What me start a fight? Nope just trying to be helpful. (long, stupid)

That's known as "Let's you and him fight. Here, I'll hold your coat."

Bud? I thought you said Beer.

Pellet gun and a bunch of plastic milk cartons full of water. Can't imagine what the recyclers think when they get those riddled bottles.

Different end, Arch. Be like brushing your teeth with a Fleets.

Never got to 'gossamer'. Got close to real thin once and it broke.

I see a lot of real customers looking at the bottoms, but I think they're either looking for the price or the 'Made In China' stamp. I usually shut my eyes and run my fingers over the bottom (the bowl's). My fingers can tell me a lot more than my eyes sometimes. Was an apprentice safe cracker in high school - about 55 years ago (why'd you have to bring this up). Used to be able to pop the combination lock on any locker in about 30 seconds - or maybe a minute ...

P A I N T

That ought to get Somebody riled ...

I have an automotive back ground, may I suggest that banging a Morse taper out of spindle causes an immediate release when it comes out. Typically for me a single slap of the rod does the trick. Additionally the roller bearings and races move away from each when force is applied in this dirrection. You don't turn with pressure applied in this direction so the normal critical surfaces are basically not touching each other. Roller bearings tend to be a bit loose fitting when not under operating pressure. Grease or some type of lubricant does what you would expect and keeps them quiet, and keeps them from rattleing. OTOH if you bang the spindle blank onto a spur center the spur center is transmitting lots of force/energy, way way more than normal, from the banging directly to the bearing. This time however you are applying pressure from the banging in the same dirrection that normal operating pressure is applied and the bearing's roller bearings and races are violently forced together over and over until you are content with the depth that you have reached. Doing this can cause tiny tiny indentations in the roller bearings and races that will eventually cause premature wear.

Now then, I have referred to the bearings as having roller bearings. Roller bearings could be round cylinders, needles, or balls. Bassically they all roll.

Hey I am just a beginner at this, I think going for thin walls is just showing off. :~) Huh Robert? LOL Hopefully one day I too will want thin balls, uh er walls rather.

See above answer immediately above, first sentence.

Is there a question?

NO! Are you suppose to warm up????

I notice this more when using "Garnet" paper. As it wears out the natural minerals break down, become sharp again but smaller and produce a finer finish. More of the moder papers will last longer but will dull and not cut well at all when they are worn.

If you don't skip a grit, sanding through to the final grit will go faster, you don't spend excess time removing scratches from a previous grit. Basically you are asking the paper to do too much work to remove the previous grit scratches if you skip.

Dang! You can do bowl's on a lather????? More to learn, more to learn.

If you can't sit on when you are finished it is too weak. I test all mo furniture this way. BIC FOT FEET MON!

I think women prefer shiney objects and I would say women use what we turn more than what most men do.

No worries there.

You can get some one to do that for you????? Daaaang!

I'm gunna say, The crack was ardy there, I made the best of it.

How bout Paint?

I know they do when I work with boards to make square stuff. I sold a maple jewelry chest for $1200. ALTHOUGH I did not place it on a web site.

Are you talking about what we in the furniture building business refer to as "distressed furniture"?

I caint disagree!

"Leon" wrote: (clip) banging a Morse taper

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ There, Arch! I'll bet you didn't expect such a cogent answer. And I bet few of us could have come up with one so logical.

I agree, but a lot of folks in the turners club I belong to think it's just fine. A couple just use turnings as an adjunct to carvings and sculptures. Different strokes ...

I like my bottoms elegantly plain (on my turnings of course). They must have a nice shape but not too much ornamentation. Most people don?t set them upside down on the shelf.

Some of my best work takes place like candid camera, when I least expect it. Sometimes this happens when I am just practicing but most of the time it is when I am not under the gun trying to get a specific kind of piece turned.

My shop always looks like it is being used. That is because it is always being used. My dad once told me that a messy shop is a sign of genius. If that is true then I have a higher IQ then I thought.

I have had three beautiful turnings crack on me this week. I looks like two of them will be able to be filled with a contrasting colored wood dust and glue. These will be sold as art. The other one will be helping me roast hotdogs in the fire pit this summer.

I like some of my turnings to have a little heft. Make them too thin and it seems like people are not getting my money?s worth.

The rest of the saying is, ?Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.? I used to sand to 600 or 800. I have found that most of my customers are more than satisfied with 320 grit. They like the look and feel of wood. That is why they buy from me instead of the guy making pottery.

