Questions about your work flow...

[John Ames]

Do you tend to work on one bowl/project at a time? Start to finish and then move to the next piece?
Or
Do you turn a bunch of bowls/projects and then go through the finishing process with all of them at the same time?
Or
Do you have a bunch of projects in various states of completion all the time?

I'm in the second camp... I tend to turn in batches of about 20-30 bowls and then I'll spray all the bowls over the course of a few days. Rinse and repeat...

I would imagine the segmenters are in the third camp...??

Have you thought about what might improve your work flow production?

Or maybe it just doesn't matter... you get to it when you get to it...

 

[Jaramiah Severns]

I usually have 2 or 3 pieces going, each at different stages. Once something comes off the lathe to dry or cure, something new goes on.

 

[Darryl Fective]

So far, I've been one at a time, (at least until the finishing stage) because I'm usually working green timber. I recently got a coring system and I'm starting to core blanks to dry, so we'll see if it changes.

 

[Bryan Field]

A bunch of projects in various states of completion all the time. Because I spend a lot of time on embellishment. There is usually something on the lathe, something being carved while I wait for the paint to dry on something else.

 

[Russ Braun]

Try segmenting, lol!! On and off, on and off!!

 

[Kent Reisdorph]

I tend to have 2 or 3 going at a time. Mostly green turnings, but I'm going to rough in some stuff for twice-turned.

 

[Donna Banfield]

Years ago, when I was making primarily utilitarian bowls, I would spend several days roughing green wood. By the third or fourth day, my body was feeling the work-out, and I would switch to finish turning and sanding already dry rough-outs.

To maximize the time spent, I would apply production turning methods. For example, I had several of the same size bowl gouges (four 3/8" gouges, six 1/2" gouges, four 5/8" gouges, and two 3/4" gouges). I would begin the morning by sharpening every gouge, and that would take about 30 minutes.

When I started turning, as soon as I felt a gouge not cutting as well as it should (and I don't mean getting dull), I dropped that gouge, and grabbed the next sharpened one. I would get through the entire morning session without having to stop and go to the grinder. After lunch, I sharpened all the gouges again, and spent the afternoon doing the same thing.

The morning sessions were spent roughing only the exterior of several bowls; hold the wood between centers, shape the exterior, turn a tenon, and grab the next blank...rinse and repeat. Then the afternoon session would be hollowing the interior of all those bowls. This was an efficient way to work.

But I don't make many bowls anymore. And it's not as easy to apply the same production methods to making the artwork I create. I simply cannot crank them out, because they are very labor intensive. And because I'm prone to repetitive stress injuries, in the hands, wrists and elbows, I never spend more than a couple of hours doing the same motions. So, over the course of my day, I will do 5-6 different things, and I always have between 20 and 30 pieces at various stages of completion in my studio.

 

[odie]

Do you have a bunch of projects in various states of completion all the time?

^^^^^ This is what I do.

There are six steps from the finish, or 2nd turn on the lathe, to the final Beall buffing stage.....and I do two bowls at a time......so, there are always 12 bowls in the queue at any one time.

It takes about a month for two bowls to move through the six steps... (+/-)

-o-

 

[robo hippy]

Well, like some one said, efficiency is intelligent laziness. Does that make me intelligent or lazy? Well, maybe. I just find it easier to do things in batches. Worst part about this is that right before a show, I typically have a lot of bowl sanding to do....I don't do nearly the volume that I used to, but I still work that way.

robo hippy

 

[Mark Jundanian]

One project at a time. Not a production turner and I don't usually make utilitarian pieces. And I turn dry wood.

 

[Dave Landers]

If I'm doing bowls, it's usually batches for chainsawing, bandsawing, and roughing, maybe coring. Once they go into the bags/boxes/barrel for drying and sit for long enough they usually come out on a shelf. For finish turning, it's usually one at a time - as in "I think I'll do a bowl today, what's on the shelf that looks like it matches what I want?", or "oh look at that, I think I'll finish it".

Hollow forms and the like are usually one-at-a-time - at least till it's sanded and waiting for finish. Sometimes finishing gets batched up for multiple pieces, but mostly because I want pieces to sit for a bit (dry, finish moving, etc). And some finishing (spraying lacquer etc) needs ventilation, which is weather-dependent (for me as I don't have an exhaust fan yet, just doors and a window).

