Got IN THE ZONE Again

Thanks for bringing us back to the zone. Its calming to read and inspiring. few tech notes: photography - either you're not allowing the pre-half press for auto focus or getting to close. Its a pity because the result doesnt do the work justice. The relaxation you talk about seems like something I'll have after the children are older. Hmmm... Can you estimate how long the minaret can be before some support wheels are necessary? do you get any wobble at those lengths? Keep the good stuff coming, Max

Did you use a steady rest of any kind while being in the zone?

Regards Paul Geving snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com

Max63 & paulg:

Regarding the photography, these things are too big to use the macro feature and not big enough for "normal" mode. I'm sure much of the problem with focus has to do with low light and the resulting longer exposure time. Someday I'll make a little photo box - with indirect lighting - 3 lights, color corrected for "daylight" of course.

Regarding kids and stress - you can learn to "tune out" all the sounds except for the ones you need to hear - the slight chatter sound (and feel) when things are beginning to go wrong - or the sound of a child who is injured or really frightened. One of the famous turners / teachers has his students do 10 or 15 minutes of loosening up exercises BEFORE he lets them on the lathe - neck rolls, shoulder rolls, hoola-hoop waste and legs stuff and wrist and finger waving/shaking. Feeling a little foolish is a great way to leave stress and anxiety behind before getting to the Fun Stuff. And if you leave a little part of your brain paying attention to how your body feels

- jaw clench, neck and shoulders tight - it'll let you know when it's time to step away and shake some tenseness out before turning again.

To the How question I'm holding the drive end of the SQUARE blank in what I think are called either spigot or pin jaws on a SuperNova2 chuck. I mark the center of the tail stock end just as a reference - using a live center on that end to get me close to centered as I tighten the scroll chuck. I've got the stock back in the chuck far enough that the jaws are gripping their whole length, with five or six inches extending out beyond the jaws. Much beyond maybe 6" and the tail stock end starts getting twitchy as it's turned thinner and thinner.

Note that I emphasized SQUARE stock. Probably would be better to turn a 1/2" tenon on one end, between centers and THEN chuck it up - but that takes time - and I'm impatient. I want to be patient when I HAVE to be patient - doing the delicate stuff. With SQUARE stock, ALL four jaws grip the wood whereas with rectangular but not square stock, only two jaws would be gripping the stock.

I have turned thin stuff between centers that were longer than 6 inches and used a shop made "string" support that worked fairly well on some experiments with trembleurs. Don't really recomend turning real thin between centers since almost any pressure along the long axis of the turning tends to flex the work as things get thinner. Bad enough when you flex the part trying to force the cut. Definitely going to try trembleurs again using the scroll chuck - after this obsession with spinarets tapers off

charlie b

ps I did an attempt at animating the Roll Slide Roll cut I used for the tear drop stuff to add to the line drawings illustration of same step by step. Even with 30 frames per each of the

12 steps it goes by way to fast to see the details but I'm working on that. Please have a look at the animation on this page and let me know if it's ok in your browser or too fast to be able to see what's going on.

Charlie,

Animation worked slowly, like a frame per second (Internet Explorer - Charter 3mb)

The whole thing shows pointed end down. I expected the curved edge down so you'd avoid catching it and scribing the work. It makes sense as you describe when doing the inside curve.

I just went back and reviewed Alan Lacer's skew DVD. It proves a point - no right or wrong - just do what works for you :) Talk about a guy in the zone LOL. He was doing a knitting thinger and while cutting a flat area BETWEEN CENTERS you could actually watch the piece flexing. He never put his hand opposite for support. Forgotten or missed that the first time.

TomNie