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Murphy's law for woodturners.

Odie

Odie

Panning for Montana gold, with Betsy, the mule!
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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-----
 
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.
 

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Mike Zip Hamilton said:
If you put all faith in a screw chuck, you will have a piece fly off your lathe.
Click to expand...

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-----
 
"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!
 
odie said:
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-----
Click to expand...
If you drop a tool, it will always land on the sharp end, and no longer be sharp!
 
odie said:
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...
Click to expand...
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.
 
Tom Gall said:
"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!
Click to expand...
That sounds like a typical case of "Oldfartitise.
 
Timothy Allen said:
What comes after too tight?



Too loose!
Click to expand...
Mike Zip Hamilton said:
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".
Click to expand...

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-----
 
If you've been looking all over for something, it'll end up being right where you started.
 
~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.
 
Allen Mattsen said:
~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.
Click to expand...
Have you been to my shop??? Thirty years ago I considered my shop to be spacious....now its just cramped!
 
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.
 
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!
 
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