Musing about warming up.
 

Watching the Super Bowl, America's newest national holiday based on the
Roman Gladiator circus, I thought about the analogy between woodturning
and other athletics that require manual ability and can be dangerous.
Baseball and certainly football are games that are preceded by a
necessary period of warming up. This helps to prevent injuries and
improve play.

If a highly paid athlete needs to warm up before swinging a wood bat,
then shouldn't I warm up before skewing or gouging a wood blank?
Actually, before I retired when turning time was short and seldom, I
often warmed up or I paid the price. I probably ought to do so now.

I suspect many 'part timers' would profit from warming up by cutting a
few coves and beads or hollowing a bit of wall on scrap before resuming
the unfinished work left on the lathe. I wonder if many do? Might be a
good reason to keep a second lathe. Then that pink ivory blank wouldn't
have to be removed from the big lathe and risk being caught by a skew.
:)


Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter



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

Musing about warming up.
 

On Mon, 6 Feb 2006 11:57:30 -0500, (Arch) wrote:

Watching the Super Bowl, America's newest national holiday based on the
Roman Gladiator circus, I thought about the analogy between woodturning
and other athletics that require manual ability and can be dangerous.
Baseball and certainly football are games that are preceded by a
necessary period of warming up. This helps to prevent injuries and
improve play.

If a highly paid athlete needs to warm up before swinging a wood bat,
then shouldn't I warm up before skewing or gouging a wood blank?
Actually, before I retired when turning time was short and seldom, I
often warmed up or I paid the price. I probably ought to do so now.

I suspect many 'part timers' would profit from warming up by cutting a
few coves and beads or hollowing a bit of wall on scrap before resuming
the unfinished work left on the lathe. I wonder if many do? Might be a
good reason to keep a second lathe. Then that pink ivory blank wouldn't
have to be removed from the big lathe and risk being caught by a skew.
:)

I sort of find myself doing that, Arch... even if it's a few "practice strokes"
or very light passes..

To carry your football (US or UK) analogy on a little bit, it's like calling a
time out when your opponent is doing well, to "cool him off"...
I get in a sort of rhythm when I'm turning and when I come out the next night
neither my hand or mind are in that same place...


mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

Musing about warming up.
 

Hi Arch

Warming up, before turning?, I sure do, turn up the thermostat and as
soon as the fan comes on I stand right in the middle of this sooting
and warming wave of air, while I look around who/what is going to be my
next victim, sure feels good.
Got a second lathe (wood lathe oh blasphemy) little Delta midi, just to
use up all those pretty leftovers after cutting out the big ones, or
when I don't feel up to tackle the big one G.

http://homepage.mac.com/l.vanderloo/PhotoAlbum4.html

Have fun and take care
Leo Van Der Loo

Musing about warming up.
 

Musing about warming up.
 

Musicians generally warm up before a performance. No matter how
accomplished or talented they are, time away is a cooling-off period that
needs to be reversed. I was at a concert recently where it was obvious that
they started without the proper warm-up. They didn't make mistakes, but
they didn't sound *good.*

In wood turning, it may not matter during the roughing and preliminary
shaping, and I had never thought about this before, but I now think it is a
bad idea to do the finishing cuts at the start of a work session.

Musing about warming up.
 

I keep a pile of "scrap" blanks around. Some are spindle and some
bowl. I will often turn a tool handle, a mallet or a few eggs, to do a
quick warm-up. I don't usually use the handles, but the eggs keep
collecting and end up as gifts.

Joe Fleming - San Diego