- Joined
- Jan 27, 2005
- Messages
- 13,098
- Likes
- 5,558
- Location
- Dalworthington Gardens, TX
- Website
- pbase.com
I am a retired electrical engineer and have been woodworking for over thirty years. I suddenly took an an interest in woodturning when I retired about fourteen years ago. My best retirement gift was a Rockler Hardware gift certificate. I was thinking of buying a bandsaw because my woodworking interest was still flat and square and involved using measuring tools. But, quite unexpectedly while looking at the bandsaws, a woodturning lathe caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. I tried to ignore it, but it was no use ... I'm not sure why, but I felt that I just had to turn wood. At the time, I was thinking of using the lathe to turn table and chair legs. So far, I have turned exactly one table leg ... someday I might turn the other three. The table is still waiting.
This strange obsession hasn't gotten any better over the years ... In fact it has progressively taken over my entire being and even displaced some of my other activities like fishing, hunting, backpacking, flying, skiing, photography, amateur radio, and gardening. I probably needed to focus my activities anyway.
The picture below shows me still polishing the finish on a platter as we arrived at the club house for our 2014 Christmas banquet. The platter was an auction item for my club's Christmas banquet. The auction is our club's largest fund raiser of the year. I am currently obsessed with basket illusion turning.
My shop is much too small – it seemed bigger on paper before I filled it up with “stuff”. I have all the obligatory machines: table saw, planer, jointer, radial arm saw, drill press, bandsaw, compressor, and cheap dust collector . . . . not to mention about five routers and Neanderthal hand tools.
The straw that broke the camel’s back was when I got the irrational thought that I ought to buy a lathe. That lathe, a Delta 1440 with Reeves drive, is now basically a shop queen with badly ailing Reeves pulleys and taking up space in the shop while my real lathe, a Robust American Beauty sits in the garage. The picture below shows me turning a large box elder bowl with the lathe rolled outdoors on a nice sunny Spring day. Turning wet wood is almost more fun than the law allows.
We are parents to 4½ kitties and the Master of the House is a big Tuxedo ex-tomcat named Squeaky. He had his paradigms shifted many years ago and as a result sees the world from a completely different perspective. He is a sweet shoulder kitty and helps me with all my computer and photography stuff. He is also my avatar kitty.
This strange obsession hasn't gotten any better over the years ... In fact it has progressively taken over my entire being and even displaced some of my other activities like fishing, hunting, backpacking, flying, skiing, photography, amateur radio, and gardening. I probably needed to focus my activities anyway.
The picture below shows me still polishing the finish on a platter as we arrived at the club house for our 2014 Christmas banquet. The platter was an auction item for my club's Christmas banquet. The auction is our club's largest fund raiser of the year. I am currently obsessed with basket illusion turning.
My shop is much too small – it seemed bigger on paper before I filled it up with “stuff”. I have all the obligatory machines: table saw, planer, jointer, radial arm saw, drill press, bandsaw, compressor, and cheap dust collector . . . . not to mention about five routers and Neanderthal hand tools.
The straw that broke the camel’s back was when I got the irrational thought that I ought to buy a lathe. That lathe, a Delta 1440 with Reeves drive, is now basically a shop queen with badly ailing Reeves pulleys and taking up space in the shop while my real lathe, a Robust American Beauty sits in the garage. The picture below shows me turning a large box elder bowl with the lathe rolled outdoors on a nice sunny Spring day. Turning wet wood is almost more fun than the law allows.
We are parents to 4½ kitties and the Master of the House is a big Tuxedo ex-tomcat named Squeaky. He had his paradigms shifted many years ago and as a result sees the world from a completely different perspective. He is a sweet shoulder kitty and helps me with all my computer and photography stuff. He is also my avatar kitty.
