The Turning Rut - Staying In Your Comfort Zone?

I've raised this question in another turning forum and figure there are some here who might want to think about this one.

As newbie turners most of us started out turning between centers and eventually graduated to face plate turning, then bought a chuck and started turning all sorts of hollowed out things.

Somewhere along the line we found something that was both interesting and fun to turn - and may have gotten stuck with that - even after most of the fun had been wrung out of it. Seriously, how many variations of a plate or bowl or hollow form can we turn before repetition sets in. Sure, we can improve techniques with turning tools and we can refine a shape or form ?til the cows come home.

At some point it?s going to become Auto Pilot Mode - I Do This, then This, then This - and I?ve Got - another bowl, or lidded box, or plate or platter or vase or . . .

After a while, it becomes just so easy - to do basically the same thing

- over and over and over again. We feel like turning - so we turn what we?re comfortable with. It?s so EASY to stay with the familiar, to remain in our Comfort Zone - which may, in fact, have become a RUT - as in ?stuck in a rut?.

But there are so many other possibilities, so many other tools and techniques, shapes and forms - that aren?t familiar - that aren?t The Same Old Thing.

Think about it. Are YOU in a rut? Have you thought about trying something new - to you - but, for one reason or another (we?re all good at excuses), haven?t tried it - yet?

Remember back when you first started turning? Remember the anxiety - and the anticipation - when everything was out there to discover, and explore? Remember that AH! Feeling when you figured out how to use a technique or keep tuning a shape ?til it looked just right? Remember when you took a piece off the lathe and said ?Damn! Did I actually just make THAT?!?

That feeling is still out there - waiting for us to step out of our Comfort Zone - out into the new and unfamiliar - where that BUZZ sits waiting for us.

What?s on your Someday I?m Gonna Try ____ List?

The BUZZ is waiting for you. You going to go for it - today?

Reply to
charlieb
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Rutting can be fun too!

Reply to
Gerald Ross

Yeah! ...but don't forget the fun of finding news ways to make the same form.

Reply to
BeeFlow

During the Easter season,I wonder how many of you Dads and Grands are turning out either a very fancy Faberge' Egg or churning out dozens of simple (as if turning a properly shaped hen egg is ever simple) unfinished eggs to be painted by your young genius at his/her day care school.

Along with Charlie's question about getting out of the comfortable rut and back on the hiway by turning new and innovative pieces, another way of refreshing our turning life might be for hobbyists to try turning the same ole at production speeds as fast as we can. That can be a very uncomfortable pleasure.

Striving for perfection is good and it's necessary for growing as a woodturner, but it can become a rut in itself. By taking the ruts we might avoid the holes and rocks between, but nothing ventured nothing gained (oh no! not another cliche)

It's surprising how interesting testing the limits of our turning speed can be and amazing how fast we can become when we get out of our 'perfectionist rut' even if only for warming up before nervously and often with little or no fun, turning that masterpiece from that outrageously expensive exotic blank.

Last couple of days I've been turning eggs from 3in. blocks of squared off white wood stud cut offs as fast as I can. I am getting a few abortions that no hen would admit to laying and I'm still not timing with a stopwatch, but neither with a calendar.

Developing speedy production techniques to crank out our same ole _small spindles as fast and as decently as possible can be fun for a hobbyist. Techniques like grinding special tools, turning several objects along the same cylinder, cutting many blocks from free wood, using only one tool, very fast speeds, centering by eye, banging the block onto the drive center or cranking it on a spinning center, locking the tailstock and using only the tail ram to mount and dismount, etc. can get us out of the ruts safely and is a turning (not a political) _change for some of us.

I often turn batches of fan pulls of the locally famous Jupiter lighthouse by the dozen to give to local charities to sell to tourists and to keep in my truck to give to the nice people I run into. I wrap a printed history of the Light around the pulls, hold them with a rubber band and put them into plastic baggies. The 'devil may care' turning experience is fun, the gifting is satisfying and I'm not repeating the boring compulsions of trying to make sure not to mess up what I hope will be a nice bowl.

OTOH, driving in the ruts can lead us to new places. Good question, Charlie. Sorry I got carried away. :)

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

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Reply to
Arch

here's how I avoid a rut

  1. I don't buy wood (well, very very very rarely)
  2. I don't generally start with "clean" wood cut to a round "blank", instead I start with a gnarly thing with branches and holes and bark and worms and whatever else nature gave it.
  3. I spin it up and remove all that doesn't belong. Each time I get a different result. sometimes the result is just dust and scrap, sometimes it is a "clean up the shop" event, but if the result exits the lathe with finish on it and in one piece, it is definately not a copy of whatever I did before.

root balls are good for this (pick ones small enough for your lathe) - use plastic (pourable, clear) to fill in gaps and make it hold together (I'm still working on one of these) - goblets from fresh wood that moves a lot (eucalyptus is interesting), you get the idea

Reply to
Bill Noble

This thread got me to again pull a book from the shelf. The back cover said: "In the case of archery, the hitter and the hit are no longer two opposing objects, but are one reality. The archer ceases to be conscious of himself as the one who is engaged in hitting the bull's-eye which confronts him. This state of unconsciousness is realized only when, completely empty and rid of self, he becomes one with the perfecting of his technical skill, though there is in it something of a quite different order which cannot be attained by any progressive study of the art" -- from the Introduction by D.T. Suzuki to the Eugen Herrigel book 'Zen in the Art of Archery' (a pun waiting to happen in this group?).

Like releasing angels from blocks of marble, finding bowls hidden in trees and releasing them without any sign you were there sounds like a zen practice.

Reply to
BrucePz

I'm new to this group and a total neophyte to wood turning in general. Right now, I'm just in the reading and planning phase, so I have a lot of questions to ask of you experts. Your idea of working with root balls sounds very interesting. How do you prepare a root ball for turning? I would think it would be difficult to remove all the soil and rocks and stuff that would instantly dull a cutting tool. Once clean, how do you mount a root ball between centers? The trunk end seems easy, but what about the root end? Or maybe you just chuck up the trunk end and not use the tailstock? Around here, stumps are basically junk wood that are difficult to dispose of -- they don't even split easily for firewood. As is, they are much too big for a lathe. Is there a "best" way to cut them up into lathe-size pieces? Is there anything special you have to do to deal with the wild grain, or is it just not a problem? Starting with root balls, what shapes have you ended up with?

Reply to
whirled peas

I am giving turning a rest. It was my prime recreational activity for about 8 - 10 years, but I have had enough for a while.

We have enough bowls, Christmas ornaments, lamp pulls, oil lamps, pens, spoons, spatulas, potpourri holders, candlesticks, tool handles, offset turned objects d' art, mallets, lidded boxes, gavels and mulch to last for a long time.

It is a shame. I have four lathes, including one I bought for teaching. I used to stand at the lathe for as much as 12 hours, turning away. I went into the shop and turned whenever I got a chance, just to grind up some wood. I was totally consumed with turning, and even while driving I would stop anytime I saw a piece of wood that looked "interesting" and throw it in the back of the truck. I don't know where all of that energy and interest went.

Since my occupation is hands on remodeling/woodworking, I work with wood all the time so I don't miss the woodworking aspect of turning.

I have now dusted off my ancient hiking and camping equipment (how do things get 25 - 30 years old so damn fast?) and have started hitting the trail a bit again. Of course now, with hiking and camping comes digital photography...

I think my next woodworking skill to learn will be veneering.

My next craft skill to learn may be knife making.

Not sure when I will get back to turning. I think I rolled out of the rut and went right on off the farm...

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

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You'll be back - even if you get rid of your currents lathes and tools. Who knows what amazing piece of wood you might find on - or near - the trail. And since you'll have to pack it out - I see small lidded boxes in your future.

Enjoy!

Reply to
charlieb

Hey Robert old friend, I know about burn out. Got the scars to prove it. Give up turning for a while if you must, but don't give up your many friends on rcw. If you do I just might have to tell you to go take a.... hike! :)

Anyway do whatcher doing in good health and having fun and keep in close touch. Bet you aren't tired of barbecuing. Where you gonna get the mesquite without picking up turning blanks? Veneering, eh? I dunno, but I'll go along with it. :)

All best, Arch

Reply to
Arch

I heard Ed McMahon's " HIYO!!!!" along with the "badabump - crash!" as I read that.

I'm not going anywhere, but not you either, OK? Radio silence from sunny FL can be troubling....

I am at the same point with woodturning as I am with my flat work. I would rather teach it than do it. I like helping people learn.

As for me, I tend to tackle something really hard for as long as I think I should to achieve a modicum of proficiency. Then I beat the snot out of it to make sure I am comfortable with it, and I move on.

I don't know what it is... I feel like I have to try something completely new every once in a while or things just ain't right. Long term repetition isn't my strong suite.

