Ten truths we turners hold to be self evident. Are they myths?

1 saying it three times makes it true (paraphrasing Dodson (aka lewis carroll) in the hunting of the snark:) 2 thinner is better 3 difficulty = quality 4 complexity = beauty

More on the order of myths held to be true:

Expense = value Time invested = money saved Hours crafting = skill attained Training = readiness The wood will suggest its own design. Eventually we will own enough tools.

snipped-for-privacy@webtv.net (Arch) wrote in news:21196-40EC6818-192@storefull-

3173.bay.webtv.net: Arch, I'm a newbie to the group (been a lurker for some time) and pretty much a newbie turner. I started turning in 1955 (Springfield Trade School) and didn't turn from 1959 until 2004. It was like riding a bike. Now to the subject:

Art is in the eyes of the beholder (be it you (meaning me) or some other soul). I strive for craft so I can make myself happy and fool some of the artsy folk.

Free wood works for me (but what do I know?).

I'm sure that is true, but when I grind (I like to call it sharpen) my tools that came from Harbor Freight and PSI and screw them up (I really meant to say that they came out less than perfect) I don't cry or blame Providence. Maybe if I had tools from Europe or North America, I would not have to grind (I call it sharpen) ever. A whole set to grind (sharpen) for thirty bucks from HF. I splurged with my next set of tools because I was now a kind of a turner; got a set of tools from PSI for seventy bucks that I could grind (sharpen). Is Australia and New Zealand considered the Far East? I always thought they were in the Far West. I live in the Catskills of New York. Here the Far east is Massachusetts and the Far West,Ohio.

I'm panting for the SuperNova chuck and a real honest-to-goodness outside caliper. When I obtain them, Nirvana.

Hey, I went to Springfield Trade. What do I know about Einstein and relativity or time continueums(sp) (although there is an excellent brewpub in Princeton called Triumph where I spent much time and money and had a relatively great time).

Don't know what "TIC" means, but an injurous comment can't usually be disguised by ":)". Most people pick it up.

All goes back to the beholder.

Anything and everything I turn is unique and truly original. The initial design, concept, and intended use usually has no bearing on the result.

Naaaa, I'm the one that's too cheap.

Remember Y2K? The media made me a relatively wealthy man; so it must be true

Another time. My finger is getting tired. Fond regards, Hank

Arch did say, at point '11', "myth". I think that you and he are in complete (?) agreement. Personally, I like 'Murphy's Laws' and remember, Murphy was an optimist. Please tell me what a 'tic' is.

Cheers, Tom

Springfield Trade School? Did you know Homer? I think he was in the Nuclear Materials Handling College? *TIC*

Leif

Isn't that when you exhibit those uncontrolable shakes and jerks? (The tic Arch was refering to is "tongue in cheek".)

Owen Lowe wrote in news:onlnlowe- snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com:

TIC is:

a. Something you get when a potential buyer says "It's so Cute!" b. Something your dog gets at Mt. Rushmore just after finding the chicken bones (DAMHIKT).

snipped-for-privacy@webtv.net (Arch) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@storefull-3173.bay.webtv.net:

You can paint a properly prepared concret floor.

Isn't that more aptly, "CIT"?

"Owen Lowe" wrote: Isn't that more aptly, "CIT"? ^^^^^^^^^^^ Chicken in tongue?

"Arch" wrote: clip) 1. We _strive for art but _settle for craft.(clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^ I strive for craft, but settle for crap.

"Leo Lichtman" wrote in news:pc6Hc.71827 $ snipped-for-privacy@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net:

ChickenBone In Throat.

Purchase of an unneeded item on sale also qualifies as "money saved?"

Enough clamps? Never! Purchase of another merely allows contemplation of glueups which demand two more....

Arch,are you from the UK? I knew a guy from Ireland who called a sliver of wood the size of a toothpick "a small piece of timber". Here in South Georgia timber is lumber on the hoof, i.e. standing timber, or either large beams such as the supporting timbers of a bridge. :)

Thanks for all your mythical responses. The mother-in-law of all myths is that RCW is on its last legs and serves no purpose. Right up there are myths that Leo turns crap and that attending a trade school scuttles chances for a liberal education.

Henry, many thanks & welcome, your perspectives and informed opinions on trades education and liberal arts will be interesting to most here.

Fortiter,

"2. Half dried timber is in the worst possible state for turning."

I like half-dry. It doesn't sling water or require heatgun or microwave drying prior to sanding. Not as hard or as hot cutting as dry.

I'd settle for getting my bowls free of end grain tear out.

Given that all I now have is several LARGE chunks of soft maple and a piece of red oak, ANY wood is good wood.

Skill, for the most part, determines quality of finished product.

Nope, the more toys, the more you want. Kindova refutation of the theory of diminishing marginal utility

Not necessarily but then face-to-face communication leaves less uncertainty in meaning and communication than glowing phosphors

IAITEOTB (It's all in the eye of the beholder/buyer)

Not sure. Given some of the things I've turned out, unique (other adjectives come to mind though) is certainly one way to describe them.

Among other factors such as space, budget, desire... Have to get all of the possible factors quantified and run a regression to determine the actual parameters.

Hey Gerald, I'm from the backwoods & red clay hills of Tallahassee, far from the UK. I do admit to being an Anglophile tho; my son is an old Wykehamist from Winchester College where "Manners Makyth Man"..... I guess.

I have to agree that timber is standing lumber and timbers are heavy supports. Both are much larger than flitches and turning blanks. Your post brings back memories of my miserable attempts to cruise timber. I never did get the board feet right: got the height by measuring a straight line 90deg. (yeah sure) from the tree til the angle to the top was 45deg. Figured the average girth by guessing and misreading tables in a little brown book. Guess it's all smoke, mirrors and lasers now, but to this day I hate to caliper. Anyway, I decided it was best to forget lumbering, keep the pine trees and distill turps. :) Arch

Fortiter,