It's Not a Passion, It's an Obsession

[Kent Reisdorph]

I heard this tagline for Mossy Oak outdoor gear and I thought it was perfect for us. Is woodturning your passion or obsession? I'm somewhere in between.

 

[Steve Tiedman]

It has been a passion with ebb and flo tendencies since 1995. I find when I've been obsessed with interests in the past, they fizzle and die in a few weeks or months.

 

[DON FRANK]

The thing that is great about woodturning over say doing flat work is that people with many different skill sets can participate. What I call the engineer guys, the guys that love math migrate into segmented glued up turnings. They put together a puzzle before they ever turn the lathe on. The cannot stand to do something without a drawing before proceeding. I think of Malcom Tibbits on the far end of that spectrum.
On the other end a person that is very artistic in their methods and thinking can begin a piece without a preconceived notion of what It will look like. They turn, they think, they modify and often make it up along the way. They have the complete freedom do take a piece of timber and make it into anything they want to. Makes me think of Betty Scarpio although i'd guess she has a pretty good idea of where she is headed before she starts.
In-between those two are the rest of us that can make simple bowls without embellishment and be happy, create boxes and tops and christmas ornaments and just have fun. I did not discover woodturning until I was over 55. My only regret is I wish i would have discovered it earlier.

 

[robo hippy]

One of my all time favorite lines from a song that Waylon Jennings sang, but didn't write, Black Rose, "The devil made me do it the first time. The second time I did it on my own." I also wish I could have had shop classes as a kid. Only class I ever got straight A's in was PE.

robo hippy

 

[R Henrickson]

The thing that is great about woodturning over say doing flat work is that people with many different skill sets can participate. What I call the engineer guys, the guys that love math migrate into segmented glued up turnings. They put together a puzzle before they ever turn the lathe on. The cannot stand to do something without a drawing before proceeding. I think of Malcom Tibbits on the far end of that spectrum.

Geometry is one of my foremost interests, but I have absolutely no interest in segmenting -- made two segmented bowls and that was enough. Instead I use spindles to construct elaborate lattices and polygons (e.g., tetrahedra, octahedra, cubes). Many require a lot of spindles.

 

[Aaron Harris]

Definitely an obsession for me. I have always joked that I don't have hobbies, I have obsessions. My two grown sons are exactly the same way. If either one of us goes down a rabbit hole, we go all the way. But then again I have never believed in doing anything halfway.

 

[John Vaeth]

Turning for me started as a curiosity. I wasn't sold initially because I thought "how many bowls or spindles do I need?" Unlike the flatwork I had long been doing, I didn't see diversity in the craft. Boy was I wrong! Today, I only do flatwork if I have to. I'd much rather spin up the lathe and see what emerges. I rarely start with a plan. Passion or obsession? I guess the answer is "YES". It is one or the other or both. Now I have to get off this computer and go make something.....

 

[Richard Coers]

Both are OCD.

Obsession vs. Compulsion: Understanding the Two Parts of OCD

Obsessions and compulsions are the two main aspects of OCD, but what exactly is the difference between them? Get examples of each and see how they might fit together in real-life examples.

www.healthline.com

 

[Kent Reisdorph]

I'd much rather spin up the lathe and see what emerges. I rarely start with a plan.

That's exactly how I approach turning. Put on a blank and see what happens.

 

[William J Smith]

I'm a little different. I almost always start with a plan. I envision what the item will be used for, how big, what shape. That doesn't mean the wood always cooperates. More frequently than not, the end product doesn't end up looking like what I planned. But like many of you have said, "I let the wood talk to me." (I think I understand what the wood is telling me more better than what my wife is saying to me. At least the wood never tells me to leave all that sawdust right here in the workshop!)

