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ctb

Established Member
Joined
19 Nov 2005
Messages
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Location
Argyll, Scotland
Hi All

I am new to this forum, and have only very recently ventured into the addictive world of wood turning, having briefly cover the subject whilst at school in the early 70's visits to craft shows and seeing the wonderful wood turnings on sale re-awaken the urges to try again.

Now as the header caption states, I am disabled, my right leg is amputated below knee and I have a totally paralysed my right arm all resulting from a motorcycle accident in 1978.
As with most disabled people I have huge resources of grit and determination, and am willing to try my hand (quite literally.... just the 1) at anything, knowing full well that rotten wood riddled with worm cannot be turned I knew I would be safe in the knowledge that my leg would not be infested and eaten away whilst I indulge in my new pastime.

(Well if I can't joke about it .......... no one can)

Anyway to cut a long story short I paid a visit to Peter Child at Little Yeldham, Essex having explained my situation and desire to turn they where very helpful in answering the issues I had, and encouraged me to take the first step into the world of Wood turning.

An Axminster M950 and scroll chuck was purchased from a seller on ebay shortly after, and the purchase of a decent set of chisel's followed soon after that, a few piles of wood shavings latter my first bowl appeared, since I have gone on to actually produce a piece that I had in my minds eye at the start of a turning session, to one that evolves after several dig in's.

I have been amazed and inspired by CHJ's thread on this forum, his work is excellent in my eyes and to a standard I can only dream of attaining,
grit and determination will see if this one armed turner can achieve this.

To all members of this Forum I ask that if I post photo's of my work, your comments and criticism however harsh will be greatly appreciated, also your hints and tips would be most helpful,
maybe I am not the only one armed turner out there, maybe there are others who are disabled, if we can share experiences, techniques and adaptions we can make this hobby even more enjoyable.
 
Hi CTB,

Welcome to the forum. :D

I must agree that what Chas (CHJ) has made is very nice work, I look forward to seeing some of yours. I don't turn but love to see what others find inside spinning blocks of wood.:shock: :wink:

And I see that compared to some of our members your just down the road from me. 8)
 
Hello and welcome,CTB

If you can get hold of a copy of "woodturning" magazine (GMC publications) no.149 (May 2005) - there is an interesting article in there about a one-handed turner.
He has had to alter his techniques (and some of his tools) but still produces work that I can still only dream of making to the same standard.

Photos always welcome,so will look forward to yours :D

Andrew
 
Welcome to the forum ctb, I wish you well in your new venture.

As regards your remarks about my standard being a dream I assure you that there is nothing magical in what I do. I have just been fortunate to be able to apply my engineering background to the basics of tool use and had the spare time to play with the lathe.

Once you have obtained a feel for the 'rules' as it were regarding tool safety and started to recognize that when something does not sound right it is time to stop and rethink what you are doing then progress can be rapid. If you have not seen or got a copy of the late Keith Rowleys book "Woodturning, A Foundation Course" I would recommend it to you, the principles of tool technique and safety alone are worth the price.

You have problems to overcome in your approach to how to tackle cutting that I have not had to master but do not be afraid to go with what you feel comfortable with and gets a finished result that you are happy with.

I have watched professional turners at work, asked advice of, and been offered advice from accomplished turners and I have tried to apply whatever guidance I have been given, but at the end of the day if I am having too much difficulty mastering a technique I readily put it aside for another day and do it my way.

An example of this is that it took till November 4-6 and a prolonged session with some green timber before I got to be able to pic up and use my bowl gouges without thinking too much about how to present them.

I tip as a newcomer that I would give to anyone just starting is to try your hand at turning some green wood if you can acquire it, something like Beech or Hazel. It will turn like butter and is far more forgiving of incorrect tool approach and allows you to experiment without too much risk. Be prepared to get wet though.
 
Welcome to the forum, ctb.

ctb":5mwygxq6 said:
To all members of this Forum I ask that if I post photo's of my work, your comments and criticism however harsh will be greatly appreciated, also your hints and tips would be most helpful.
Go for it. It's certain sure my turning doesn't put me in any position to be casting stones from my glasshouse... :oops: :lol:

Cheers, Alf
 
Well that was a warm welcome, many thanks everybody.

I have taken a few photo's of my turnings, but have no idea how to upload them on this forum so I have created a msn web page on this link

http://uk.msnusers.com/MyWoodTurnings


I await your harshest criticism and comments, provided the link works, I know nothing about these pc things either.

Well best go sharpen them steel pointy things and jab at a few more blocks of wood.
 
CTB,

Have a look here for instructions, or another way of doing it is to post them to the user gallery, link at the top of the page. Note, its a separate system to the forum so you need to register on it again, you can use the same user name on both systems. 8)
Looking forward to seeing your work. :D
 
Well that will teach me not to try the link. :shock:

CTB, Chris is right, your turnings look very nice, that is assuming you are zedster1959 on MSN? :D
 
Hi ctb,

Sorry I'm late coming in, but a warm welcome to the Forum!

The link works okay for me - your turnings are excellent. :wink:

Any questions you have, please ask away. There are some on here who know a little bit, like me, and some experts so there is usually someone who can come up with an answer or suitable advice.

Good to have you on board.

Cheers,

Trev.
 
PowerTool":16pehcie said:
Hello and welcome,CTB

If you can get hold of a copy of "woodturning" magazine (GMC publications) no.149 (May 2005) - there is an interesting article in there about a one-handed turner.
He has had to alter his techniques (and some of his tools) but still produces work that I can still only dream of making to the same standard.

Photos always welcome,so will look forward to yours :D

Andrew

Hi ctb,

As Andrew says, the above article should prove invaluable to you. If you are unable to get a copy, let me know and I will post you a photocopy of the article.

All the best.

Gary
 
PowerTool":2th5rx81 said:
Hello and welcome,CTB

If you can get hold of a copy of "woodturning" magazine (GMC publications) no.149 (May 2005) - there is an interesting article in there about a one-handed turner.
He has had to alter his techniques (and some of his tools) but still produces work that I can still only dream of making to the same standard.

Photos always welcome,so will look forward to yours :D

Andrew

Hi ctb,

As Andrew says, the above article should prove invaluable to you. If you are unable to get a copy, let me know and I will post you a photocopy of the article.

All the best.

Gary
 
Many thanks for your kind welcome and warm reception, particularly chuffed about the kind comments regarding my efforts at woodturning, even though I cannot get into the web site I created to show them off.

Taffy Turner ........ many thanks for the kind offer to photocopy the article, I will take you up on that offer and pm you with my address.

Many thanks to Powertool for bringing this item to my atttention.

DaveL if ever you find yourself over in Constable Country, please drop by for a cuppa and chat, open invite to all on this forum, drop me a pm in advance of your visit.

Recently turned a small trinket pot in olive wood, what a beauty, absolutely gorgeous wood to work, even though it was very expensive for a small block, and a bowl in alder, again delighted with the wife's reaction, each time I turn a piece it supercedes the previous item as her favourite, going to need to buy a barn to store them all in at this rate.

However to save on that expense I have enquired at the local craft shop to see if they will sell some items for me, have been asked to show them a sample of what I am producing and they will decide if it is something they can sell and want to stock, so will keep you posted on that one, I know if they accept that I shall be very proud to see them on the shop shelves, and even prouder to see someone actually buy it.

Thats all for now, once again to all for your encouragement and gracious comments.
 

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