• Beware of Counterfeit Woodturning Tools (click here for details)
  • Johnathan Silwones is starting a new AAW chapter, Southern Alleghenies Woodturners, in Johnstown, PA. (click here for details)
  • Congratulations to Paul May for "Checkerboard (ver 3.0)" being selected as Turning of the Week for March 25, 2024 (click here for details)
  • Welcome new registering member. Your username must be your real First and Last name (for example: John Doe). "Screen names" and "handles" are not allowed and your registration will be deleted if you don't use your real name. Also, do not use all caps nor all lower case.

Murphy's law for woodturners.

odie

TOTW Team
Joined
Dec 22, 2006
Messages
7,074
Likes
9,475
Location
Panning for Montana gold, with Betsy, the mule!
I ran across this, and thought it might be fun to make up a Murphy's law list for woodturners.
I might even post it in my shop, if we get some good responses on this...
1629527317594.png
OK, I'll start with this:

1. If you drop a small part in your shavings, chances are you'll never see it again, it isn't magnetic, and it'll take more than a month to get a replacement!

OK, take it from there friends...

-----odie-----
 

brian horais

Beta Tester
TOTW Team
Joined
Dec 20, 2014
Messages
249
Likes
1,844
Location
Knoxville, TN
Website
www.horais.com
Try this one: "If the wood starts chirping at an increasing frequency when you are thinning the inside wall, you will soon create a new opening..." I found this out dramatically when I was turning the inside of a twisted, segmented vase. As a result of the twist the interior wall thicknesses vary. When trying to make that 'one more light cut' like Ron indicated in his post, I broke through. After some deep 'muttering', I decided the only way to salvage the work was to make three kidney shaped holes in the sides to balance out my mistake. Here is the result. Sometimes redesign can improve an unanticipated outcome.
 

Attachments

  • holes in vase.jpg
    holes in vase.jpg
    467.2 KB · Views: 30

odie

TOTW Team
Joined
Dec 22, 2006
Messages
7,074
Likes
9,475
Location
Panning for Montana gold, with Betsy, the mule!
If you put all faith in a screw chuck, you will have a piece fly off your lathe.

Well, Zip........this comment must be intended for me! :)

I don't recall ever having a turning fly off while using a screw chuck. I have had a the inevitable catch from time to time, though. :(


One advantage of the screw chuck, is when you do have a catch, the turning simply tightens on the screw. When using a faceplate, there is no "give" at all, so catches can be much more dramatic.


The disadvantage to using a screw center chuck, is if it does turn on the screw, your "perfect geometry" has just been altered! :eek:

-----odie-----
 

Tom Gall

TOTW Team
Joined
Feb 20, 2013
Messages
956
Likes
1,763
Location
Hillsborough, NJ
"I'll just put this here (small item/tool - not necessarily for turning) where I'll be sure to find it later".....NOT!!!
This just happened yesterday - an irreplaceable component to another item I was fixing. Wasted about an hour retracing my steps all over the shop. Grrrrr!
 
Joined
Dec 15, 2017
Messages
255
Likes
140
Location
South Plainfield, NJ
I ran across this, and thought it might be fun to make up a Murphy's law list for woodturners.
I might even post it in my shop, if we get some good responses on this...
View attachment 40062
OK, I'll start with this:

1. If you drop a small part in your shavings, chances are you'll never see it again, it isn't magnetic, and it'll take more than a month to get a replacement!

OK, take it from there friends...

-----odie-----
If you drop a tool, it will always land on the sharp end, and no longer be sharp!
 
Joined
Jan 18, 2020
Messages
124
Likes
103
Location
Bath, Maine
OK, I'll start with this:

1. If you drop a small part in your shavings, chances are you'll never see it again, it isn't magnetic, and it'll take more than a month to get a replacement!

OK, take it from there friends...
A few months ago I lost my wedding band in a big pile of shavings. (Ring was loose; I've lost weight.) I sorted through by hand and couldn't find it -- gold doesn't stand out against light brown shavings. I got a cheap metal detector from Amazon, but that would only pick up the rebar in the cement floor, so I had to sort through a handful at a time using the metal detector. I eventually found the ring and immediately took it to a jeweler for resizing.
 
Joined
Jul 19, 2018
Messages
1,686
Likes
2,077
Location
Ponsford, MN
"I'll just put this here (small item/tool - not necessarily for turning) where I'll be sure to find it later".....NOT!!!
This just happened yesterday - an irreplaceable component to another item I was fixing. Wasted about an hour retracing my steps all over the shop. Grrrrr!
That sounds like a typical case of "Oldfartitise.
 

odie

TOTW Team
Joined
Dec 22, 2006
Messages
7,074
Likes
9,475
Location
Panning for Montana gold, with Betsy, the mule!
What comes after too tight?



Too loose!
Odie, l was thinking of you, but my law was not intended to disparage screw chucks. Didn't Murphy say that anything that can go wrong will go wrong? Something like, "l don't need to wear my face shield turning this piece".

Mike.....I think Timothy has hit on something that confirms Murphy's law.

If a catch on the screw chuck is a big one, I can see the screw stripping the wood away, so it's possible to have a turning fly off.

Maybe I've just been lucky.......or, maybe my "when it will happen" is still to come! :oops:

-----odie-----
 
Joined
May 31, 2019
Messages
290
Likes
360
Location
Highland, MI
If you've been looking all over for something, it'll end up being right where you started.
 
Joined
Feb 8, 2021
Messages
230
Likes
102
Location
Vancouver,WA
~Those scratches will (surely) come out with the next grit
~If you think your tool needs to be sharpened: it does!
~Wood: when in doubt, don't throw it out! Collect it on a shelf, in a bucket, drawer, cabinet, or shed. You might need it within the next ten or fifteen years.
 

Tom Gall

TOTW Team
Joined
Feb 20, 2013
Messages
956
Likes
1,763
Location
Hillsborough, NJ
~Those scratches will (surely) come out with the next grit
~If you think your tool needs to be sharpened: it does!
~Wood: when in doubt, don't throw it out! Collect it on a shelf, in a bucket, drawer, cabinet, or shed. You might need it within the next ten or fifteen years.
Have you been to my shop??? Thirty years ago I considered my shop to be spacious....now its just cramped!
 
Joined
May 31, 2019
Messages
290
Likes
360
Location
Highland, MI
You're convinced that if you try some other, more expensive, kind of sandpaper, all your sanding problems will be solved, when in fact, your entire wood supply got infested by some organism that leaves invisible microscopic grooves in your wood that, the moment your wood gets touched by any kind of finish, magically appear and look just like sanding scratches.
 
Joined
Jan 3, 2021
Messages
413
Likes
511
Location
Spartanburg, SC
You will leave your knock-out bar in the lathe again after a tap-out/drive change, after swearing you will never do it again after the last time!
 
Back
Top