What is the most important

Face shield and imagination.

Have a plan, and a chunk of wood to fit the bill would be handy.

Lobby Dosser wrote:

I like the "have a Plan" thing!

a piece of wood helps, unless you're running an engine lathe..

yep, I was going to say "both neurons"

Time.

What is the most important thing a turner needs to take with him when he goes out to the lathe?

Hi Ray,

Nice thought provoking post.

I think the answer would be that there would be as many answers as there are turners. To the professional, it could be to organize the time in a way to make it profitable. To me, as a hobby turner, it is to enjoy the experience. To the vast majority of turners who fall somewhere between those extremes, it could be any combination of the answers already posted.

Ron Robinson East Texas

I agree. I know a couple of guys in Kentucky who never decide what their turned object is gonna be until they are ready to apply the finish! Funny thing, everything they turn looks like tire knockers and ash trays to me...............gotta have a plan................or at least a good idea!

Barry

"Ray Sandusky" skrev i melding news: snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com...

The chunk of wood. The good one. No woodturner is better than his piece of wood.

Bjarte

Their creativity gene?

ok.. you need a piece of metal..lol

I take my glasses, if I remember them. If not, I have to go back into the house and get them. Only then do the rest of the very good suggestions above come into play for me :)

Tom

A condom so one turns safe. Basil Kelsey Ypsilanti, Mi.

Your brain.

I concur. And be sure to bring it back with you when you are done turning for the day.

Bill in Detroit

Mac, The term 'engine lathe' just refers to how the durned thing is driven (from back in the days of steam engines and overhead leather belts powering an entire factory) not what it is used for.