I am partly a "tinker" woodturner. Down through the years I have turned many wooden objects that were incorporated into devices. Many of these devices were thought up to improve or make my woodturning easier or less expensive. Others were parts of inventions that never made me rich and famous, but thinking about them and trying to make prototypes did keep me off the streets. Anyway, some worked, most didn't and none changed the woodturning world as we know it.
Along the way I did turn some wooden objects that represented a unique turning as itself, not as an integral part or subassembly or a pattern for a device. Something with the inherent characteristics of a turned wood object such as the timber, the beauty or the utility, as represented by my attempts at art or craft. Most often this was some kind of vessel, but I have ventured a short distance into free forms from time to time.
As with my inventions, neither my turned wood art or craft has provided a living, but together they have sustained a happy re-creative hobby for a lifetime. That in itself is priceless. The journey has been terrific not only in my shops, but also in observing the evolution of woodturning as it came of age and so many of my friends grew with it.
Maybe one or two of my turnings were pretty useful and maybe a couple were suggestive of fine art, at least in the eye of a few biased beholders ...and that for me is what turning wood is all about.
What does it mean for you?
Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter