Dearly beloved,
Excepting (and respecting) the artists among us who never turn plebian objects for the common people, most of us from time to time turn with no finished object in mind or turn (or try to) many identical objects. I've turned tops, bird houses, chain pulls, bottle stoppers etc. by the dozens and have found a few dodges that speed up the turning to as near as possible identical dimensions. What are your favorite dodges for making multiple turnings, assuming artistic heresy doesn't turn you off.
I try to cut the stock and then the blanks to as near the finished product as possible. I suppose that dogmatic expert's tradition insist that we turn stock/blanks to fit the desired shape/size not the other way around, but being a practicing heretic I hate waste and often tailor the object to fit the stock/blank. I also don't try my very best on each and every turned object at each and every turning session.
Slobs have rights too, don't they? Please forgive and read on or at least don't throw up. As another Arch once said, "Stifle yourself". It's ok to wince, sigh and look toward heaven! This post is mainly an anti-spam exercise anyway, Just to keep rcw breathing in the dog days so we don't give up and jump the track.
After first deciding on the ever-loving size/shape/holding method for the best use of stock and turning effort for these small blanks I set out precise turning sequences from roughing to sanding/polishing. At my age (89) I never use a slow drying glue or finish and have been known to skip grits.
I try to design dimensions to a set of standard open ended wrench sizes instead of designing the turned object to a size and adjusting a set of calipers to match or making up cutouts and templates from plywood or tin cans. I find that softening the tips of the wrenches makes measuring while the stock is spinning easier and safer and doesn't hurt using them for wrenching.
I like to turn two or three preliminary pieces in order to see what the finished abortion will actually look like and try to adjust my thinking. Mine never look much like I envisioned them from my drawings. Anyway seeing is better for me than making multiple drawings and it's a good warmup for setting out a precise order of turning steps from bark to light pull. I do _not practice on cheaper stock, I like to use the real thing in the preliminaries so that I can know all its weapons of mass destruction in the main event.
My turning 'idiot osyncracies' could be why my turnings aren't in museums or for that matter in the homes of 'fiends' and family. Naw, there's too many other reasons. Stop groaning and share your turning dodges and quirks with us. It beats reading spam that we can't delete. :)
Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter