Hello,
I never know where to start with these introductions threads... I could tell you some random things that seem completely unrelated to turning but would seem relevant to me. I do tend to wander and make long posts. Only the kindest and most patient members on other forums end up being the ones that even read them, much less respond. This looks like a great forum. I am on two others with an equally kind hive mind.
As for human format and disposition, I, like seemingly most turners, am a middle-aged (mid-50s, so still having my first middle-age) Caucasian male nerd who enjoys working with my hands and my head simultaneously.
I'll just cop out and do the short history here.
30-ish years ago, after finally deciding to do *something* with my life I set off to college in NC to learn the woodworking trade and get a business degree. My vague plan was to move here, establish state residency and learn the trade, then go to college. I came to Greensboro, NC and got a job at a wonderful place called Marshall-James where I did cabinetmaking work (the furniture kind). Hight Point, AKA "The furniture capital of the world", is just next door to Greensboro, so it seemed to make sense. After a while working at this shop and establishing that I was competent, the owner was kind enough to let me use his lathe at the shop, which was a big built-from-scratch thing on a heavy wood base that was maybe 80" long with a 16-18" swing. It was a long time ago, I don't remember it in fine detail. I had no supervision and no training. It was a big lathe; Marshall understands the value of mass (there is a big Oneway in that spot now) and has a lot of big iron in his shop, but I managed to not hurt myself, and I am pretty sure I did not soil myself on the first solid tool catch about three seconds into it. Instant respect. While I had no training on the lathe, I did already have the advantage of understanding the finer points of grain density and direction and behavior with tooling.
I made a small black walnut crotch platter for my first piece. The hook was set. From there, over the course of a several weekends I made a couple of goblets, another larger platter, a small dish, and a 15" face-grain curly maple fruit bowl. While I did develop an instant, lasting interest in turning during this stage of my life, time pressure, college life, then domestic life and the realization that a woodworking business takes serious startup capital forced me to put all that away, but I never forgot the joy. A lathe is a pretty optional thing to have. The definition of optional is subject to change over time, however.
Instead of going into woodworking, I got advice from a hungry belly and a wonderful, practical, future-spouse who helped me decide that a business degree in Information Systems and Operations Management made a lot more sense than building a viable wood shop up from nothing on a $10/hour interim income. So I graduated from college and wrote business software for the next 23 years. Good money; deeply unsatisfying and stressful existence. Software work itself is fine, but it typically lives in a swamp. That's all I care to say about that. I also did more and more DIY work around my house and always found (sometimes stole) time to work with my hands when I could. When corporate life was about to consume the very last shred of my soul before killing me outright, I dropped out a few months ago, bought a bunch of hand tools and have been doing residential handyman and construction work. I am staying afloat, but it's a tough business and like so many other jobs, it leaves me little time to enjoy life otherwise. I do mostly enjoy the actual construction work, but I did not get good genes in some important regards and this work is tough on my old knees and elbows, so I have to figure out how to scale that back. As with the decision to be a corporate drop-out, I don't have a bullet-proof, detailed plan for what's next, but I'm getting closer to The Grail. You see, I am under the illusion that I can do some production turning and make a bit of income that way -- with no clue yet how to do that -- but still be able to enjoy turning. I don't need a whole lot of money, but my belly still has some ongoing needs. Perhaps we'll see about all that work-life balance in due course.
Regardless of where it falls on the income/hobby spectrum, and whether those are truly mutually exclusive, I am finding myself unable to resist buying a lathe very much longer. I am under no illusions that I would get no benefit from, or don't truly require some mentoring and I would love to have some, but as of this writing, we are still in the Omicron surge of COVID-19. There is a local AAW chapter, but the meetings have gone virtual for several months already and there is no end in sight. I'll attend one soon anyway, but I also moved recently and my own house will need some serious handyman/construction for the next several months. I'm tired in the evenings too.
Our new-to-us house has a 16x16 foot basement with a concrete floor, some extra storage, a window and a door with another window, and (wait for it) a 220 outlet wired up (but with the super-old plug style I will undoubtedly need to replace). I didn't even see it until after we moved in; life has been a blur lately. I was really excited to see it, and it is exactly, I mean *exactly* where it needs to be. Serendipity.
So I am going to have to learn from a completely inexperienced tutor and self-teach for a while with the help of videos and book lernin', but I figure that if I was able to turn a 9" tall black walnut goblet with respectably (for a beginner) thin sides running from 1/32" at the rim down to maybe 1/8" at the base and with a 1/2" stem, I can muddle through my 1,000 practice spindles alone for a while until Stupid Virus World passes, if it ever does. I recall being a scraper addict way back when I did those few turnings, but I think that is simply because the chisels I was using were a bit dull, I knew nothing about sharpening at that time, and probably just found a dull scraper to be more effective than a dull gouge. I am not coming into it with any prejudice this time, other than leaning heavily towards traditional tools. I'm not getting a computerized lathe either, so the Galaxi is out. I like the idea in some respects, and it is revolting to me in others. I dont' want a computer driving my car either.
So I have a decent work space that is maybe a bit small but it will have to do (and it can), and is far better than my prospects for a work shop with machines that I had a few months ago in my old house. I have several jars of pennies saved up and there is a very good price on a very nice brand of lathe out there right now. And they are in stock, I believe. I am looking to buy that sweet little 14" lifer lathe before even owning a single chisel, grinder, etc. The backorders on many machines right now are ridiculous, but chisels and grinders are in stock so I can get those later. Again with the stupid virus world. God forbid anyone should have to *wait* for something, though, right? But I've been waiting for over 25 years...
Looking forward to the new adventure and hoping I can convince myself that it is not optional anymore, and glad to be here regardless.
