Dave Sochar. New guy, old guy

[Dave Sochar]

I think I may be in the right place. If not, slap me around a bit, and I'll learn. Old guy, just turned 74, been turning since since my first job in a real shop, 1974 about fifty years. Got my first lathe in 1980, and I still have it. A much used, occasionally over used or abused Powermatic. Bought from a new widow. Her husband bought it for his retirement. But…. He died a week after delivery, poor man. Live today, tomorrow may be too late.
I started my own shop building everything from curved stairs, to French repro cabinets to entry doors and specialty work. The shop grew until the bank crash, and I downsized back to my shop behind the house.
Today, I am considering marketing my stool design, but currently laid up with a bad back. Tomorrow…

 

[Jim Reynolds]

Welcome! I’m confident you are in the correct place. Certainly no abuse coming from me. Wishing you a rapid recovery and safe turning.

 

[John K Jordan]

Live today, tomorrow may be too late.

Words to live by!

Join the "old guys" club - I'm pushing 75 myself and keep running into people who call me a child. (Hmmm - maybe that has something to do with mental immaturity... !)

And wow, a certified woodworker! Some here may even sneak in some some non-woodturning questions! (I just recently helped a new woodturning friend with wood and encouragement for replacing a back spindle for a friend's chair)

And is that a picture of your SHOP?? It looks incredible!

JKJ

 

[Tom Gall]

Hmmm..... youngsters!!! Can't even remember 74! More than a month into the "Big 8-0".

 

[Bob Hall]

Welcome aboard.

Bob

 

[John Kananis]

That's one of the things I love about turning, I'm over 50 and still the youngest guy in the room lol. Welcome, this is a great place.

 

[Alan Weinberg]

That's one of the things I love about turning, I'm over 50 and still the youngest guy in the room lol. Welcome, this is a great place.

You’d be the youngest in our club also. Is the art dying?

 

[John Kananis]

You’d be the youngest in our club also. Is the art dying?

I certainly hope not!

 

[John K Jordan]

You’d be the youngest in our club also. Is the art dying?

Our club has members below 50. I don't have the list of ages handy but a 18 year-old guy joined recently. One of my best students, now 20 something and moved to a job in another state, has her own lathe and turns often and enhances with woodburning and color, now wants to try carving. (I have the privilege of supplying wood blanks when we visit!)

 

[Dave Sochar]

Thanks for the welcome. Yes, that is my shop, otherwise known as heaven on earth. My last real job was starting and running what became a 15 man architectural shop suppling the high end residential market in and around Indianapolis. We helped introduce Poplar moldings to the area, as presssure on White Pine increased in the 1980’s. They were also a full lumberyard, prehanging doors for 2-3 houses a day, and making lots of specials - mantels, doors, windows, stair parts, etc. They would take back lumber from the site and give credit if uncut. It would gray due to exposure so it could not be sent to the next guy, so it just accumulated in the yard. I inquired about the cost and they sent it all to my yard. Before long, I was building a 24 x 36 shop as a hobby/retirement shop. I quit that j of in 1990, and started Acorn Woodworks. Long story, but I sold the business to my last employee, published a book on building doors, and retired. Hit the tri-fecta of a sort. Shameless plug “Small Shop Production of Custom Wood Doors”, not only informative, but also a plea to get small shops out of the box trade that is so competitive as to kill off many shops every year. Enough. For now.

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

Welcome aboard. That is an amazing fireplace and room

 

[John K Jordan]

Welcome aboard. That is an amazing fireplace and room

Yes, I love overall look of the wood and glass block, and the beam trusses! (are they 6x6?) If tha's the inside of the shop, I'd like to see more pictures, especially with the space filled with shop tools and sawdust like most of us!

Our house is timber frame with every post and beam exposed, joints made with the rectangular mortise and tenons, pinned with hammered green pegs. I get a warm, peaceful feeling every time I come in from outside!

 

[Dave Sochar]

There is nothing like real wood, honestly joined, supporting the shelter above our heads.

The photo is a paneled room in Cherry. The beams are 6/4 boards joined in the way of the McMansions. The architect insisted on the 12” and 10” widths, which meant they had to be fake. However, we shipped them first, and we gained his confidence so he let us do the rest the way we liked. There is a panel that pops out and goes up to reveal - you guessed it - a tv.
The room was for a retiring attorney to write his memoirs. The stairs are nice, with a “crowded” rank of balusters to counter the usual maximum spacing popular with the local folk. The volute is another favorite detail. Laying out the thing, using the Golden section, takes nearly a day, then two more to fabricate.