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rsser
22nd May 2006, 07:01 PM
... there's nothing that can beat long shavings arcing over your shoulder as you hollow a bowl

... there's no machine other than a lathe that will allow you to make something from beginning to end

... the form takes shape under your eyes as you move your body around the focal point of a small cutting edge

... something magic can come from even an ordinary lump of wood

... there's always something new to learn

Over to you guys. And Jenny ;-}

Cliff Rogers
22nd May 2006, 07:16 PM
You stand in the right place & hold the tool the right way & the work piece comes to you.

ozwinner
22nd May 2006, 07:34 PM
... there's nothing that can beat long shavings arcing over your shoulder as you hollow a bowl

... there's no machine other than a lathe that will allow you to make something from beginning to end

... the form takes shape under your eyes as you move your body around the focal point of a small cutting edge

... something magic can come from even an ordinary lump of wood

... there's always something new to learn

Over to you guys. And Jenny ;-}

Sounds just like this forum en masse....

Al :p

ss_11000
22nd May 2006, 08:09 PM
......cos your efforts are well rewarded ( most of the time)
,......its a good hobby that can earn you money
.......its the easiest form of ww, for sanding.
........there are no limits, only your imagination

ticklingmedusa
22nd May 2006, 08:09 PM
Its a lame cliche, but turning for me is like the "out of body experience." I become involved in something beyond myself.
I love the heat that radiates from the little pile of shavings that accumulates on the back of my left hand.
I love the moment a finish touches the wood and
brings it to life.
I love the way peoples fingers run over a piece I hand to them.
And I love the way time at the toolrest isn't measured by hours and seconds as much as the pile of shavings on the floor.
I love daydreaming about the tree and where it grew to produce the chunk of wood spinning in front of me.
Damn, some of that sounds a bit like sex!
Maybe I'm spending too much time in the shop.
NAW! :cool:
Great idea for a topic rsser
tm

Toasty
22nd May 2006, 08:53 PM
I love turning because while I am doing it I forget my day job stresses

I love turning because sometimes when I show a piece to my wife she is proud of me

ozwinner
22nd May 2006, 08:56 PM
Damn, some of that sounds a bit like sex!
Maybe I'm spending too much time in the shop.

tm

Yep, Id say you are. :p

Al :D

DavidG
22nd May 2006, 09:08 PM
Because.:D

Grunt
22nd May 2006, 09:35 PM
You love turning because ...

I hate travelling in the same direction all the time.

echnidna
22nd May 2006, 09:40 PM
You love turning because ...

Its the quickest way to fill my underpants up with wood shavings,
down through the neck in my shirt.:eek:

I don't love turning its only a necessary part of being a furniture maker :)

Lignum
22nd May 2006, 09:43 PM
The turners will turn on me:cool: But i find it the most boring of all woodworking. I mean a bowl is a bowl is a bowl is a bo............

echnidna
22nd May 2006, 09:51 PM
The turners will turn on me:cool: But i find it the most boring of all woodworking. I mean a bowl is a bowl is a bowl is a bo............

... unless its a candlestick holder :D

Lignum
22nd May 2006, 10:02 PM
or an emergency toothpick:rolleyes:

Grunt
22nd May 2006, 10:08 PM
I don't turn but if I did my wife would shove the third bowl I made up my ...

Jenny Brandis
22nd May 2006, 11:15 PM
... there's nothing that can beat long shavings arcing over your shoulder as you hollow a bowl

... there's no machine other than a lathe that will allow you to make something from beginning to end

... the form takes shape under your eyes as you move your body around the focal point of a small cutting edge

... something magic can come from even an ordinary lump of wood

... there's always something new to learn

Over to you guys. And Jenny ;-}
I create from a stick and my own imagination via tools - the best of my technological loving crafty mind at work here! :)

Skew ChiDAMN!!
23rd May 2006, 12:01 AM
Turning is about revealing and enhancing what is already in the wood. Any piece of wood, whether it be riddled with borers, rot or splits, can still be made into a thing of beauty. If you're good enough, that is. :o

Curlies over the shoulder? Oh yeah. Darksiders prating about their shavings from handplanes really don't know what they're missing out on. :p

Measured wrong? So what! Keep on turning... it doesn't automatically become an offcut.

Keeps the shop dog fit. Every time I pick up a skew chisel, he bolts out the door... saves a fortune in tennis balls.

