Musing about using it or losing it and all that. (long)

After a long, hot, humid summer, wary of approaching hurricanes and Fl just dodging them followed by a long dry spell, finally we are enjoying beautiful cool days. Naturally I hobbled out to the shop looking forward to turning my first masterpiece. A work so acclaimed that a special skew will be marketed with my name engraved on it. The "Arch skew" That does have a nice ring to it. It will sell well and the big bucks will start rolling in. Life after senility isn't all bad.

I've been turning wood off and on since beginning with a decrepit old Dunlap in the mid thirties. So what? Well just a summer's inactivity and damned if I hadn't forgotten how to turn! My coves and beads were ruts and bumps. My skew was a wrecking bar and as far as recentering a little bowl, forget it. Along with its owner, the shop itself had lost 'it' by not using it; the lacquer thinner had evaporated, the &&& had jelled, The scrapers had rusted, and the chuck insolently squeaked back at me like a recalcitrant schoolboy. Things were a royal mess and I figured that my turning days were over! Sadly, there would be no "Arch Skew" .

Not so fast, Arch. Seeing the nice work of my old COC Chief and RCW organizer, Kevin, and Charlie's 'art in motion' plus Tom's new adventures in segmenting, along with all the enthusiasm of my fellow 'turnmates', I had to give it another try before giving up.

Well dearly beloved, "It" does come back. OK no masterpieces, but after messing about with a few practice spindle and face pieces, deliberately making mistakes and remembering why they happen, I was again a reasonably able 'shadetree woodturner'. The gashes were smaller, coves almost symmetrical, the beads fairly smooth and although not artistic weren't too ugly. The shop equipment and supplies pitched in and helped out after a little elbow grease, WD40 and a trip to Home Depot.

What's the point of all this waste of bandwidth? There isn't one. Well maybe just to remind y'all that when your turning takes a nose dive, things get in the way of your masterpiece, you're digusted with the hobby (and rcw) and ready to sell your lathe, keep on turning. It'll all come back. :)

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

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Arch
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I hope you mean *your* 30s and not the 1930s :-).

Reply to
Larry Blanchard

Sorry to dash your hopes, Larry. Twas 1937. /arrgh!

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

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Reply to
Arch

That would put you somewhere in your '80s...

Ya old coot...

I find myself away from the lathe for extended periods, too, and have to re-learn a lot each time (especially that damned SKEW!) but it doesn't take that long to shake the cobwebs out of the synapses, does it?

I got back on recently to produce some work for a craft show in the Vancouver BC area (darling mother does the selling and takes half the $$. Works perfectly.)

Some of the stuff is on Flickr at if you care to have a look. Nothing earth-shattering or terribly innovative, but good honest pieces nonetheless.

best,

djb

Reply to
Dave Balderstone

That's the year I was born - and I thought I was old :-).

Reply to
Larry Blanchard

30 years before I was born! :) :)
Reply to
sbnjhfty

At least some of rcw's members weren't born yesterday! A.

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

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Arch

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