Musing about caring enough to turn your very best.

=====> Arch, ain'tcha heard we gotta practice diversity in everything, so there must be room for us compulsive underachievers! It's the law, and don't forget to buckle up! *G*

Leif

"Arch" (clip) can the compulsive overachievers ever

^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Your point is well taken, Arch. I think the question is, "Do we underachievers understand ourselves?" I wonder how many aspiring turners join the clubs, subscribe to the magazines, attend the conferences, where they see the outstanding work of the most accomplished turners, and then eventually get discouraged and drop out.

Arch, I believe your message is, "It's okay to turn at whatever level suits you, without feeling miserable or guilty because your work is not gallery quality."

Hi Arch

VERY SHORT ANSWER, I HOPE NOT, SAW ONE THIS MORNING SMILING IN THE MIRROR, I SWEAR I DON'T KNOW "IT"

Just read my sig.

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

Arch wrote: , am I a heretic for not trying

Your comment goes to the question: "Why do I turn?"

Some turn for the challenge - they might want to improve. Some turn for fun and are quite satisfied with their product. Some turn for commerce where speed, quality and cost containment mean everything.

Faults? No. Only different motivations.

Joe Fleming - San Diego

Arch wrote:

woodturner.

trying

Concisely and correctly put. Though a hobby turner can be any or none at different times. I tend to turn in "tears" as the musicians have it. I get an idea and make it over and over, varying a bit here and there, making in different wood, even, as the current fascination - plates, moving the center around to make an otherwise regular piece of scrap look different. I have a feeling that the 4x7 pine cutoff I turned may end the obsession for me. That, and the fact that if I don't get off my duff and final turn some of those roughs, I may not have enough commercial product to pay the kid's college....

yes and no, but not right away.. *g*

My ego prevents me from imagining perfection in my work, but I'm trying to get better and more efficient with each turning..

OTOH, I'll often just chuck up a foot or so of branch wood and make shavings... sure, I'm often trying things that I read about here that day, but mostly doing it for the joy of turning..

mac

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Very much akin to Mac, every now and then I mount a length of branchwood and just hammer it, not WITH a hammer, not trying to make anything, just to be a beginner again and experience the sheer pleasure of just turning. Sometimes it works although more often than not it stimulates me into turning something worthwhile.

As for being less accomplished, I think the whole experience is enhanced by a form of regressive activity, or have I missed the point?

Regards, Peter Charles Fagg Freshwater, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom.

I think you should try to do your best all the time. People have different levels of skill and one should work with in that range occatioally pushing your self to advace, but that is not on every job or project. I have have been working in my job occupation for a long time. When management wants something fast and you throw it together or you repeatedly have to redo things your craftmenship starts to slip and your work goes down. It has happened to me. That gets to be the norm and you have to push yourself to get back in the groove. I now try to do the best and temp work I make look like temp work so it has to be redone. At the end of the day you are the one who has to look at it and be satisfied.

I often approach the lathe with no goal in mind, I just want to turn something and make shavings because it's fun, and I get a thrill out of just using tools in general. I feel it's very important to enjoy the process itself, rather than just a means to an end. Then you tend to get better at it, naturally. Zen and the art of woodturning, maybe?

Ken Grunke

snipped-for-privacy@webtv.net (Arch) wrote in news:11233-427D36A9-68@storefull-

If it's not production, it's practice?

What about the oft-expressed notion "the most fun you can have with your pants on"?

Patriarch, turning neophyte

"Derek Andrews" wrote: (clip)I once tried my hand at golf. I quiet fancied whacking a ball around a field. But everyone else took it so damn serious. They worried about how they held the club and how many whacks it took to get around the course. For me that ruined the experience and I never went back. (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I am not a golfer, so maybe I don't "get it," but I don't see how you can expect golf to be interesting if you take away the purpose of the game. "How many whacks it took to get around the course" is what the game is about. You might as well drive the Indy 500 as a Sunday drive, or play tennis without trying to defeat your opponent. On the other hand, I'm happy as can be riding my bicycle without racing against anyone.

Woodturning can be like a competive sport, if you want it to be, where you get your enjoyment from outdoing other turners, and winning blue ribbons. Or it can be a fun activity, where you just do what you enjoy, and maybe give the pieces away to family and friends. Or it can be a part of a more general shop activity, where you use the lathe to make things round, for purposes of construction or repair.

I'd second that. My lathe was purchased for making accessories like knobs and spindles to use in larger furniture projects, and things like chessmen turned between centers to go with nice chessboards (where the chessboard was the centerpiece, not the men)

When I make something like a lamp or a vase, it's just a fun little side project, and doing my best generally means just getting a glassy surface on some nice looking wood. I could care less what the bottom looks like, or how thin the walls are, but that's just my take on it. Most of those projects end up as gifts, and the people who get them seem to really like the stuff, so that's good enough for me.

On the other hand, if I make a table and one leg is 1/32" longer than the other three, or if a hidden joint has a 1/64" gap in it, I get pretty upset about it. Guess it just depends on where your focus is...

And of course, I may change my mind about some of that as I develop greater skill with the lathe- but for now it's a welcome relief from the stress I put on myself when it comes to cabinetry, and it'd be nice to keep it that way! Aut inveniam viam aut faciam

Perhaps Derek was measuring himself against the task rather than the others ("outdoing"), gaining pleasure from the experience, not yelling fore, taking five and writing three.

I think the ones whose teeth were gritted, stomachs churning and temper flaring as they pursued par or better, or who had to remind themselves over and over to relax are the ones who have lost sight of the purpose of the game.

Bottom line, IMHO... they forget that it's just a GAME..

Some people take up hobbies to lower stress and then stress out over their hobbies..

mac

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