The Zone, Zen Moments, "Just So" Time - they're all the same
- when everything just happens almost perfectly and effort-
lessly. Get there and you're brain rewards you with a shot of
endorphin - much better than the old "Good JOB!" - and legal,
at least until those who are certain someone, somewhere, is
having fun AND not being punished for it figure out a way to
make it illegal. Odd how such a small minority of the people
who came to The New World somehow imposed so much
Puritanism on our civil laws.

But I digress.

Was playing with some Santos mahogany, trying to see
how fine I could turn it - the idea for the turnings being
spires, or more precisely, minarets. Shortly after chucking
up a 1/2" square blank and roughing it to round the Zen
Thing began. Everything went Just So - the lathe, the chuck,
the tool, the wood - and I - locked in, like musicians often
do after noodling around for a while.

Here are the post cards of The Trip To The Zone.

http://web.hypersurf.com/~charlie2/T...urning14C.html

Fun this woodworking thing.

charlie b

Thanks for bringing us back to the zone. Its calming to read and
inspiring.
few tech notes:
photography - either you're not allowing the pre-half press for auto
focus
or getting to close. Its a pity because the result doesnt do the work
justice.
The relaxation you talk about seems like something I'll have
after the children are older. Hmmm...
Can you estimate how long the minaret can be before some support
wheels are necessary? do you get any wobble at those lengths?
Keep the good stuff coming,
Max

Did you use a steady rest of any kind while being in the zone?

Regards
Paul Geving



Was playing with some Santos mahogany, trying to see
how fine I could turn it - the idea for the turnings being
spires, or more precisely, minarets. Shortly after chucking
up a 1/2" square blank and roughing it to round the Zen
Thing began. Everything went Just So - the lathe, the chuck,
the tool, the wood - and I - locked in, like musicians often
do after noodling around for a while.

Here are the post cards of The Trip To The Zone.

http://web.hypersurf.com/~charlie2/T...urning14C.html

Fun this woodworking thing.

charlie b

Max63 & paulg:

Regarding the photography, these things are too big to use
the macro feature and not big enough for "normal" mode.
I'm sure much of the problem with focus has to do with
low light and the resulting longer exposure time. Someday
I'll make a little photo box - with indirect lighting - 3 lights,
color corrected for "daylight" of course.

Regarding kids and stress - you can learn to "tune out"
all the sounds except for the ones you need to hear - the
slight chatter sound (and feel) when things are beginning
to go wrong - or the sound of a child who is injured or
really frightened. One of the famous turners / teachers
has his students do 10 or 15 minutes of loosening up
exercises BEFORE he lets them on the lathe - neck rolls,
shoulder rolls, hoola-hoop waste and legs stuff and
wrist and finger waving/shaking. Feeling a little foolish
is a great way to leave stress and anxiety behind before
getting to the Fun Stuff. And if you leave a little part
of your brain paying attention to how your body feels
- jaw clench, neck and shoulders tight - it'll let you know
when it's time to step away and shake some tenseness
out before turning again.

To the How question

I'm holding the drive end of the SQUARE blank in what I think are
called either spigot or pin jaws on a SuperNova2 chuck. I mark the
center of the tail stock end just as a reference - using a live
center on that end to get me close to centered as I tighten the
scroll chuck. I've got the stock back in the chuck far enough
that the jaws are gripping their whole length, with five or six
inches extending out beyond the jaws. Much beyond maybe 6"
and the tail stock end starts getting twitchy as it's turned
thinner and thinner.

Note that I emphasized SQUARE stock. Probably would be better
to turn a 1/2" tenon on one end, between centers and THEN
chuck it up - but that takes time - and I'm impatient. I want
to be patient when I HAVE to be patient - doing the delicate
stuff. With SQUARE stock, ALL four jaws grip the wood
whereas with rectangular but not square stock, only two jaws
would be gripping the stock.

