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

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

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

(Arch) wrote:

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.

Terrific idea!

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.

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