Shiny finished wood is not always useable. Lots of my customers want to be able to use the piece they buy for something. How much shine I put on the piece directly depends on the purpose of the piece. I get lots of customers telling me that they want their wood to look like wood, not plastic.

Just some thoughts, Ted J thelatentlog.com

Oh boy - he's gone and done it now!

Arch wrote: snip

At least with my JET mini - the knock out bar has a plastic ball on the end so I can't wack it with a hammer or a mallet - like I can driving the wood onto a drive center

Well, if the little micro-bot you're going to use to have it waddle away when startlet has a small carrying capacity - then weight - and therefore wall thickness is important.

If there's a chance of the piece cracking due to moisture changes, thinner means the amount of dimension change is smaller.

For me, a bud vase/ weed pot just has a small hole drilled in it to stick a weed or flower stem in. Inside wall is straight - not following the outside of the piece's profile.

Maybe it's like buying a used car. Some look only at the paint job, and some examine the upholstery carefully and the miles on the odometer may or may not be important.

I look in the engine compartment and under the car. If I see a lot of crud or evidence of fresh fluid leaks . . .

A relatively smooth bevel can affect the surface of the cut - since it's the bevel riding on the just cut surface that controls the cut. A smooth bevel will burnish the wood smooth. The corner of a facet will leave a groove.

I don't buy expensive exotic blanks so there's no need to do a warm up piece first. But I do seem to take a chunk of wood, mount it between centers intending to just rough it to round and use it later, then just keep going - with no real idea of where.

A sanded finish can seldom produce a burnished finish - unless you go all the way through the grits to 220, or sometimes 320, making sure each eliminates the scratches from the prior grit. And I sand as if the paper is free. (continuing to use paper after it has become "loaded up" creates more problems than the worth of the paper)

On woods that are prone to tear out - the 80 grit "gouge" is the only way I can get the shape and surface I'm after.

Well, up to 220 - or maybe 320 - skipping ahead sort of defeats the purpose - the intent being to get a scratch free surface that an application of a finish, or a good burnishing with shavings, will bring to a nice semi-gloss look.

You turn things that are actully going to hold other things - some with a high water content or that exude fluids?

For functional turnings - wider is often better. For non-functional turnings - aesthetics trumps practicality.

If I wanted the look and feel of plastic - or glass - I wouldn't start with wood.

ANY finish takes away the subtle feel of the wood. I like the look AND feel of wood.

Remember Pig Pen from the Peanuts comic strip - the kid who walks around in a cloud of dust and dirt? Make that sawdust and shavings and you'll probably be able to pick me out in a crowd.

I WOULD keep the floor clean - but the grand kids absolutely love to wield the 4" dust collector hose and make all sorts of things that get near the end - DISAPPEAR! So - for their sake - I overcome my urge to be neat and tidy. (and if you believe that, I've got a half dozen bridges I'd like to sell you - cheap!)

I don't need help with that - though pontificating is sort of fun.

As a cheap bastard, and an impatient one at that, I turn what I can get for free - which usually means "green" or been on the ground too many years before I get it. If the cracks can be sort of fixed with CA glue - and the piece looks promising - I'll finish it and maybe keep it. If not, a neighbor has a fireplace.

Two words - India Ink. One word - FIRE!

Audacity sometimes pays off.

I'm of two minds on this one (formerly I had the distinct impression that I'd lost the one mind I was issued at birth but now realize I'm schizophrenic- and so am I).

What Graeme Priddle, Andi Wolfe and Clay Foster do with a piece when the turning's done tilts me one way. Then I see some charred, scortched, red painted abomination - and want to scream.

When 100 mm cigarettes were first introduced, one outfit made a 101 mm cigarette and their ads used the catch phrase "A silly millimeter longer", to which the competition answered "It's not how long you make it, but HOW you make it long" - which was considered pretty suggestive at the time.

So it's not the post lathe "treatments" I object to, but "treatments" that add nothing to the piece and often screw it up.

Only if you created the label yourself - and maybe using PhotoShop to do it might be OK

I agree. I make them both ways, depending on my mood and how large I want the bowl to be. I have heard customers comment on just how much they like the varied grain patterns in bowls they buy. Most of the time the patterns they are referring to are the ones where the grain is NOT centered.

Ted J thelatentlog.com

It seems like there are a lot of off topic spam posts. I had to sort to find anything related to turning. I saw this post and really enjoyed it. Thanks for the musings. Happy turning, or not turning!

You need a new service. I haven't seen one via this one (via Google, well.... it's bad)