I never know where to start with these introductions threads... I could tell you some random things that seem completely unrelated to turning but would seem relevant to me. I do tend to wander and make long posts. Only the kindest and most patient members on other forums end up being the ones that even read them, much less respond. This looks like a great forum. I am on two others with an equally kind hive mind.
As for human format and disposition, I, like seemingly most turners, am a middle-aged (mid-50s, so still having my first middle-age) Caucasian male nerd who enjoys working with my hands and my head simultaneously.
I'll just cop out and do the short history here.
30-ish years ago, after finally deciding to do *something* with my life I set off to college in NC to learn the woodworking trade and get a business degree. My vague plan was to move here, establish state residency and learn the trade, then go to college. I came to Greensboro, NC and got a job at a wonderful place called Marshall-James where I did cabinetmaking work (the furniture kind). Hight Point, AKA "The furniture capital of the world", is just next door to Greensboro, so it seemed to make sense. After a while working at this shop and establishing that I was competent, the owner was kind enough to let me use his lathe at the shop, which was a big built-from-scratch thing on a heavy wood base that was maybe 80" long with a 16-18" swing. It was a long time ago, I don't remember it in fine detail. I had no supervision and no training. It was a big lathe; Marshall understands the value of mass (there is a big Oneway in that spot now) and has a lot of big iron in his shop, but I managed to not hurt myself, and I am pretty sure I did not soil myself on the first solid tool catch about three seconds into it. Instant respect. While I had no training on the lathe, I did already have the advantage of understanding the finer points of grain density and direction and behavior with tooling.
I made a small black walnut crotch platter for my first piece. The hook was set. From there, over the course of a several weekends I made a couple of goblets, another larger platter, a small dish, and a 15" face-grain curly maple fruit bowl. While I did develop an instant, lasting interest in turning during this stage of my life, time pressure, college life, then domestic life and the realization that a woodworking business takes serious startup capital forced me to put all that away, but I never forgot the joy. A lathe is a pretty optional thing to have. The definition of optional is subject to change over time, however.
Instead of going into woodworking, I got advice from a hungry belly and a wonderful, practical, future-spouse who helped me decide that a business degree in Information Systems and Operations Management made a lot more sense than building a viable wood shop up from nothing on a $10/hour interim income. So I graduated from college and wrote business software for the next 23 years. Good money; deeply unsatisfying and stressful existence. Software work itself is fine, but it typically lives in a swamp. That's all I care to say about that. I also did more and more DIY work around my house and always found (sometimes stole) time to work with my hands when I could. When corporate life was about to consume the very last shred of my soul before killing me outright, I dropped out a few months ago, bought a bunch of hand tools and have been doing residential handyman and construction work. I am staying afloat, but it's a tough business and like so many other jobs, it leaves me little time to enjoy life otherwise. I do mostly enjoy the actual construction work, but I did not get good genes in some important regards and this work is tough on my old knees and elbows, so I have to figure out how to scale that back. As with the decision to be a corporate drop-out, I don't have a bullet-proof, detailed plan for what's next, but I'm getting closer to The Grail. You see, I am under the illusion that I can do some production turning and make a bit of income that way -- with no clue yet how to do that -- but still be able to enjoy turning. I don't need a whole lot of money, but my belly still has some ongoing needs. Perhaps we'll see about all that work-life balance in due course.
Regardless of where it falls on the income/hobby spectrum, and whether those are truly mutually exclusive, I am finding myself unable to resist buying a lathe very much longer. I am under no illusions that I would get no benefit from, or don't truly require some mentoring and I would love to have some, but as of this writing, we are still in the Omicron surge of COVID-19. There is a local AAW chapter, but the meetings have gone virtual for several months already and there is no end in sight. I'll attend one soon anyway, but I also moved recently and my own house will need some serious handyman/construction for the next several months. I'm tired in the evenings too.
Our new-to-us house has a 16x16 foot basement with a concrete floor, some extra storage, a window and a door with another window, and (wait for it) a 220 outlet wired up (but with the super-old plug style I will undoubtedly need to replace). I didn't even see it until after we moved in; life has been a blur lately. I was really excited to see it, and it is exactly, I mean *exactly* where it needs to be. Serendipity.
So I am going to have to learn from a completely inexperienced tutor and self-teach for a while with the help of videos and book lernin', but I figure that if I was able to turn a 9" tall black walnut goblet with respectably (for a beginner) thin sides running from 1/32" at the rim down to maybe 1/8" at the base and with a 1/2" stem, I can muddle through my 1,000 practice spindles alone for a while until Stupid Virus World passes, if it ever does. I recall being a scraper addict way back when I did those few turnings, but I think that is simply because the chisels I was using were a bit dull, I knew nothing about sharpening at that time, and probably just found a dull scraper to be more effective than a dull gouge. I am not coming into it with any prejudice this time, other than leaning heavily towards traditional tools. I'm not getting a computerized lathe either, so the Galaxi is out. I like the idea in some respects, and it is revolting to me in others. I dont' want a computer driving my car either.
So I have a decent work space that is maybe a bit small but it will have to do (and it can), and is far better than my prospects for a work shop with machines that I had a few months ago in my old house. I have several jars of pennies saved up and there is a very good price on a very nice brand of lathe out there right now. And they are in stock, I believe. I am looking to buy that sweet little 14" lifer lathe before even owning a single chisel, grinder, etc. The backorders on many machines right now are ridiculous, but chisels and grinders are in stock so I can get those later. Again with the stupid virus world. God forbid anyone should have to *wait* for something, though, right? But I've been waiting for over 25 years...
Looking forward to the new adventure and hoping I can convince myself that it is not optional anymore, and glad to be here regardless.
