Our first family wood lathe was a Sears Craftsman. We purchased it for son John's thirteenth birthday. The lathe was used to make toys and useful home items and household furnishings. What we learned about turning on this lathe was read from the manual or what we remembered from high school shop class. The lathe was cumbersome. To change the rpm it was necessary to re-position the drive belt on different size aluminum pulleys. Today, in 2021, to be a woodturner is to experience a world of opportunity to practice this craft with the finest and most plentiful array of tools, woods, and teaching aids ever known to man. If you experience delight by creating something unique with your mind and hands this endeavor can reward your efforts in a very big way. There are market turners who day-after-day turn out bowls or gadgets of every kind in what seems like an endless way. But for others, the turning of a piece of timber, as they say in the UK, is an adventure that guarantees no two things are alike. Turners learn quickly that the end form of a unique creation is most always dictated by the character of the wood grain. This is especially true of un-milled timber compared with kiln dried lumber milled for mass production. |
A fascinating aspect of turning a piece of dead tree is in revealing it's inner soul, a process that brings the grain alive. This revelation is displayed in the array of color and the geometric makeup of the cellular structures of the annual rings of heartwood and sapwood and, often even the bark. Different species of wood have different cell structures which contribute and determine such attributes as hardness, color, and work-ability and the likelihood to fracture and split when losing moisture. The special attraction of a turning is most often related to the "beauty" and fascination of grain rather than the form. Form, on the other hand, increases a turning's value by the level of skill that is applied in the turning process. This "turner's challenge" is to create a pleasing and workable form that accents the beauty of the wood without creating distractions by adding needless shapes and synthetic finishes! |