I have turned thin stuff between centers that were longer
than 6 inches and used a shop made "string" support that
worked fairly well on some experiments with trembleurs.
Don't really recomend turning real thin between centers
since almost any pressure along the long axis of the turning
tends to flex the work as things get thinner. Bad enough
when you flex the part trying to force the cut. Definitely
going to try trembleurs again using the scroll chuck - after
this obsession with spinarets tapers off

http://web.hypersurf.com/~charlie2/T...rembleurs.html

charlie b


ps
I did an attempt at animating the Roll Slide Roll cut I used
for the tear drop stuff to add to the line drawings illustration
of same step by step. Even with 30 frames per each of the
12 steps it goes by way to fast to see the details but I'm
working on that. Please have a look at the animation on
this page and let me know if it's ok in your browser or too
fast to be able to see what's going on.

http://web.hypersurf.com/~charlie2/T...urning14C.html

Charlie,

Animation worked slowly, like a frame per second (Internet Explorer -
Charter 3mb)

The whole thing shows pointed end down. I expected the curved edge down so
you'd avoid catching it and scribing the work. It makes sense as you
describe when doing the inside curve.

I just went back and reviewed Alan Lacer's skew DVD. It proves a point - no
right or wrong - just do what works for you Talk about a guy in the zone
LOL. He was doing a knitting thinger and while cutting a flat area BETWEEN
CENTERS you could actually watch the piece flexing. He never put his hand
opposite for support. Forgotten or missed that the first time.

TomNie

"charlieb" wrote in message
...
Max63 & paulg:

Regarding the photography, these things are too big to use
the macro feature and not big enough for "normal" mode.
I'm sure much of the problem with focus has to do with
low light and the resulting longer exposure time. Someday
I'll make a little photo box - with indirect lighting - 3 lights,
color corrected for "daylight" of course.

Regarding kids and stress - you can learn to "tune out"
all the sounds except for the ones you need to hear - the
slight chatter sound (and feel) when things are beginning
to go wrong - or the sound of a child who is injured or
really frightened. One of the famous turners / teachers
has his students do 10 or 15 minutes of loosening up
exercises BEFORE he lets them on the lathe - neck rolls,
shoulder rolls, hoola-hoop waste and legs stuff and
wrist and finger waving/shaking. Feeling a little foolish
is a great way to leave stress and anxiety behind before
getting to the Fun Stuff. And if you leave a little part
of your brain paying attention to how your body feels
- jaw clench, neck and shoulders tight - it'll let you know
when it's time to step away and shake some tenseness
out before turning again.

To the How question

I'm holding the drive end of the SQUARE blank in what I think are
called either spigot or pin jaws on a SuperNova2 chuck. I mark the
center of the tail stock end just as a reference - using a live
center on that end to get me close to centered as I tighten the
scroll chuck. I've got the stock back in the chuck far enough
that the jaws are gripping their whole length, with five or six
inches extending out beyond the jaws. Much beyond maybe 6"
and the tail stock end starts getting twitchy as it's turned
thinner and thinner.

Note that I emphasized SQUARE stock. Probably would be better
to turn a 1/2" tenon on one end, between centers and THEN
chuck it up - but that takes time - and I'm impatient. I want
to be patient when I HAVE to be patient - doing the delicate
stuff. With SQUARE stock, ALL four jaws grip the wood
whereas with rectangular but not square stock, only two jaws
would be gripping the stock.

I have turned thin stuff between centers that were longer
than 6 inches and used a shop made "string" support that
worked fairly well on some experiments with trembleurs.
Don't really recomend turning real thin between centers
since almost any pressure along the long axis of the turning
tends to flex the work as things get thinner. Bad enough
when you flex the part trying to force the cut. Definitely
going to try trembleurs again using the scroll chuck - after
this obsession with spinarets tapers off

http://web.hypersurf.com/~charlie2/T...rembleurs.html

charlie b


ps
I did an attempt at animating the Roll Slide Roll cut I used
for the tear drop stuff to add to the line drawings illustration
of same step by step. Even with 30 frames per each of the
12 steps it goes by way to fast to see the details but I'm
working on that. Please have a look at the animation on
this page and let me know if it's ok in your browser or too
fast to be able to see what's going on.

http://web.hypersurf.com/~charlie2/T...urning14C.html

Tom Nie wrote:
Charlie,

Animation worked slowly, like a frame per second (Internet Explorer -
Charter 3mb)

The whole thing shows pointed end down. I expected the curved edge down so
you'd avoid catching it and scribing the work. It makes sense as you
describe when doing the inside curve.

