fads

[Charlie Knighton]

for yall who have been woodturning for more than my 2 years, what taboos or fads have been broken, expanded, etc. over time

 

[Jake Debski]

for yall who have been woodturning for more than my 2 years, what taboos or fads have been broken, expanded, etc. over time:

I'm not sure if this is what you mean, but here goes.

Every year or so we have a new "must have" tool. Forget it, learn to use each of your basic tools first. You'll find you rarely need the "the must have." How do I know, I have been officially diagnosed as a tool junkie.

Demos are great places to learn new methods an get ideas. But you can't stop there. You can watch Yo Yo Mah(sp) play the cello every day for years but unless you practice yourself you'll never make music. Standing at the lathe, tool in hand and making chips is the only way to become a turner. I prefer one good hands on with a master turner to an entire symposium of Demos. Not everyone will agree.

Bowls and hollow forms are better turned using face plates than chucks(of which I have three.) I have never lost a bowl or hollow form except to my own lack of ability when using a face plate. My pile of designer firewood, a product of chucking, is mortifying.

 

[Charlie Knighton]

is it true

someone made the comment that at one time it was taboo to use spalted wood. is that true????????

 

[Donna Banfield]

Absolutely Not!! Unless you're making a baby rattle!!

Spalting almost always creates exceptional features in the bowls and hollow forms. For example, birch can be very plain and ordinary-looking, but let it spalt, and it becomes spectacular. Anything I turn that has spalting is usually one of the first things to sell at shows.

You need to use care, though, when turning it. Use dust protection, and wear a good dust mask/respirator. The spores that cause the spalting -- a fungus -- can get in your lungs, and never leave.

You can also have a piece of wood that has so much spalting that it is hard to turn because it's coming out in chunks rather than curls or chips. If you encounter that problem, make sure your tools are extremely sharp, and take light shear cuts. That will help eliminate the tearout in the end grain, whcih can be nearly impossible to sand out.

 

[Ed_McDonnell]

I thought I had read (or heard) somewhere that before the 60s, spalted wood was consigned to the fire pit and not turned. I suppose that turning spalted wood before the advent of good air filtration systems may have done in more than one turner?

Ed

 

[john lucas]

Painting turnings is still considered taboo by many. To many of us wood is simply a canvass to express our ideas. We might leave it alone to show off just the wood or we might use the wood in much the same way a clay artist uses clay. We carve, paint, texture, glue, cut apart, or whatever to produce a piece that comes from our mind. In this case wood is simply the medium. In some cases it doesn't look like wood at all. We could have used metal, clay, or fiber to produce the work but since wood is the medium we are comfortable with, we use wood.

 

[odie]

Rules? What rules?

Heh,heh,heh!

otis oc

 

[Richard Baker]

Don't know if this qualifies as answer to the question. And/but the purists can surely argue that a "hollowform" (expanding upon another thread) that is made in two pieces or hollowed through a large hole in the bottom which is later plugged is not truly a Hollowform. But the latter two procedures seem well accepted by most folks today.

 

[Hstudio]

Rules????? Fads????? Follow your instincts. Did Picasso or Dali follow the trends of their day? If you are an artist, trends will not influence or dictate how you work. I believe that pure form, balance, proportion, and shape should always be foremost in consideration......I also believe that if you have the "eye" and "feel" for your work, what everyone else is doing should never influence your work.....If you follow the pack, you will always be behind the curve and never on the cutting edge.

 

[Brodie Brickey]

I think that over time the changes in tooling has made some things much easier to accomplish. The end user/owner looks at a hollowform and is still amazed at what is done. Experienced turners look at a hollowform and may not be as impressed because they know we now have laser guides and captured hollowing rigs that make most of the hollowing experience just time spent hogging wood out.

It seems at least among woodturners that a pen with a nice burl is now common, while extremely complex staved blanks really grab the attention.

Is this fad? Or is this a progression in our artistry/craft?

A couple years ago, any segmented platter, vase, or bowl was impressive. Now we have ribbons and 3 dimensional art forms by Malcolm and others. It pushes what we think of being 'woodturning' to another level.

Paint is used in finishing, woodburning, texturing and other media are also now incorporated into our works. I guess you could say that we are growing. I think that is a good thing, even if I still don't like paint on my work.

I think when you look back in 10 years, going through the gallery here, you will see a trend in work. As one turner sees another's work, they are inspired; either to try and produce something like it, to apply the technique, or they are pushed to evolve beyond their previous limits. We could call that fad, better would be the evolution of our art.

 

[Jason Christenson]

Bowls and hollow forms are better turned using face plates than chucks(of which I have three.) I have never lost a bowl or hollow form except to my own lack of ability when using a face plate. My pile of designer firewood, a product of chucking, is mortifying.

I would imagine that those three chucks are really cluttering up your shop. You should send them to me so I can dispose of them for you.

Jason

 

[Jake Debski]

I would imagine that those three chucks are really cluttering up your shop. You should send them to me so I can dispose of them for you.

Jason

I'll get them in the mail in the morning, along with the check the former Minister of Finance of the Ivory Coast has asked me to cash for him.

 

[Captain Eddie]

Who just said there are no rules? I have rules, the first one is "It's my shop, my lathe, my wood and my design" I don't understand where this art is going, are we out to make the most unusual things possible on a lathe, or are we out to make things that look nice and are fun to make? I worked almost 4 years to create an extremely exact and versitile ornamental lathe. The thrill was in making the machine to do what appeared to be impossible. I turned my first extremely thin hollow vessel with a homemade laser rig just to see if I could get it that thin and make it look good. Same with the cowboy hat, segmented platter, alumnium ink pen, grinding jig, etc.
There are rules, you make them up as you go. Practice using your tools until every cut becomes automatic and second nature. I agree with the guy about becoming a tool junkie, I'm their king and have earned that position proudly. But I turn with the same 4 tools over 90% of the time.
Oh, it's bound to come up, don't resharpen your tools everytime you see a new grind. You'll run out of tool steel quickly. Find a grind you can work with, learn how to make it the same every time. Every pro has a new and better grind, that's what makes you buy their tools. I have two jigs, I made them and everything gets that grind. I make cuts that start sanding at 220 or better every day. I just learned that sharpness beats grind every day.
Rules, make up some and have some fun.

 

[Charlie Knighton]

comments

i think all of us want any comment when we post to the gallery, the posted opinions help in future pieces to excel, everybody is at a different place on the learning curve,

i look a piece in to a local gallery and my former teacher looked at it strangly while the creamic teacher thought it was a normal form just in wood

 

[Charles Henderson]

No Taboos

I agree with the others. The wood is only our medium, but it is the most fascinating medium of any artform, IMHO. There are plenty of things you can do that will make people cringe - like paint. On the other hand pretty much anything can be done tastefully. I saw a carved piece where the turner used black gesso to enhance the relieved sections of the carving, and that was very dramatic.

I would say the only thing that is completely unacceptable is taking the ideas or work of another and calling it your own. For example, Malcolm Tibbets is probably the most copied turner presently. However, I haven't seen a ribbon (mobius?) posted anywhere that didn't give him credit and praise.

 

[Carole Valentine]

I would imagine that those three chucks are really cluttering up your shop. You should send them to me so I can dispose of them for you.

Jason

I was thinking the same thing, Jason. I rarely ever use faceplates except when roughing out large bowls, but I dearly love my scroll chucks.