"Arch" wrote in message
...


Today I feel like the guy who innocently starts an argument then moves
to the end of the bar, quietly sips his beer and watches the fight. Of
course that's not true, I'm too young to be served beer in a bar.

That's known as "Let's you and him fight. Here, I'll hold your coat."



Anyway here's some perennial turner's differences and personal wisdom
for y'all to fight over. Meanwhile I'll just sit & sip a cold bud. If

Bud? I thought you said Beer.

only Robert were here, we'd have barbecue with our beers and shoot nails
instead of darts since neither of us is doing any turning these days.
Dang!

Pellet gun and a bunch of plastic milk cartons full of water. Can't imagine
what the recyclers think when they get those riddled bottles.



How come it's ok to bang the knock-out bar hard to get a stuck Morse
taper out of the spindle, but banging a spindle blank onto a spur center
is a big no-no and supposed to hurt the bearings?

Different end, Arch. Be like brushing your teeth with a Fleets.



Do hollow turnings really need to have skinny thin walls? How does a
customer or giftee know those are gossamer walls when the piece is up on
a shelf too high to reach? Does she care? Most turners seem to care a
lot, but get around it by calling their thick walled pieces "bud
vases". Sometimes (most) I don't care either.

Never got to 'gossamer'. Got close to real thin once and it broke.



What about bottoms? (the bowl's, not the customer's). Do they need to
be smoother than an infant's bottom and decorated like a Roman fountain?
Real turners think they do, real customers don't seem to care that much.

I see a lot of real customers looking at the bottoms, but I think they're
either looking for the price or the 'Made In China' stamp. I usually shut my
eyes and run my fingers over the bottom (the bowl's). My fingers can tell me
a lot more than my eyes sometimes. Was an apprentice safe cracker in high
school - about 55 years ago (why'd you have to bring this up). Used to be
able to pop the combination lock on any locker in about 30 seconds - or
maybe a minute ...



Perfect tool bevels sure look nice, but funny how those ugly facets and
cross grinds will cut pretty well so long as the edge is sharp and it's
a good turning day.


Didja ever warm up before starting on an expensive exotic blank by
turning coves and beads on a chunk of scrap and wind up making of the
best pieces you ever turned out of that scrap.

P A I N T

That ought to get Somebody riled ...