I heard this tagline for Mossy Oak outdoor gear and I thought it was perfect for us. Is woodturning your passion or obsession? I'm somewhere in between.
Geometry is one of my foremost interests, but I have absolutely no interest in segmenting -- made two segmented bowls and that was enough. Instead I use spindles to construct elaborate lattices and polygons (e.g., tetrahedra, octahedra, cubes). Many require a lot of spindles.The thing that is great about woodturning over say doing flat work is that people with many different skill sets can participate. What I call the engineer guys, the guys that love math migrate into segmented glued up turnings. They put together a puzzle before they ever turn the lathe on. The cannot stand to do something without a drawing before proceeding. I think of Malcom Tibbits on the far end of that spectrum.
I'd much rather spin up the lathe and see what emerges. I rarely start with a plan.
This one of the best posts I have ever read!The thing that is great about woodturning over say doing flat work is that people with many different skill sets can participate. What I call the engineer guys, the guys that love math migrate into segmented glued up turnings. They put together a puzzle before they ever turn the lathe on. The cannot stand to do something without a drawing before proceeding. I think of Malcom Tibbits on the far end of that spectrum.
On the other end a person that is very artistic in their methods and thinking can begin a piece without a preconceived notion of what It will look like. They turn, they think, they modify and often make it up along the way. They have the complete freedom do take a piece of timber and make it into anything they want to. Makes me think of Betty Scarpio although i'd guess she has a pretty good idea of where she is headed before she starts.
In-between those two are the rest of us that can make simple bowls without embellishment and be happy, create boxes and tops and christmas ornaments and just have fun. I did not discover woodturning until I was over 55. My only regret is I wish i would have discovered it earlier.
I have sometimes referred to woodturning as an addiction. I also point out that it's one of the healthier ones, but it will sure cost as much, if not more, in the money you'll spend.A number of years ago, I attended a gallery reception in Scottsdale, Arizona—my home town--that included some of my work in an exhibit of mixed media. During the evening, someone came up to me with a question that I recall went something like this: “Can you tell me what this ‘woodturning thing’ is all about?”
I didn’t purposely mean to sound flippant to a question like that, but it came out that way. “The woodturning thing, I said, is an addiction, really, and a persistent one. You can’t really stay away from it for very long.”
That was probably not the answer this person was hoping for, but for those of us who are woodturning “junkies,” we understand. A question lingers, however: when you have been turning for as long as I have—over 50 years—what keeps you going? Is it just the need to keep making stuff in your own manner? The love and challenges of the material? Is it an enduring passion? Or, is it a necessity really, like breathing? Interesting questions….
There are rewards for this type of behavior, though. The result of your efforts is the creation of something tangible, made by your own hands. Seemingly incredible in this day and age of electronic wizardry. And, sometimes there is the ego-stroking compliment by someone duly impressed at what they see, when they ask: “You actually made that?”
So...not only a passion or obsession, but also an addiction and in my case a necessity too.
JPaul Fennell
All of the above for me, too....So...not only a passion or obsession, but also an addiction and in my case a necessity too.
This makes a lot of sense, too, Doug! I wonder if our modern lives that don't involve constant hand-work for most of us is a contributing factor in the mental health crisis. Food for thought.My obsession is to doing/repairing/making things with my hands.
Over the millions of years of human evolution the recent centuries of being able to live without major dependency on the use of our hands for basic life, hunting/gathering food, providing safe shelter, etc for our families is only a blink of an eye in the human timespan. If may well be the accelerated evolution of life/society as we know it today has outpaced our basic nature to rely and depend on the use our hands. Hobbies like turning can provide that needed hands-on fix. In my case after working in high tech I can't imagine not having a basement shop to get my hands dirty.
Spot on.discover woodturning until I was over 55. My only regret is I wish i would have discovered it earlier.
Funny but sadly true.There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.
I think one can be all those. A combination is best. It’s nice to learn from the mistakes of others rather than make them oneself.here are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.
That intricate, therapeutic hand-work is the only thing that stops the voices for a while, and allows us to escape into a world where our problems, at least for a few hours, sort of work themselves out at the lathe, at the easel, in that gun-stock you're carving or refinishing, whatever it is.
I don’t care how you define it, but I’ve enjoyed this thread, and both of these comments (above) in particular resonate for me. My wife is a retired occupational therapist. Their motto (if that’s the word for it) is “through the use of his hands man [and woman] finds meaning.” I think the profession grew out of serving the needs of returning injured soldiers from WW I. Too many folks spend their lives never using their hands to create something. It’s an amazing facility we have.Another aspect for me, is I'm someone who likes to invent, and make things that help the turning process go more smoothly.....little things, actually.....little things that add up to an overall better experience