My new DVD

For newcomers to woodturning who may not know Bill Gumbine:

He long ago earned the right to post his promotion here and instead of taking offence please welcome Bill's input and buy his teaching DVD or tape. You won't go wrong.

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

Bill, I'm new to turning, and have purchased a couple of videos by Raffan. Since I've got a limited budget to spend on these types of things, can you tell me what I would benefit by buying your DVD as well?

Thanks, Russ

Hi Russ

This might be sort of hard for me to answer, since just about anything I write might come across as my having an overly active ego. But here goes. When we put this thing together, I put my entire bowl turning class on film. Throughout my teaching career, I have endeavoured to teach from the point of view of the student. For example, if you watch my DVD, you will see that the rough slab I use is no where close to being evenly cut. I had my choice of much nicer slabs to work with (and I could have always cut more off camera!), but rather than try and impress people with how well I can cut a piece of wood, I wanted to show the viewers how to handle a piece of wood that has been less than perfectly processed, and how to deal with things that we all deal with as beginners. Throughout the film I not only show how a cut is made, I show the most common mistakes that are also made, those mistakes that happen when we are close but not quite with a successful cut - those really frustrating ones. In other words, this is truly an instructional video and not a showcase of my abilities. There are some of them in there, but I really focused on how you can do this after watching the video, not how I can already do it.

I hope this answers your question some, but if not, ask away, and I will try again.

Thanks for your interest.

============================ Russ, This may not be the answer you're looking for, but if his DVD can help you get anywhere near the finished appearance of the bowls (and other things) he regularly shows on the WOW site, it will be worth the money.

FWIW,

Ken Moon Webberville, TX

=====>New lathe??? You wore out your Poolwood Euro 45,000 all ready?? What is your choice this time, Bill?

Leif

Thanks for the reply. I am going to order your video today; what I'm hoping to get is as you say, an instructional video and not a showcase of your abilities. I'm finding the Raffan video a little hard to learn from: "Here's me going fast... Here's me going slow...". He's a wonderful turner I'm certain, but someone who's more of a teacher might make a better video instructor.

Thanks, Russ

Hi Leif

The Poolewood is doing well, and I should be turning on if for many moons to come. I recently picked up a job turning legs for a furniture shop which is larger than mine, but has no turner. I need to do them in batches of 60, so I am springing for a Mini Max T-124 copy lathe. I have been duplicating by hand and eye with calipers and a story stick for years, but numbers like this convinved me and my bookkeeper (SWMBO) to go for the copy lathe. I was also fortunate in that I was able to buy a barely used one for a very good price.

Thanks Russ. I got your order, and I am hoping you will be pleasantly surprised. I have been teaching since 1995, and have taught people from little children up to grandparents. During the filming of the video I had five of my past students watching and contributing (off camera) for things that I might have missed, or could have done a little differently to explain it better. I think that the efforts of these men made it a bit better than I could have done on my own. I will look forward to hearing some feedback from you once you receive it and have time to watch it.

Hi Bill:

At present I just have a Jet mini lathe (with VS). Would the techniques in your DVD benefit someone like me with such a small lathe? I've been thinking of trying some small bowls, but haven't really known the right way to do it.

Mike

Hi Mike

I am sure they would, since the techniques are pretty much the same regardless of the size of the bowl. Besides, the one bowl I am turning in the video is only a little bit over 8" in diameter, so that would work on your mini!

Thanks for asking.

Hi Bill,

Thanks for the reply. I figured as much, but since I haven't ever turned a bowl I really am not sure what the size might do to the process.

I sent my wife the link and gave her a helpful hint about getting this for Christmas- it's in her hands now :) After the holidays I'll have more rope to play with, so I'll put this in my links - judging from the index of the DVD it looks to be extremely comprehensive.

Mike