This past week end, I had the pleasure of working with a young relative who is dying to get into wood working, especially turning. She has a "plastic" lathe at home with about 3" between centers and has been understandably frustrated. Her dad wasn't aware that the tools needed to be sharpened. Ever.
Most of my beginner experience has been with high school aged students and I would appreciate some feed back from those of you who have worked with younger kids. This one is 9 years old and a little small for her age.
She made good progress during our two sessions, but tended to get into trouble with coarse vibration, the gouge bouncing and sometimes even off the tool rest, with the expected result of rough and hard to control cutting. We worked hard on the A part of Anchor, Bevel, then Cut. When I would press the tool more firmly into the tool rest for her, things would smooth out. I would usually also steady the handle at the same time, so I'm not sure exactly what might have been beneficial. (I tried hard not to actually make the cuts, but simply to stabilize things so she could do it)
Thinking about the session and her tool use, I came away with 2 questions:
1. Are some kids just not quite strong enough to adequately anchor the tool?
2. I made her a box to stand on, but we had a hard time getting all her parts at a good height at the same time. If she held the very end of a typical spindle gouge handle, she looked like David Ellsworth with his extra long hollowing tool. If she grasped the handle closer to the lathe, she still looked awkward and unable to use her bigger shoulder muscles to steady the tool. Are kids' proportions different enough from grown ups that simply raising their feet to achieve the traditional elbow-at-centerline height doesn't adequately address body positioning? If so, how do you get them arranged to best advantage?
Thanks to all of you who have worked with youngsters of this age.
Most of my beginner experience has been with high school aged students and I would appreciate some feed back from those of you who have worked with younger kids. This one is 9 years old and a little small for her age.
She made good progress during our two sessions, but tended to get into trouble with coarse vibration, the gouge bouncing and sometimes even off the tool rest, with the expected result of rough and hard to control cutting. We worked hard on the A part of Anchor, Bevel, then Cut. When I would press the tool more firmly into the tool rest for her, things would smooth out. I would usually also steady the handle at the same time, so I'm not sure exactly what might have been beneficial. (I tried hard not to actually make the cuts, but simply to stabilize things so she could do it)
Thinking about the session and her tool use, I came away with 2 questions:
1. Are some kids just not quite strong enough to adequately anchor the tool?
2. I made her a box to stand on, but we had a hard time getting all her parts at a good height at the same time. If she held the very end of a typical spindle gouge handle, she looked like David Ellsworth with his extra long hollowing tool. If she grasped the handle closer to the lathe, she still looked awkward and unable to use her bigger shoulder muscles to steady the tool. Are kids' proportions different enough from grown ups that simply raising their feet to achieve the traditional elbow-at-centerline height doesn't adequately address body positioning? If so, how do you get them arranged to best advantage?
Thanks to all of you who have worked with youngsters of this age.