Last, but definitely not least: sticking bits of wood together is how I make my living while turning is how I get away from it.

hughie
23rd May 2006, 02:04 AM
Hmmm,


Intersting things wood lathes. It take five minutes to read the instructions and a life time to perfect the operation.

No matter how good the bowl is you can always improve on it.

No matter how many times you pick up the same species if timber it will always be different.


hughie

CameronPotter
23rd May 2006, 10:09 AM
Because the results are fast, pleasing and useful. Also, there is something nice about guaranteed symmetry.

As for those people who talk about lathe work being repetitive, think about a flat piece of wood... What could be more repetitive than a plank? :p Sure you can stick it together in a number of ways, but you can also use turning in a number of ways too...

Both sets of techniques are only limited by imagination.

Cam

tonysa
23rd May 2006, 11:11 PM
yep, all of the above
plus the smell of camphor laurel, huon pine and freshly friction polished shellawax

rsser
8th June 2006, 11:11 PM
[Edit: woops, didn't see the 2nd page; this was meant to follow Jenny's post on the 1st]

That's exactly it Jenny.

And I love the way you can take an ordinary lump of wood, seen in two dimensions, and find with some sweeping cuts a beautiful flowing grain in three dimensions.

... and your pot pourri bowl is one you did yourself and filled with Huon shavings

... and so many turners generously share their hard-won knowledge with you

... and when you think you're doing well you see someone else's work and think, lordy, I'm still in kindergarten

Gil Jones
9th June 2006, 11:30 AM
Because turning is fun, and relaxing. It is exciting to see a fresh form of grandeur emerge from a tree trunk. You are able to give a new life to an already beautiful piece of nature, and there will never be another one exactly like it.

Grizz
9th June 2006, 03:51 PM
All of the above. Also, I can't keep things flat and square when I'm working with wood :). But, I think the 2 biggest things are the solitude when turning and the people in this group.

Grizz.

Skew ChiDAMN!!
9th June 2006, 07:32 PM
You can set up a working lathe in a space little bigger than a wardrobe.

Sure, turners are always complaining about lack of room but that's usually over somewhere to store more wood, not laments about lack of work space to do something with it! :D

CHJ
9th June 2006, 08:13 PM
See My Turnings Gallery of twelve months workshop output as a newbie turner.

Enough said really other than I don't know any better way of displaying the beauty of an off-cut of wood.

Toasty
9th June 2006, 08:53 PM
See My Turnings Gallery of twelve months workshop output as a newbie turner.
You have work there to be very proud of!

Farnk
9th June 2006, 09:52 PM
I love turning because while I am doing it I forget my day job stresses

I love turning because sometimes when I show a piece to my wife she is proud of me

Hear Hear!
There's also the mother in law too.
Funny tho, I have kept just one thing for myself after 3 odd years of turning, everything else I've given away.

For me it's about my own private time, unplugging from work / family stress and just concentrating on the peice. Sometimes I even get something other than a pile of shavings to show for it!

PAH1
13th June 2006, 02:45 PM
I would say the practice, taking yourself further with each piece, ensuring that each piece is as good as you can do. The enjoyment as you think of a project, work through how to hold it, the chucking, tool selection, finishing etc and then produce something that is as you had envisioned. Everything I have done as a hobby I have always sought to do the best that can be done, I suppose I feel that way about turning and realising watching some of the experts turn that you will not spend enough time turning to match them technically- you just need to match them creatively.

lubbing5cherubs
13th June 2006, 03:02 PM
The escape during that time it the wood and you. Everything else fades away. No bills, No kids, No one going to call you to do something when you have gone to the lathe at the end of the day. It a great place to be
Toni

Tiger
13th June 2006, 03:45 PM
I love turning because... I'm a masochist:D . I love to put myself under constant pressure by having to remember to rub the bevel, to stand in the correct position, to transfer my weight at the correct moment, to continually keep a surgically sharp tool, to buy yet another expensive tool which I don't have, to make countless adjustments to my lathe etc... and if you don't do all this and you lose concentration for even a split second, BANG :eek: you get a catch and/or the workpiece flies off and maybe even hits you.

PS if you're a beginner, don't read this. Oops too late:o

Pharaoh_25
17th June 2006, 12:29 AM
Having someone saying that there proud of you is such a rewarding feeling. My wife said a simillar comment to me and i felt so appreciated.
I'm 25 hope i'm still making her proud when i'm 89.

Cheers

hughie
17th June 2006, 01:32 AM
:D bascially I love it cos I love it. hughie