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"It's just a bit of wood." How do you deal with turning fails?

Joe Sanchez

Joe Sanchez

Joined
May 4, 2025
Messages
12
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Location
Newfane, VT
Ever been right at the finish line on a turning project only for it to crack, blow out the bottom of a bowl with your gouge, or it splits beyond repair?
You’ve done the prep work, mounted the blank, shaped the form, and then… it’s gone. All that time and care, undone in a split second. We’ve all been there; I was just there today! It’s a gut punch!

I remember watching one of Richard Raffan’s videos a while back. He was turning a bowl, and right in the middle of the process, it flew apart on the lathe. What struck me wasn’t just the mishap, it was how calm he was about it. He paused, looked at the mess, and said something offhand that completely changed how I see those moments.

It was just a little comment, but it stuck with me. So much so that I made a sign to keep near my lathe as a reminder that: “It’s just a bit of wood.”
That simple phrase has helped me keep perspective and stay grounded when things don’t go according to plan. Because in the end, every mistake is just another part of the process!


RaffanQuote.jpg
 
I've always had a lot of wood to turn, especially after I learned that you can turn wet wood. Information didn't come easily before the internet, and starting out was a lot more difficult. Once I learned that, it was very easy to just throw things into the trash.
 
I throw it in the firewood bin. I know it is painful to spend a lot of time, only to see it fail. Take it as a lesson and try not to do it again. If I blow through the bottom, I like to cut the piece in half on my bandsaw and examine what went wrong in cross section.
 
Being immature, I will usually quickly look around to make sure that nobody saw, and then open the door of the shop and hurl the piece into the trees as hard as I can.

Jokes aside, my response is dependent on what I was turning. Some turning is made with some cheap local wood, and I might not have spent a long time on it, so when it fails, I can often sigh and toss it in the scrap bin. If I'm working on a more delicate, complicated piece, such as something hollowed, sanded, polished, or threaded out of a nicer wood, I usually try to rectify the flaw to the best of my ability. If it can be saved, I will put in a lot of effort to do so.

Wood is plentiful; it quite literally grows on trees, and there will always be more. It's always a learning experience.
 
Wyatt Holm said:
I throw it in the firewood bin. I know it is painful to spend a lot of time, only to see it fail. Take it as a lesson and try not to do it again. If I blow through the bottom, I like to cut the piece in half on my bandsaw and examine what went wrong in cross section.
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That's a great idea!
 
Isaac Litster said:
Being immature, I will usually quickly look around to make sure that nobody saw, and then open the door of the shop and hurl the piece into the trees as hard as I can.

Jokes aside, my response is dependent on what I was turning. Some turning is made with some cheap local wood, and I might not have spent a long time on it, so when it fails, I can often sigh and toss it in the scrap bin. If I'm working on a more delicate, complicated piece, such as something hollowed, sanded, polished, or threaded out of a nicer wood, I usually try to rectify the flaw to the best of my ability. If it can be saved, I will put in a lot of effort to do so.

Wood is plentiful; it quite literally grows on trees, and there will always be more. It's always a learning experience.
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Haha! "Being immature, I will usually quickly look around to make sure that nobody saw, and then open the door of the shop and hurl the piece into the trees as hard as I can." That's hilarious!
 
Joe Sanchez said:
Ever been right at the finish line on a turning project only for it to
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Ain't no body nowhere that does any turning that hasn't ruined something on occasion! I don't care how good they are.

I put small things in my Box O' Shame on a shelf. When a student or someone makes an error I get out the box and show them, yes, it happens to everyone, And no, it's not the end of the world OR last piece of wood in the shop!

I'm a big fan of Raffan, his turning, and teaching. Before I knew about clubs and classes and such I learned most of my woodturning from one of his books, then another by Mike Darlow's. I've had the good fortune to meet and talk to him when he did a demo at a local club and elsewhere. Just call me a groupie.

