. Sometimes we feel a need to add even further decoration.

Just wondering if any of you have the same problem or even consider
leaving well enough alone to be a problem. Woodtuners turn wood. Is it
in the province of a woodturner not to turn every piece of lovely wood
he or she finds? If so, when do you decide and and how do you manage
it?

Sometimes I leave a chunk of driftwood or an unusual branch alone and
put an angel wing or something, but never a finial, on top. Sometimes
they turn out pretty good, ....sometimes neither pretty nor good.


Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter


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