Usually if I get the chainsaw out, I'll at least cut several blanks, even if they're hollow form blanks not bowls. Just because gearing up in PPE and setting up the cutting stand is stuff I want to do less of (plus sweeping up the driveway so I don't get in trouble). And opening the big door of the shop (where I chainsaw) is weather-dependent.

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

Lots of projects but not all turning wood. all in many different stages. Sometimes just get bored with some aspect of a project so go to another.

 

[hockenbery]

I usually have required gaps waiting for wood, finish or glue to dry.
So I often group things.

I often do several pieces when I sand, airbrush, sandblast, buff, apply finish coats.
Set up and clean up times are about the same for 1 piece or 5.
Also I kind o get in the mood for that opperstion.

 

[Mike Novak]

I prefer to work one project at a time, but I’m finding that my wood seems to self destruct if I don’t turn it right away. So I’m in the middle of rough turning a bunch of bowls right now. To see if I have better luck that way.

I think my new refrigerator kiln will also push me more to batch work, since it’s a month start to finish to dry a bowl.

 

[Isaac Litster]

I work with my dad because I am still in high school, he twice turns his bowls, so he has many going at once, we only have one chuck between two lathes, so he often does the outsides one day, insides another, and seals them soon after. Then you know the rest, we use a refrigerator kiln, and then he twice turns them one at a time. Me, I turn all sorts of things, between our high school shop and my home shop. Because of that, I will have 1-2 projects going at a time between both. I sometimes "rough" rings, store them, and whenever I feel like it polish and sand them one at a time. Recently, I turn a green pot/hollow form to the final thickness, and then microwave it for a couple of days, and finally sand and polish them. I can have multiple going, but when I get a piece I am passionate about, it is hard to put it aside and finish it later. If I don't finish one project in one go, I tend to put them aside and never finish them. For example, I have multiple pieces that I started and almost finished, but stopped for some reason, and now I can't get around to finishing them.

 

[Kent Jaffrey]

I make mostly utilitarian bowls and enjoy the “quickness” of it compared to my other hobby of making acoustic guitars. Because of this I tend to do batches.

Chainsaw a load of logs, cut all the blanks round, turn the bowl exteriors and tenons, turn (or core) all the interiors, coat them all with PVA glue for drying. For larger loads I might do a day or twos worth at a time but still in batches.

If I’m turning the dry roughed out bowls. I will pick four or five for the day and again batch them out, anlol the exteriors and tenon, then the interior, then remove tenon.

 

[George Kuipers]

99% of the time, one project, green wood is turned in one go.

 

[Darryn Achall]

I can only turn for a couple of hours at a time 3 days a week or so. Tend to work on one project at a time but not always from beginning to end. I don't have a set system. Turn whatever makes me happy that day. When I feel like roughing, I do that and then put the piece up to dry. If I feel like second turning or hollowing, I will shape and sand a piece. Today feels like a carving, piercing, or finishing day, OK! I usually have 4 or 5 pieces in various stages of completion. Most times a couple of them misted with water and stored in plastic bags for a few days until I get around to working on them.

 

[Vincent Vogel]

I always have several projects going at the same time, it keeps me from getting bored. Today I roughed out two bowls. I have four others in various stages of finishing (waiting on tung oil to dry), finished carving a pumpkin for granddaughter to paint, put a once turned natural edge on lathe to sand tomorrow, welded a tool rest top to the post, then mowed grass.

 

[John Grace]

I rough turn all of my blanks at one time, sealing each one as initially completed, put them on the shelf for a 8-11 months, re-mount and begin finishing them one at a time. I'm very linear in my thinking...

 

[Karl Best]

I'm in production mode for everything up through rough turning, usually 30-40 pieces over a couple of days, but one at a time for second turning and finishing.

 

[Doug Freeman]

Depends on the project. I spent 30 years engineering processes, so process design comes easily. At times a group of bowls go through to a point, then diverge because I want a different result among them.

Sometimes its new process development (a new tool/accessory or requires a new technic) and I will likely carry 3-4 pieces through to allow for uh-oh’s.

Not uncommon for me to have 4 or 5, or maybe 20 to 30 pieces going at the same time, from chainsawed blanks through final finish, just depends.