 

[Glenn C Roberts]

The thing that is great about woodturning over say doing flat work is that people with many different skill sets can participate. What I call the engineer guys, the guys that love math migrate into segmented glued up turnings. They put together a puzzle before they ever turn the lathe on. The cannot stand to do something without a drawing before proceeding. I think of Malcom Tibbits on the far end of that spectrum.
On the other end a person that is very artistic in their methods and thinking can begin a piece without a preconceived notion of what It will look like. They turn, they think, they modify and often make it up along the way. They have the complete freedom do take a piece of timber and make it into anything they want to. Makes me think of Betty Scarpio although i'd guess she has a pretty good idea of where she is headed before she starts.
In-between those two are the rest of us that can make simple bowls without embellishment and be happy, create boxes and tops and christmas ornaments and just have fun. I did not discover woodturning until I was over 55. My only regret is I wish i would have discovered it earlier.

This one of the best posts I have ever read!

 

[J. Paul Fennell]

A number of years ago, I attended a gallery reception in Scottsdale, Arizona—my home town--that included some of my work in an exhibit of mixed media. During the evening, someone came up to me with a question that I recall went something like this: “Can you tell me what this ‘woodturning thing’ is all about?”
I didn’t purposely mean to sound flippant to a question like that, but it came out that way. “The woodturning thing, I said, is an addiction, really, and a persistent one. You can’t really stay away from it for very long.”
That was probably not the answer this person was hoping for, but for those of us who are woodturning “junkies,” we understand. A question lingers, however: when you have been turning for as long as I have—over 50 years—what keeps you going? Is it just the need to keep making stuff in your own manner? The love and challenges of the material? Is it an enduring passion? Or, is it a necessity really, like breathing? Interesting questions….
There are rewards for this type of behavior, though. The result of your efforts is the creation of something tangible, made by your own hands. Seemingly incredible in this day and age of electronic wizardry. And, sometimes there is the ego-stroking compliment by someone duly impressed at what they see, when they ask: “You actually made that?”
So...not only a passion or obsession, but also an addiction and in my case a necessity too.
JPaul Fennell

 

[Donna Banfield]

A number of years ago, I attended a gallery reception in Scottsdale, Arizona—my home town--that included some of my work in an exhibit of mixed media. During the evening, someone came up to me with a question that I recall went something like this: “Can you tell me what this ‘woodturning thing’ is all about?”
I didn’t purposely mean to sound flippant to a question like that, but it came out that way. “The woodturning thing, I said, is an addiction, really, and a persistent one. You can’t really stay away from it for very long.”
That was probably not the answer this person was hoping for, but for those of us who are woodturning “junkies,” we understand. A question lingers, however: when you have been turning for as long as I have—over 50 years—what keeps you going? Is it just the need to keep making stuff in your own manner? The love and challenges of the material? Is it an enduring passion? Or, is it a necessity really, like breathing? Interesting questions….
There are rewards for this type of behavior, though. The result of your efforts is the creation of something tangible, made by your own hands. Seemingly incredible in this day and age of electronic wizardry. And, sometimes there is the ego-stroking compliment by someone duly impressed at what they see, when they ask: “You actually made that?”
So...not only a passion or obsession, but also an addiction and in my case a necessity too.
JPaul Fennell

I have sometimes referred to woodturning as an addiction. I also point out that it's one of the healthier ones, but it will sure cost as much, if not more, in the money you'll spend.

 

[Aaron Harris]

Allow me to add some more thoughts. I come from profound, multi-generational mental illness on one side of my family (I think nearly everyone has mental issues at times in their life, but that's another conversation). That said, both of my very rural mountain grandparents did many arts and crafts that were culturally important in the Depression and WWII-era mountain hollers of North Carolina where we are from. Yes, in those days, poor country people HAD to have many skills just to survive. But my Mamaw's famous quilts (4 of which I still have) and my Papaw's equally well-regarded furniture and woodwork (mostly black walnut and wormy chestnut) were works of art. Both also sang the old mountain standards, and he played multiple stringed instruments, as did my uncles. My mother and all three aunts were also talented in numerous arts and crafts throughout their adult lives as each struggled mightily in their difficult lives.

