Musing about warming up.

Watching the Super Bowl, America's newest national holiday based on the Roman Gladiator circus, I thought about the analogy between woodturning and other athletics that require manual ability and can be dangerous. Baseball and certainly football are games that are preceded by a necessary period of warming up. This helps to prevent injuries and improve play.

If a highly paid athlete needs to warm up before swinging a wood bat, then shouldn't I warm up before skewing or gouging a wood blank? Actually, before I retired when turning time was short and seldom, I often warmed up or I paid the price. I probably ought to do so now.

I suspect many 'part timers' would profit from warming up by cutting a few coves and beads or hollowing a bit of wall on scrap before resuming the unfinished work left on the lathe. I wonder if many do? Might be a good reason to keep a second lathe. Then that pink ivory blank wouldn't have to be removed from the big lathe and risk being caught by a skew. :)

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

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Arch
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I sort of find myself doing that, Arch... even if it's a few "practice strokes" or very light passes..

To carry your football (US or UK) analogy on a little bit, it's like calling a time out when your opponent is doing well, to "cool him off"... I get in a sort of rhythm when I'm turning and when I come out the next night neither my hand or mind are in that same place...

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

Reply to
mac davis

Hi Arch

Warming up, before turning?, I sure do, turn up the thermostat and as soon as the fan comes on I stand right in the middle of this sooting and warming wave of air, while I look around who/what is going to be my next victim, sure feels good. Got a second lathe (wood lathe oh blasphemy) little Delta midi, just to use up all those pretty leftovers after cutting out the big ones, or when I don't feel up to tackle the big one .

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Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

Reply to
l.vanderloo

Terrific idea!

Reply to
Lobby Dosser

Musicians generally warm up before a performance. No matter how accomplished or talented they are, time away is a cooling-off period that needs to be reversed. I was at a concert recently where it was obvious that they started without the proper warm-up. They didn't make mistakes, but they didn't sound *good.*

In wood turning, it may not matter during the roughing and preliminary shaping, and I had never thought about this before, but I now think it is a bad idea to do the finishing cuts at the start of a work session.

Reply to
Leo Lichtman

I keep a pile of "scrap" blanks around. Some are spindle and some bowl. I will often turn a tool handle, a mallet or a few eggs, to do a quick warm-up. I don't usually use the handles, but the eggs keep collecting and end up as gifts.

Joe Fleming - San Diego

Reply to
Joe Fleming

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