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