I too have needed some kind of creative outlet all of my life, since I started writing as a boy. Later I became obsessed with such varied pursuits as learning the guitar, reloading ammunition (which is creative in its own tedious, precise way), restoring and using old straight razors (which led to learning to turn matching shaving brush and bowl sets, which sent me down this rabbit hole), and other hobbies over the years. Going back to my quote above that "I don't have hobbies, I have obsessions," I didn't really put it all together until it hit me like a sledgehammer at the lathe in the spring of '22 when my mother died. As I was composing a tribute for her funeral, I was also going back and forth to my shop as I turned a black walnut bowl that I needed to do more than anything else I have ever done; in fact, it is still "her bowl" in my mind, and I will never part with it.

But what hit me like a bolt of lightning is that I think all of my family have been artisans of one sort or another because they HAD to. I finally figured this out as I articulated it to my cousin who took up painting after her mother died (and her mother was the most profoundly mentally ill one of us all, I think). Maybe some of us turn wood or cast a fly rod or restore old cars or all the other things we do because we HAVE to. That intricate, therapeutic hand-work is the only thing that stops the voices for a while, and allows us to escape into a world where our problems, at least for a few hours, sort of work themselves out at the lathe, at the easel, in that gun-stock you're carving or refinishing, whatever it is. And keep in mind that many of history's most gifted artists have been mad: Van Gogh, Sylvia Plath, Picasso, Miles Davis, and on and on...

I'm still working all of this out, and it's entirely possible that I am full of crap. But I'll leave you with this. I teach Hamlet, and one of my favorite quotes from the play is when Hamlet says "There is nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so." The way I have come to interpret that quote is that we make meaning out of the craziness in our lives by thinking things out and deciding what they mean, sometimes over a long period. I think creating things with our hands helps us do that, and thus is just good for our souls.

As I type this, I am in my classroom and my poor students are taking an AP practice exam. I should be grading essays, but this topic is in my head, and the essays will still be there Monday.

 

[odie]

So...not only a passion or obsession, but also an addiction and in my case a necessity too.

All of the above for me, too....

Another aspect for me, is I'm someone who likes to invent, and make things that help the turning process go more smoothly.....little things, actually.....little things that add up to an overall better experience.

Wow, what a thought provoking thread....thanks for all the very insightful replies...especially @Aaron Harris

-o-

 

[Scott Stickney]

I guess if you are in the shop to accomplish a fix it project for your place and you end up at the lathe instead (as if drawn by an unseen force) its a productive passion-—especially appreciated thoughts from Aaron H!!

 

[Doug Rasmussen]

My obsession is to doing/repairing/making things with my hands.

Over the millions of years of human evolution the recent centuries of being able to live without major dependency on the use of our hands for basic life, hunting/gathering food, providing safe shelter, etc for our families is only a blink of an eye in the human timespan. If may well be the accelerated evolution of life/society as we know it today has outpaced our basic nature to rely and depend on the use our hands. Hobbies like turning can provide that needed hands-on fix. In my case after working in high tech I can't imagine not having a basement shop to get my hands dirty.

 

[Aaron Harris]

My obsession is to doing/repairing/making things with my hands.

Over the millions of years of human evolution the recent centuries of being able to live without major dependency on the use of our hands for basic life, hunting/gathering food, providing safe shelter, etc for our families is only a blink of an eye in the human timespan. If may well be the accelerated evolution of life/society as we know it today has outpaced our basic nature to rely and depend on the use our hands. Hobbies like turning can provide that needed hands-on fix. In my case after working in high tech I can't imagine not having a basement shop to get my hands dirty.

This makes a lot of sense, too, Doug! I wonder if our modern lives that don't involve constant hand-work for most of us is a contributing factor in the mental health crisis. Food for thought.

