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Dalton Woodturning Symposium

Gary Beasley

Gary Beasley

Joined
Sep 12, 2017
Messages
930
Likes
1,283
Location
Marietta, Georgia
The symposium is over, it wasnt crowded and the number of vendors was light. Even then it was an excellent experience and the demonstrators were for the most part top notch. Got a few grab shot during some of the demos.
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Stuart Batty was in top form and was by far the best demostrator Ive seen.
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Hans Weisflog did some very precise and amazing small boxes. A set of them at the auction fetched $300 each.
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David Ellsworth was having fun hollowing riding sidesaddle.
 

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I'm so bummed that I couldn't go this year. First time I've missed it in a long time. I miss seeing all my Georgia friends not to mention those from out of state.
 
Didn't make this one. However, I have a safety issue with riding sidesaddle. If a blank explodes, it could be very painful, not to mention embarrassing. I know he is a noted turner but, IMHO, not a good demo from the safety standpoint.
 
John Torchick said:
Didn't make this one. However, I have a safety issue with riding sidesaddle. If a blank explodes, it could be very painful, not to mention embarrassing. I know he is a noted turner but, IMHO, not a good demo from the safety standpoint.
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I have to respectively disagree. The body position is about as safe as you can get for hand hollowing.

He is out of the line of fire.

Also it is the same body position relative to the form you would have if the headstock were moved to the end of the lathe.
 
John Torchick said:
Didn't make this one. However, I have a safety issue with riding sidesaddle. If a blank explodes, it could be very painful, not to mention embarrassing. I know he is a noted turner but, IMHO, not a good demo from the safety standpoint.
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I think you would have trouble finding a second woodturner that was critical of Ellsworth's technique. I think the first time I saw him do that was in 1995 or 1996 in St. Louis. When a man becomes a master of his craft for decades, I'm certain he is comfortable with his position on the lathe and comfortable teaching that technique. If I remember back that far, he developed this technique to get a better feedback from the process and have a safer control of the tools. Not saying impossible, but I bet he has trouble remembering the last vessel that exploded.
 
I was working on a larger piece on the lathe this last week and opted to sit on the lathe ways resting my back against the wall behind the lathe while turning on the inside of a large segmented vessel. When working on the larger pieces you need to relax when ever you get the chance.
 
Gary Beasley said:
You’d probably lose that bet. I talked to him before the classes started Friday and interestingly enough he remembered me from when he did a class at Woodcraft in Atlanta several years ago.
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There could be various reasons why you stuck in his memory ... just sayin'. :D :eek:
 
All,
Turning Southern Style was my first symposium. In my opinion, it was great. The workshops were informative and everyone was friendly. While the vendors were few they were all helpful.

In regards to David Ellsworth, I found him to be a great instructor, and a very nice guy. One morning I was sitting down in the hotel lobby waiting for breakfast, and he sat down with me and chatted for 15 minutes. He was curious about how long I had been turning, my impressions about the symposium, and asked if I had any thoughts for improvement. No ego at all. Stuart Batty on the other hand is a very polished presenter, but it seemed he avoiding talking with attendees whenever possible. Several others mentioned the same thing. I learned from both, put much preferred David’s style and his willingness to reach out to anyone, newbies or experts. It is obvious David is dedicated to “teaching the world to turn”.
 
There are a number of positive testimonials for David. However, coming from a manufacturing background involving machinery much larger than any lathe, I'm not excited about his technique. Just don't expect me to post a photo turning sidesaddle. Besides, I would have to take the photo with a timer or my wife on the camera. My wife would be very vocal about the scenario. Good turning and now to post another thread on another topic.
"the infrequency of him blowing up vessel" Murphy's Law? Once is too many.
 
Adding this- my wife and I were in Asheville, NC to watch out grandson play baseball with the Asheville Tourists. We spent a day at Weaverville- quaint little artsy-craftsy town. Now I find out David lives there! There was a craft mall in an old mill but the woodturner wasn't in that day. Some days you get chicken; Other days you get feathers.
 
hockenbery said:
1995 me in Dave’s class at MD Hall.
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Dave’s class in our shop 2011 Dave, Al, Rudy L to R

View attachment 30515
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There is a picture of me, several years old, riding my Stubby, but, I used to add an Argentine sheepskin on top. Made it much comfortable. Nothing is 100% safe in life, but David’s technique is as safe as they come. Never had an issue with probably hundreds of forms made. Not counting the ones I went thru the side, they start spinning, guaranteed to wake you up.
 
take it from an introvert, Stuart is as open and easy to talk to as David.....both ambassadors for the art
 
Gerald Lawrence said:
I am wondering why y'all are calling it "sidesaddle" ? To me it looks like a full mount as the side would have a knee on top of the lathe. Oh by the way you won't catch me doing that.
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I just figured that they were city slickers. I applaud David Ellsworth's agility to mount and dismount a lathe, but I was wondering if anybody mentioned to him that the 3520C has a sliding headstock. :D (of course I'm joking)

I might possibly be able to "saddle up" on my Robust, but then I'd be stuck there until the EMT's showed up to extricate me ... and then I would be obligated to answer a bunch of senior citizen type questions regarding my state of mind. :rolleyes:

@John Torchick , I share your concern about safety, but my opinion is that DE's position while hollowing is generally regarded as one of the safer places to be. However, for some of us less nimble "silver" citizens, we probably ought not try straddling a lathe at home ... at least not without adult supervision.
 
I tried it many years ago when I was young. Shortly after that I bought a Nova 3000 and it was just to easy to move the headstock to the middle of the lathe and swing it out so I could stand beside the lathe and hollow bowls. Now I have a Powermatic and can move the headstock to the end. I don't turn a lot of bowls so I rarely actually do that. When hollowing vessels I now use a captured bar system and simply don't need to mount the lathe. with the Jamieson system it only takes 2 fingers to move the bar so there isn't any leaning over your just relaxed and feeding the bar any way you want. Now, like Bill, if I did somehow manage to get my leg over the lathe, which would at least take a step ladder, I'd be lucky to get back off. If the tailstock wasn't there I could slide off the end kind of like those trick riders in the rodeo.
 
Which is harder- the lathe bed or the floor? Or both. Will keep both feet on the floor and my body away from moving parts. I saw a sign- Compared to me, Murphy was an optimist.
 
Bill Boehme said:
I just figured that they were city slickers. I applaud David Ellsworth's agility to mount and dismount a lathe, but I was wondering if anybody mentioned to him that the 3520C has a sliding headstock. :D (of course I'm joking)
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Actually he brought that up before hopping on the lathe. Didnt feel like dealing with moving everything around and having to put it all back.
I think it was Stuart Batty was telling us how the sliding headstock can get dirt under it and make it prone to more vibration due to not being completely tight, he had cleaned up that lathes contact areas prior to the class and showed us how smooth and vibration free the cut was now.
 
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