Winesses to failure

More proficient you get, the more you figure you can get away with, so count on your collection growing.

One of the joys of heating with wood. Firewood it was to have been, firewood it becomes....

yep, I have my "rouges gallery".. reminds me of what NOT to try again.. but you only fail if you give up.. I don't know if this is true, but I've read that when they asked Edison how he managed to continue with his light bulb idea after over

1,000 failures, he said "I never failed, but I did find over 1,000 ways that it didn't work"

I added one to the collection a few nights ago... turning some walnut the a neighbor had cut down, planning on a jar.. I guess I didn't cut enough off the end to get rid of the cracks, and after most of the basic shape and hollowing were done, I noticed that cracks were appearing on the faceplate end... tried to modify the shape to avoid the new crack and cut the outside just a little too close... it's sitting on the shelf now, with about a 3/4" hole in the bottom..lol

I've been turning for almost 70 years. I wouldn't have room in my shop for all of the bummers.

Firewood. Initially I kept a few of the disasters which took soooo long to turn, but ultimately they, too, found their way into the tinder box. It has become somewhat of a ritual to gently place a turning mistake on top of glowing embers and watch it reach kindling temp and flame into oblivion.

That and the fact that my wife will burn them if I don't.

Max

I have what would have been a *beautiful* bowl made of gum-vein eucalyptus above my lathe. It was literally done, ready to be finished. I thought "I want to take just one more light pass over the surface to smooth it up." I ever-so-gently just *touched* the bowl, and foom - pieces flew all over. I gathered them up, and fitted them together. I have no idea how I got the bowl to a 3/16" wall thickness to begin with, about half of the bowl's material was supported by nothing more than three tiny slivers because of the voids!

steve

Kevin,

I agree with (and do) all that has been said with a couple of additions. When I get one that I don't like I usually do 1 of 2 things. I might keep turning to see how far I can push it (technique development & finding limits) or I cut it in half through the center to get a complete look at the way the wall thickness runs (evaluation).

I make prototypes from pine & scraps before I use expensive exotics on a new style that I'm developing. I want to be sure how it's going to look and feel. I usually end up doing 3-5, each with a slightly different shape. I usually keep those and use them in my shop to hold parts, scraps of sandpaper, small tools, etc. Beside being useful, the prototypes provide a convienent set of measurements and something to compare to when I'm making something similar for a customer.

Larry

Hi Kevin.

I looked it up. In the dictionary asymptotic lies between asylum and asynergy. They sure fit my shop and my turning style. Even a silicon carbide '30 grit gouge' can't save my work from my 'waving skew' and my 'one last cut'.

Failures are not art and I've given up my lame attempts to make them so. Oh well, I have my failures to keep me warm.

BTW, Sympathy lies between s..t and syphilis, so expect no compassion. :)

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

Kevin, Have you ever wondered why so many wood shops (turning & otherwise) have wood stoves. For heat in Winter, you say? Well yeah, that too.

Let's just say I have some of the nicest firewood around. And my wife thinks I hardly ever mess up a piece of wood. Heck, I just get rid of the evidence!

Barry

good point! As we all know, mistakes on our stuff are glow in the dark and flashing neon to us, but not that noticeable to non-turners...

I was going to reject a box last night because I couldn't get a groove out of the bottom of a wall without smaller chisels (another story) but my wife said that it looked like it was "supposed to be there" like a trim line or something... she loved it.. wish I would of known that before I spent all that time trying to get rid of the damn line!

I have kept a hollow vessel, out of beautiful lace redwood burl, that a hole magically appeared upon parting it after having finished hollowing and turning. Someday, I keep saying that, I will somehow laminate a foot to it, add a collar, and salvage this beautiful piece of burl. That was 5 years ago, I guess it will probably never get done, however; it is a good reminder to be more careful in the hollowing process.......Ralph