On May 29, 7:39 am, (Arch) wrote:
I wonder if I am the exception that proves the natural history rule of
the woodturner's life. Please agree or disagree or tell us of your
personal turning journey, whether hobby or profession. Here's mine.

I started in the late thirties with makeshift equipment, under powered,
under engineered, under sharpened and used it with less than
understanding. I read and gabbed and practiced and of course the more I
learned, the more I upgraded.
The tools became more expensive, more dedicated and more sophisticated.
The bowls got bigger, the timber got rarer and my turnings spent less
and less time on the kitchen table and more and more time on the coffee
table or displayed on a shelf somewhere. Their surfaces became strangely
'enhanced', even assaulted and their shapes became less and less round
and more and more asymmetrical until some were quite grotesque, but
always pretended to be art in my mind's eye.

Over time I began retracing the same path I took as a fledging, then
later a decently competent 'up to date' turner. Slowly I happily
regressed back toward simple and small. I have a cache of 'big' blanks
of fancy timber that's slowly rotting, I have a 16 in. lathe with 22 in.
outboard capacity and a shop made mammoth contraption when in the day I
tried to progress from bowls to tubs. I have a cabinet of long, and
absurdly heavy turning tools and a bin of large chucks, fitments and
accessories, all beginning to gather the dust of neglect.

More and more I find myself going to the shop, picking up a small
nondescript blank, putting it between centers on my Jet mini, and
nonchalantly turning some small, round, coved, beaded, tapered and
sometimes sanded sometimes not object that's almost never given a chance
for a drop dead gorgeous finish. Then tiring or bored and quickly losing
some of my previous drive and turning enthusiasm, I opt for a glass of
ice cold sweet tea or maybe a beer and sit down to watch a game on TV
or read a rcw that's being taken hostage by spam, but still has life.
Don't misunderstand me, I still love the hobby, just not with white hot
enthusiasm and it's not my living or be all and end all.

Sometimes I turn a small toy. a tiny lighthouse, a chain pull, a pen,
maybe a tool handle or a birdhouse or two and truly enjoy doing so. Or I
might turn a useless spindle or finial and call it art or more likely
throw it in the 'no need to keep, too good to dispose of' bucket. Anyone
need a a useless 'thingamajig'? I've got a few dozen laying around, not
to mention various purpose made tools, fitments and other abortions made
over the years on my now little used mill and metal lathe.

The old axiom that the older we get, the smaller our toys (and
woodturning pursuits) become, certainly applies to me. How about thee?
Just be sure to know that altho I'm now in my late eighties, I can still
applaud with respect and admiration all the new and innovative
approaches to a turned wooden object and my return to 'small and simple'
is not to denigrate any one of the great new breed of Turners. Rather,
I'm just musing and have been known to exaggerate just a little.

Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter

http://community.webtv.net/almcc/MacsMusings

Good to hear from you again Arch. I've only been turning wood for
about 22 years and have been writing about it for over 15 of those
years. I've turned a lot of bowls as well as bottle stoppers, baby
rattles, etc. I even thought that maybe I could help support my
retirement by making and selling woodturned pieces. Being a business
man, I kept records. After three years, I found that I had averaged
about 25 cents and hour selling my pieces. So in 1996, I started More
Woodturning magazine, which has made me more money than making and
selling woodturned pieces. Now, I simply turn what I wish to do. I
donated them for auctions, give them to friends and relatives, or
simply keep them to remember making them. That happens often to be a
simple Chinese Ball with four balls inside. I like this, because at
any time up until the last cut you can break the ball. The challenge
is to finish one without breaking it. So far in the last ten years,
I've turned over 200 of them and probably broken nearly half the many.
You would think they would become tiring, but they remain challenging.
I even recently turned a segmented bowl, which I hadn't done for
several years. It was pleasing to see how easily it turned with all
side grain to work with.

Hang in there and keep turning even if the pieces are small.

Fred Holder
http://www.morewoodturning.net