Make two!
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Indexing off the lathe
- Thread starter Ted Pelfrey
- Start date
I can understand why someone with machines and without the desire or the expertise to turn by hand would spend time here - could be for inspiration on form, ideas on designs, resources for wood and finishes, etc. Creativity could still be a factor. That's probably better than some I know who tried woodturning and found they couldn't handle it and took up fishing or gambling instead.
I personally love the whole process from idea to making chips to finished piece. I far prefer seeing and touching things I and others have turned by hand (and signed by hand) but I'm not everyone!
One possibly interesting thing about turning by hand (may have mentioned this before) - the wife of a friend who passed away wanted to buy a magic wand to take to her friend in another state so I told her to come to the shop before she left and I'd make one while she watched (or helped) and give it to her. (Actually made two)
She was amazed at the process. She is a scientist who used metal lathes and milling machines decades ago to make instruments she designed for her research when working on her PHD. She was blown away to see that woodturning tools were held and moved with the hands and arms and actual manual skill was involved! She had imagined woodturning was done like metal lathe work - turning cranks and engaging levers to move a fixed tool along an axis. That would be like trying to draw with an Etch-A-Sketch! Now she knows. (Of course a standard etch-a-sketch driven by computer could easily draw anything that didn't require discontinuous lines.
)Who knows, maybe 100 years from now turning by hand will be a lost art like building a house with mallets, chisels, and wooden pegs and everything will be made hands-off with digital control. But I hope not.
Oh, BTW grew up with dental work without Novocaine or any numbing. I thought that was normal. My dad was a minister and a dentist provided very inexpensive dental care for our large family. He evidently found ways to reduce his costs: "This will only take a moment" while drilling for a filling. I didn't enjoy going to the dentist.
JKJ
I love turning. I do it the way the vast majority of turnings are made world wide.
Why am I here? Because I like to see the designs and evolution in design. My interest is in the destination not the journey.
john lucas
AAW Forum Expert
He didnt say he didnt like turning. Just has trouble standing for long periods and wants to sit while doing the tedious part of burning and coloring basket weave pieces. I have back issues that make it hard for me to sit abd do tedious texturing.
Ah, my bad. Reading comprehension.
I misunderstood. I thought you don't turn. Nonetheless, your reasons make sense.
Many of us with a few years behind us have similar issues. I can stand and turn for long periods if I'm moving. Standing still, not so much.
Sitting at the workbench for detail requires getting up and moving periodically - go walk a horse, feed some peacocks, clean out a water trough, walk up the hill to the house for a some ice cream or cookies fresh from the oven. Ooo, that reminds me - gotta go!
JKJ
Yep, I feel your pain. Can walk all day long but standing still for 10 minutes is not good.
I was harshly reminded tonight about how sitting without moving around is the worst abuse of my old back. I like to play the elect. piano in the shop for maybe an hour each evening. Tonight I was on a roll and played much longer.
Right now I can barely sit and type this! Might be time to hit the hard drugs like [gasp] Ibprofen.
Hey, remember the inversion boots craze in the 80s?
Maybe that would help the back. Or more likely make me pass out!
JKJ
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2021
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- Roulette, PA
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- www.reallyruralwoodworks.com
Precisely why I hate driving more than an hour or so any more...I was harshly reminded tonight about how sitting without moving around is the worst abuse of my old back. I like to play the elect. piano in the shop for maybe an hour each evening. Tonight I was on a roll and played much longer.
Right now I can barely sit and type this! Might be time to hit the hard drugs like [gasp] Ibprofen.
Hey, remember the inversion boots craze in the 80s?
Maybe that would help the back. Or more likely make me pass out!
JKJ
Just mowing my lawn (bit over an acre) and getting off my tractor when I'm done is probably entertaining for the birds (and anyone else) to watch as I look like I should be in a wheelchair instead...JKJ - David Ellsworth had one of those inversion contraptions off his studio when I was there a couple years ago. He’d go in the other room mid-day and use it. Said it helped him a lot throughout the day, so might be worth considering.
I put together a porch swing last week, and did a couple of other small projects. All the bending really did a number on my lower back. I feel lame.
If you really want to feel lame, try getting thrown off a bucking horse. I can offer that experience to you if you'd like.
I was riding a big feisty gelding a few years back when he took exception to going over an 8" diameter length of plastic pipe we used for training. He started bucking (he was good at that) and I came off and fell maybe 6-7' to the ground, landed flat on my back. He took off for the barn. I didn't ride him after that.
It was the big boy on the right. The little mare the girl is riding was always as gentle as a baby kitten.
Was sore for weeks. Could have been worse.
There are certain things one might avoid when getting older.
JKJ
My dad decided to teach an ornery gelding a lesson. He got on and started schoolin' that horse. The horse had other ideas. He ran up on a mound about 10 feet high and threw my dad off the mound, about 14' drop from where he was sitting. Broke his collar bone. I didn't remember what we did with that horse, but he was gone a few days later.