G'day Arch,

I can't disagree with the points you make. My main reason for posting
was to refute any suggestion that speed should always be at the low
end for safety. Whilst turning at a speed too fast for a given blank
is dangerous, I don't believe turning at half the optimum speed is
significantly safer and I know the surface finish will probably be
poorer.

I suppose the optimum speed for a very experienced turner will
generally be higher than that for a novice. However, the novice
should always expect to be able to improve and turn safely at higher
speeds as experience is gained.

Read, look and listen but always consider it before adopting. If you
feel something is dangerous, don't do it. If you are too cautious
with your tool presentation you'll probably achieve exactly you fear!

Safe turning,
Alan

On Fri, 9 Sep 2005 10:56:07 -0400, (Arch) wrote:

Hi Alan, Well done, thanks.
Your helpful post made me rethink some of my long held verities.

I have assumed that without a sharp tool, wood cannot be turned well.
Nothing, not technique, not equipment, not speed, not bevel, not hope
and not even fame, can compensate for a dull tool.

I've also assumed that good _turning technique etc. can make a surface
that doesn't require beginning with coarser grits, but good _sanding
technique doesn't allow skipping coarser sequential grits on a lesser
surface.

I thought there were so many variables involved in turning a chunk of
wood successfully that engineers, physicists , rocket scientists and the
rest of us end up turning empirically and intuititively. It seemed to
me that dogmatic assertions and 'always/nevers' about any one variable
were more helpful in debate than in turning.

I reckoned that we all suffer catches. Good technique and tooling may
keep them infrequent and small, and proper velocity may lessen the
consequences, but they happen in the real world of inattention, waving
gouges and hidden nails.

Anyway, your discussion provoked thought, not argument. I hope you and
others will expand on it. Thanks again.


Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter



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