NEVER!! I still get that hankering for good smoked brisket or pork, and fire up the smoker on a moment's notice. I keep about 2 pounds of my rub mix on hand (one for pork, one for beef) for the time that urge hits.

I still barbecue in the dead of winter (which is the 30s here!) or at the century mark whenever I feel like it. The latter just requires more cooling fluid for the operator.

One of the other things I am eyeballing is stabilizing wood. Interesting stuff, and even in these nasty economic times, there is a market for it. That ties into both wood turning and knife making for me.

All of the things I do seem to just lead me to other things. I just kind of follow along sometimes.

I do a lot of cabinet and fine finishing in my business, and in teaching myself dyeing and staining, I found a lot of techniques I had never heard of. That led me into experimentation on burled woods, which in turn is what we turners like.

I have done all my own finishing and refinishing of cabinetry for years now. As far as the veneering project goes, I have a friend of mine that will get me some veneers at a great price if I will teach him how to dye wood. He saw a front door of extremely curly birch I dyed then sealed with a conversion lacquer for a customer, and he went nuts. I was surprised myself at this particular piece. With the veneering on the door, it looked like a big mahogany colored satin bed sheet. The folding and swirling in the grain was fantastic. I was a great piece of wood to dye, no doubt.

But he doesn't have the patience for upscale finishing. It has taken me years to get completely comfortable with finishing and he is thinking that after a couple of weekends, he is "there". I am really hoping to get some nice veneers before he loses interest!

I am not sure when I will get to this stuff though, as is prime season for hiking around here. And in two weeks, the boys of summer will be back, and I will be out at the open air stadium enjoying bad beer and worse hot dogs watching my favorite AA team.

I will always be interested in woodturning, and consequently will continue to haunt this venue. At this particular chapter of the woodturning book, I like the people more than the process.

Back here soon!

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

No hats ? My uncle turns hats.

Mart> I am giving turning a rest. It was my prime recreational activity for

Reply to
Martin H. Eastburn

well, since you asked - my lathe can turn about 40 inches in diameter, but for root balls I wouldn't go that big

You have two approaches -

  1. wash, wash wash (pressure washer helps), then dry it out, cut to some reasonable shape with a saw and clippers, make a paper form and pour in casting resin, then turn the mess

  1. wash, cut off unintersting parts, mount remainder between centers and turn it a bit to see what needs to come off - remove, cut it off, repeat. In a limiting case, cut the roots off the ball and just use the solid wood - you will get great grain. Like a crotch only better.

and yes, it will dull your tools - that's why you learn to sharpen (or use carbide for the roughing)

you can hold the trunk end in a chuck for a small root ball, but supporting with the tail stock is a good idea.

Reply to
Bill Noble

Great message! As a relative "newbie" (3 years or so), I find myself constantly looking at "what if?". I think it may be more of a personality trait than simple complacency on some peoples part. For the most part, I'm very curious by nature, been that way since I was a kiddie I guess. The more I look at something, the more I find myself trying to come up with different ways to create/execute it. On my computer I have a folder titled "Woodworking Inspirations" and I find myself looking at it almost daily and adding to it almost as often, much of the time form links I get here in this Newsgroup. As I stare in amazement at many of these images, I find myself "dissecting" the process that created it. The thread on "stave Turning" immediately caught my attention and I can hardly wait to get the right few pieces of wood so I can dig in and see what happens.

For instance... once you cut 8 triangles w/two 45 degree angles and one 90 degree angle, "what if" you use a scroll saw to cut a small curve into the

45 degree side and then place a contrasting piece of wood in that curved section? Ohhh, so many possibilities!

For me Charlie, I don't find myself in a "rut", ever. I guess it's the "little kid" still in me! ;)

Bob Crawford

Reply to
Bob Crawford

Thank you for your straight-forward answers to my questions. I learned something. I'm going back to lurking now.

Reply to
whirled peas

let me add one more thing

Once you get a modest level of skill - so you are good enough to usually make something that is kind of like what you thought you were going to make, you don't have serious tool trouble, and you don't inadvertently launch your work piece too often, then try to find the worst looking gnarly, cracked knotty piece of wood in your pile and make something with it- learn to see what will work and what will not. I was just playing with some terminte eaten mystery wood - not much could be saved, but I made a small really attractive little box - the termintes and the rotting/spalting really make the grain colorful and gave it nice features - if it had been fresh cut there would have been nothing interesting to see when it was done.

I'm not denigrating beautiful rosewood, just pointing out that for "art" damaged goods are your friend.

Reply to
Bill Noble

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