I just went back and reviewed Alan Lacer's skew DVD. It proves a point - no
right or wrong - just do what works for you Talk about a guy in the zone
LOL. He was doing a knitting thinger and while cutting a flat area BETWEEN
CENTERS you could actually watch the piece flexing. He never put his hand
opposite for support. Forgotten or missed that the first time.

TomNie

"charlieb" wrote in message
...
Max63 & paulg:

Regarding the photography, these things are too big to use
the macro feature and not big enough for "normal" mode.
I'm sure much of the problem with focus has to do with
low light and the resulting longer exposure time. Someday
I'll make a little photo box - with indirect lighting - 3 lights,
color corrected for "daylight" of course.

Regarding kids and stress - you can learn to "tune out"
all the sounds except for the ones you need to hear - the
slight chatter sound (and feel) when things are beginning
to go wrong - or the sound of a child who is injured or
really frightened. One of the famous turners / teachers
has his students do 10 or 15 minutes of loosening up
exercises BEFORE he lets them on the lathe - neck rolls,
shoulder rolls, hoola-hoop waste and legs stuff and
wrist and finger waving/shaking. Feeling a little foolish
is a great way to leave stress and anxiety behind before
getting to the Fun Stuff. And if you leave a little part
of your brain paying attention to how your body feels
- jaw clench, neck and shoulders tight - it'll let you know
when it's time to step away and shake some tenseness
out before turning again.

To the How question

I'm holding the drive end of the SQUARE blank in what I think are
called either spigot or pin jaws on a SuperNova2 chuck. I mark the
center of the tail stock end just as a reference - using a live
center on that end to get me close to centered as I tighten the
scroll chuck. I've got the stock back in the chuck far enough
that the jaws are gripping their whole length, with five or six
inches extending out beyond the jaws. Much beyond maybe 6"
and the tail stock end starts getting twitchy as it's turned
thinner and thinner.

Note that I emphasized SQUARE stock. Probably would be better
to turn a 1/2" tenon on one end, between centers and THEN
chuck it up - but that takes time - and I'm impatient. I want
to be patient when I HAVE to be patient - doing the delicate
stuff. With SQUARE stock, ALL four jaws grip the wood
whereas with rectangular but not square stock, only two jaws
would be gripping the stock.

I have turned thin stuff between centers that were longer
than 6 inches and used a shop made "string" support that
worked fairly well on some experiments with trembleurs.
Don't really recomend turning real thin between centers
since almost any pressure along the long axis of the turning
tends to flex the work as things get thinner. Bad enough
when you flex the part trying to force the cut. Definitely
going to try trembleurs again using the scroll chuck - after
this obsession with spinarets tapers off

http://web.hypersurf.com/~charlie2/T...rembleurs.html

charlie b


ps
I did an attempt at animating the Roll Slide Roll cut I used
for the tear drop stuff to add to the line drawings illustration
of same step by step. Even with 30 frames per each of the
12 steps it goes by way to fast to see the details but I'm
working on that. Please have a look at the animation on
this page and let me know if it's ok in your browser or too
fast to be able to see what's going on.

http://web.hypersurf.com/~charlie2/T...urning14C.html


I attended a R.R. course a few years ago. At one point in the lectures
he started talking to us and took out his skew and began turning. He
was explaining the use of the skew to us. In about 15 minutes he had a
trembleur about 20cm long turned. The main shaft was less than 3 mm in
dia. The amazing thing was that he only had the wood in a chuck. he
didn't have the other end supported at all. It was amazing to watch.