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JKJ
 
Richard Coers said:
Personally, that plug in the bottom is a constant reminder that I wasn't smart enough to use a depth gauge. I have enough people reminding me about my level of intelligence, I don't need a visual reminder.
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Ain't a plug (I don't use plugs, looks too much like a flub repair I'm trying to hide), that's a perfectly perfect hole right through the exterior finished bottom. I left the hole as it occurred, no repair. I knew I was flirting with disaster, but I went for that last cut anyway. I'm such a dummy...
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It varies depending on the failure. I'll sometimes pitch them up on a high shelf and leave it there for a long time. When the mood hits I'll go through the pile and consider a plan B for some of them and burn others. I've reworked some into very nice pieces and others just didn't work out and end up on the burn pile. This piece started out as a very tall hollow form. The top twisted and cracked beyond saving during drying. I set it aside and later decided to make something out of the bottom. Not everyone's style for form but still a nice, unique piece.
 

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Sometimes you luck out and get to repurpose a failture. Sadly, I don't think I have any "before" photos, but when turning a bubinga tool handle a while back I borked the first try of drilling the bore for a Robust collet system. (The second go went perfectly.) That handle had been mostly turned, but had lots of wood left to make it a useful blank for ... something. So onto the Weird Stock Pile it went.

I was nigh mad with glee when I realized it was just perfect for a recent urgent turning project. I needed to turn a nice holding rod for two pieces of mine in the instructors exhibition at the Braids 2025 conference. All of the works in this photo are mine (apologies for the poor photo – my works were mounted rather higher on the wall than made for good photography.) The rod in question is holding the two braids on the lower right.

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When I was just learning to do carving as an embellishment I had the great idea to carve the outside of the bowl before turning the inside. My logic was that if I made a mess of the carving then I wouldn't have wasted the time on the inside.
Being quite happy with the carving I proceeded to turn the inside and I was enjoying the inside cuts and feeling good and then... I started to see some weird patches, stopped and found out they were windows! I remember being surprisingly calm about it. There is no going back!
I also have a shelf for these reminders.
 

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If it can’t easily be repurposed, it gets added to the burn scrap pile and I get the pleasure from it one last time as I enjoy the glow with a scotch and cigar….

Life is too short to dwell on what could have been.
 
Joe Sanchez said:
“It’s just a bit of wood.”
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I'd agree for most of the wood I turn. I can chalk it up to experience for a cheap piece of wood......but, when you pay $300 for an exceptional piece of Madrone burl, Gabon Ebony, Red Mallee burl, or some other exotic species......it's a bit hard to take! :(

=o=
 
I asked the great Hans Weissflog about this issue in Portland in 2018. His stuff is just beyond beyond, and he's generally using fine exotic hardwoods with unbelievable amounts of work invested, machine-like precision by hand, etc. He was very philosophical. He said ruining one every so often is the price of growth and pushing your limits. If you never challenge yourself, you might never make a mistake, but you'll never grow, either.
 
Odie said:
I'd agree for most of the wood I turn. I can chalk it up to experience for a cheap piece of wood.....but, when you pay $300 for an exceptional piece ... it's a bit hard to take! :(
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I also agree, it's easier to take when it's a cheap piece of wood. Or if it's a very small piece of expensive wood. And it's not the last piece in the shop!!

Unless the creative energy expired with the disaster.

When turning that African Blackwood and acrylic wand I ruined one of the three sections the first time. I first turned the acrylic spheres then turned five little "bowls" to just fit the spheres, then turned the outside shapes before carving. On the tip, after turning the bowl I shaped the outside then somehow I cut the outside too thin!! Actually, no puzzling required, I know how I did it - 'twas a brain malfunction. Fortunately, it wasn't the last piece of Blackwood in the shop and more time than money was wasted. I decided to be more careful on the second try, shown here with the sphere test-fitted after carving the arcs and smoothing:

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The moral of the story: when the brain becomes elderly always have extra wood on hand!! :)

Test fitting before "fine tuning" the point alignments, another "small" but correctable brain malfunction. I seem to have more of those lately.
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JKJ
 
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John K Jordan said:
Unless the creative energy expired with the disaster.
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THAT is a very good point, John......

The ability to keep going in the face of disasters is key.....and, from what I've read from your postings in the past.......I think you are someone who isn't a quitter! :)

=o=
 
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