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the world disspears when I'm turning

Raul McCai

Raul McCai

Joined
Oct 29, 2014
Messages
469
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Location
nj
Everything vanishes. Time passes and I don't know it, I don't hydrate, I don't eat, I don't think about anything else. I am utterly lost in the moment.

I have to think that most folks who turn have a similar experience.
This never happened to me when I made spindle based turnings. Actually it was more like I was hanging on for dear life.
I have no recollection of seeing this discussed on any woodworking board.

I put the tool on the work and poof I'm gone. It is transcendent.
 
I know exactly what you're saying, Raul.......😀

It's easy to completely lose all connection to the world outside of those walls in the shop! 😉

ko
 
I would imagine it would be the same for a painter and a blank canvas or a potters wheel and a lump of wet clay. I make a lot of different tools on a lathe, however the most enjoyment I get is when I mount a piece of wood and start turning it with no item in my mind, let the wood and the grain guide the item being created.
 
Raul McCai said:
Everything vanishes. Time passes and I don't know it, I don't hydrate, I don't eat, I don't think about anything else. I am utterly lost in the moment....

I think that is why they call it a vortex. It's one of the things that makes woodturning so addictive.
Click to expand...

Mike Johnson said:
.... the most enjoyment I get is when I mount a piece of wood and start turning it with no item in my mind, let the wood and the grain guide the item being created.
Click to expand...

I had to quit doing that when I found myself turning all the wood down to nothing. I was enjoying turning strictly for the sake of making shavings.

What it took a while for me to discover was that without at least some preliminary planning I was frequently painting myself in a corner and limiting what I could do when the wood I needed was on the floor. The planning could be a detailed drawing or just a simple conception like I want to make a bowl that looks sort of like _______ (fill in blank).
 
being diabetic, you know when you should take a break, sort of shaky, need a cupcake
 
Wonder why the psychologists haven't discovered this. Too much $$ in gear to get started?
 
PLastic and epoxy can be fun as well although totally different than MDF. MDF just creates a nasty powder all over everything. Totally the opposite of turning green wood. Plastic creates those green wood kind of long beautiful shavings but they are statically charged and cling to you and everything else in the shop. OH and then there is bone and antler. Better put your nose plugs on if you turn those. Maybe I should turn more green wood so I can get in that trance you guys are talking about.
 
Wow, John has named all of my favorites ... of my list that I hate to turn. Everybody needs to turn them at least once to discover why. PVC is sort of fun while you're turning it. It's the mess of cleaning it up... like styrofoam it is statically charged and sticks to everything. The more you try to brush it off the greater the static charge becomes to prevent that from happening.
 
Bill Boehme said:
Wow, John has named all of my favorites ... of my list that I hate to turn. Everybody needs to turn them at least once to discover why. PVC is sort of fun while you're turning it. It's the mess of cleaning it up... like styrofoam it is statically charged and sticks to everything. The more you try to brush it off the greater the static charge becomes to prevent that from happening.
Click to expand...
MDF is about the worst with Corian being close behind.
PVC is fun as long as you have bevel contact and unwrapping the 4 mile long shaving that wraps around the live center extends the fun
Oh and turning Paduk turns everything a lovely orange.
 
Some Corians turn easier then others, it all depends on the materials used in the composite.
Some colors will turn nicely with a sharp tool, some of the others can be a bear.
 
On the other end of the scale maple here in Tennessee will throw huge lengths of ribbons either dry or wet. Love turning that stuff. I think it might be Zebra wood that smells like horse manure when you turn it. Haven't done that in a while so I may have it confused with another wood.
 
Raul McCai said:
Everything vanishes. Time passes and I don't know it, I don't hydrate, I don't eat, I don't think about anything else. I am utterly lost in the moment.

I have to think that most folks who turn have a similar experience.
This never happened to me when I made spindle based turnings. Actually it was more like I was hanging on for dear life.
I have no recollection of seeing this discussed on any woodworking board.

I put the tool on the work and poof I'm gone. It is transcendent.
Click to expand...
At one time I suffered from some mild depression and my best "medicine" was my radio with Christian music and a blank of wood just waiting to become a bowl.
 
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