Wednesday's Wisdom For Woodturners April 10, 2024

[lew]

Spent the day rototilling our little garden and planted onions. Garlic has sprung up and looks like most of what I planted survived the winter. Harvest won't be until mid summer.

 

 

Our Patriot Turners-

@Gerald is turning some really neat refrigerator magnets!

 

He has been practicing with his new JaHo jig to adding very interesting embellishments to some of these items. Please hop on over to his post and see what our turners thought of his work-

Gerald also posted about these magnets in the "Monday Morning" forum

 

 

 

We've had some additions to several of our continuing posts.

From  "What Lathe Are You Using"-

@RustyFN, @HARO50  and @Steve Krumanaker

 

From "Off The Lathe"-

@kreisdorph-

 

 

From "What's On Your Lathe"-

@calabrese55-

 

 

And, from "What's Your Favorite Wood..."

@RustyFN, @keithlong  and @Cal 

 

 

 

@keithlong is looking for a specific crafting item. He is making keychains and needs to find a part. Please check out his post and see if you can suggest a source for the part he needs-

 

Keith also added to @Fred W. Hargis Jr's post about Easy Wood Tools rougher cutters. Looks like he found a pretty good price on cutters-

 

 

 

What’s Coming Up-

Click on the images for links to more information and registration-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For The Newbies-

Turners are always seeking new ways to amp up the visual effects of their turnings. In this video, Sam Angelo uses various tools to create interest on the turning's surface. He also adds some color to highlight the embellishments.

 

 

 

 

Expand Your Horizons-

Several of our members make "Beads of Courage" boxes for kids with cancer. Mike Peace recently did a short video spotlighting the Gwinnett Woodworkers as they prepare segmented blanks for their Beads of Courage Box initiative.  A really worthwhile cause.

 

 

Alan Stratton shared a video where he turned a bird's beak natural edge bowl. What I found interesting was his method of holding the turning when reversed chucking.

 

 

 

New Turning Items-

Not new but on sale from Woodturners Wonders-

 

https://woodturnerswonders.com/collections/lathes?_kx=gV5SF2As_3IwtBi5TrpHVQGZ2p91Dzyb6Hq8u86HRP26F2J3AVp8xSSqd_hTF8cT.VJvU8R

 

 

 

Everything Else-

From Ron Brown's Newsletter, struck home with me as this was the way I was raised:

 

I Can’t Because I Don’t . . .

 

When someone says I can’t because I don’t have something I will need to do it, the money, the accessory, or just about anything else, I wonder how anything ever gets done.

 

I grew up in a working-class poor family. We always had food, although a lot of the time it was because we had our own chickens, rabbits, and pigs. We were taught not to waste. I learned very early that you can almost always find a way if you want to make something happen. When we wanted to go fishing, we first dug the worms, caught the grasshoppers, or made our own doughballs. Bamboo fishing poles with a cork float and one old hook worked fine. We had hours of fun and usually came home with a basket of fish. Catch and release, what is that?

 

You already have a lathe and a few tools, add wood from the firewood pile and you are in business! You can make anything if you want to. Use what you have on hand, until you get something better. Figure out how to use what you already have in new and creative ways. Lots of things will do double duty nicely. No matter how much stuff you have, you will always want something better. (I usually have the solution just so you know).

 

My point is when you think you can’t because you need something else, the adventure has usually just begun, if you get creative and figure out how to accomplish the task by using something else in an unconventional way. Don’t spend your precious shop time being frustrated because of what you don’t have. Do something while you save up for the miracle tool, jig, or fixture that will make all the difference. I’ll be here when you are ready.

 

How do I know this works? I learned how to write because I have never been able to pay someone else to write for me. I know how to publish mass emails because a publicist charges way more than I can afford. I know how to edit photos, drawings, and videos for the same reason; I can’t afford to pay someone else to do it for me. I know how to program all of my CNCs, my lasers, and my 3D printers myself because I’ve had to learn to do it if it is going to get done. I know how to upload my edited videos to YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram along with shorts and reels because I made myself learn to do it.

 

My point is don’t be so eager to accept defeat. Use your God given talents to figure it out. You will surprise yourself when you make a second and third effort. One of the greatest forces in the world is persistence.

 

 

 

I've been playing with shapes and proportions. None are finished, a couple need hollowed. This is some of that wind shake cherry. 

 

 

 

Safe turning

[Grandpadave52]

Thanks Lew. Again a top notch post. Reading Ron Brown's brought back many memories for me too...from an early age on whenever I said "I can't do this/that" my dad's immediate response was (exact words) "can't never did anything that didn't try." Took a few years to fully grasp it, but I haven't forgotten his profound advice. How those words resonated during my back surgery recovery, PT and even since. He would have been 92 this past Sunday...has been gone 30 years now.

[lew]

22 minutes ago, Grandpadave52 said:

Thanks Lew. Again a top notch post. Reading Ron Brown's brought back many memories for me too...from an early age on whenever I said "I can't do this/that" my dad's immediate response was (exact words) "can't never did anything that didn't try." Took a few years to fully grasp it, but I haven't forgotten his profound advice. How those words resonated during my back surgery recovery, PT and even since. He would have been 92 this past Sunday...has been gone 30 years now.

Thanks Dave. I often think how lucky I’ve been having the struggles early on. It really has given me the tools to succeed. 

[HARO50]

4 hours ago, lew said:

My point is don’t be so eager to accept defeat.

Love that newsletter quote, Lew! I suffered a back injury a few years after we got married, and it looked like we would never be able to afford our own house. Then the LOML pointed out that I had some (basic) drafting skills, and was basically a Jack-of-all-trades, so I sat down at my makeshift drafting table and designed our dream home. A small insurance payment was the down payment on a 3/4 acre rural lot, and she and I, with the help of a few friends and relatives, built it! Everything except the cement-block basement and the brickwork on the lower front. Framing, wiring, plumbing, we did it. Nothing fancy, but big enough for a family of four, and a mortgage less than a fifth of what a finished house would have been. That also explains my ER 10 lathe... it was my dad's, and something I could afford. It was free!!!

  

Edited April 11, 2024 by HARO50

[Gerald]

Great post Lew. Thanks for the mention.

[HandyDan]

Thanks Lew.  The Ron Brown letter is dead on.  So many people have old me they wish they could do what I do and most of the time I offer them the opportunity to do so in my shop.  Only two have taken me up on it.

[lew]

Little late getting back here this week.

 

@Grandpadave52  Thank You!

 

@HARO50  Thanks!

 

@Gerald  Thank You!

 

@HandyDan  Thanks!

 

When I read the Ron Brown message, I was transported back to my grandfather's workshop and how he made all of this machines and never gave up on a problem.