 

[Elmer Zebley]

I'd say I have the addiction to learning more and more things to do on the lathe and to do to turned objects once they come off the lathe. I have a bit of a phobia of messing something up. So I'll generally research endlessly before attempting something. But it usually works out fairly well for the project, so maybe that's not a bad thing.
One of my favorite Will Roger's quotes.
There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.

 

[Gabriel Hoff]

It's not an obsession, it's an addiction...

 

[robo hippy]

Hmm, turning is a considerably different addiction than my cookie addiction.....

robo hippy

 

[Larry Mercier]

discover woodturning until I was over 55. My only regret is I wish i would have discovered it earlier.

Spot on.

 

[Larry Mercier]

There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.

Funny but sadly true.

 

[Alan Weinberg]

here are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.

I think one can be all those. A combination is best. It’s nice to learn from the mistakes of others rather than make them oneself.

To me, as a just recently retired surgeon, there are direct parallels with woodturning. I’ve approached it like I did learning surgery during and after residency—with a combination of all those—reading, watching, being helped (mentor), and doing.

 

[Neil S]

Nowadays I say to people it's more of a preoccupation than an occupation.

I've been doing it for over 55yrs now and it became what I have mostly done in the last 25yrs.

Unlike most of you, I can now take or leave it. I no longer feel the urge to get into the workshop at every opportunity, but when I get there I quickly slip into a meditative zone. I have no expectation of producing anything when I get there, but the pieces seem to keep happening, almost by themselves.

Some people would pay good money to get into that meditative state while engaging in their preferred preoccupations. I'm very fortunate that my preoccupation not only paid for itself but took me with it for the ride while indulging me with more than I could ask for along the way.

 

[Lou Jacobs]

That intricate, therapeutic hand-work is the only thing that stops the voices for a while, and allows us to escape into a world where our problems, at least for a few hours, sort of work themselves out at the lathe, at the easel, in that gun-stock you're carving or refinishing, whatever it is.

Another aspect for me, is I'm someone who likes to invent, and make things that help the turning process go more smoothly.....little things, actually.....little things that add up to an overall better experience

I don’t care how you define it, but I’ve enjoyed this thread, and both of these comments (above) in particular resonate for me. My wife is a retired occupational therapist. Their motto (if that’s the word for it) is “through the use of his hands man [and woman] finds meaning.” I think the profession grew out of serving the needs of returning injured soldiers from WW I. Too many folks spend their lives never using their hands to create something. It’s an amazing facility we have.

And I absolutely agree with Odie, that the problem solving aspect of the endeavor is a big piece of the appeal to me. I can spend more time on a jig or invented tool than in the actual turning, and take great satisfaction in that part of it, even if 90% of the people looking at the piece won’t see that side of it. Perhaps a fellow turner will understand.

The other piece that really floats my boat (pardon the mixed metaphor) is the connection it gives me to the tree. This has been said before, but, at least in the work that I get most satisfaction from, I’m involved in every step of the process from harvesting the raw material from a living or recently living tree, to final completion. I studied forestry (though never worked in the field, instead going straight to social work), and turning offers me a way to continue what feels like an intimate connection to not just a cold material, but the living entity that produced it.

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

Some amazing replies to this topic but no answers , which is in our own definition of our being. My Grandfather from what I can find out was a well known and good dirt farmer. I know he painted and Granny had one painting he did. My Dad I would not call him imaginative but liked to create in wood. He carved a multifaceted cane that amazed me as a child and we do not know what happened to it. so I am guessing that is when Grannie closed house someone thought it was Grandpaws .

Now as to my start in turning I bought the lathe to do table legs and about 10 years ago did get around to it. Never thought of myself as artistic or creative , but these ideas just keep coming along. We are privileged to be doing the one art I know of in which we could have failures maybe 4-5 times on one piece of wood and still come out with a presentable object. We will work hours on an idea only to have it fail but it will stay in our list of things till we find a better way. Addicted or obsessed ? maybe a bit of both.