what turned you on ?

[wood yew believe it !]

i was payed a visit by one of my old buddies the other day and it got me reminising about a few things, one of them being how i got into woodturning, and i thought it may be a good idea if people told a few of their stories and/or anecdotes about how they found woodturning, or what turned them onto it, im sure there must be some fascinating little tales out there waiting to be heard and shared...... what do people think?

 

[nickson71]

This place...................................


Got the lathe and chisels just need the time and space to play

 

[rkchapman]

Well in my case it was Hurricane Frances - there was so much wood lying around afterwards (I was living in southern Florida at the time) that I decided to buy a lathe and try to turn some of it.

 

[suprasport]

You bloody lot :lol:

the lathe will be arriving in a couple of hours

 

[duncanh]

good idea.

One of my hobbies is juggling and I regularly attend conventions in this country and overseas. At these conventions there are workshops (no, not that kind!) where you can learn new skills, improve old ones or learn new tricks.
Not all these workshops are juggling related - at one convention last year I learned how to play a saw with a violin bow and at a convention in Germany I attended a workshop where we learned how to throw and catch boomerangs.
When I got home I bought a couple but they can be pretty expensive (£20+ each for decent ones) so I thought I'd try making some and I found this site that sold kits with plans. There are loads of plans on the internet and if you can get hold of some aviation plywood I recommend giving it a go as it's good fun.

I enjoyed the actual making as much as throwing and I'd acquired a few woodworking tools so I decided to go to a woodworking night class. This covered most aspects but the thing I most enjoyed was the turning. 3 months after the course I had my own shed, lathe and tools and I've been hooked ever since.

Duncan

 

[wood yew believe it !]

well i suppose as i started this i better tell tales, twas back in 91 whilst working as a tree surgeon that a collegue of mine (who had been turning for years without telling anyone)and i had to pick him up for work one day and i noticed in his house loads of turned bits and bobs all over the place and remarked about it, he showed me his workshop and invited me over to "have a little go", well i did and made an apple and a little bowl over the course of a few weeks. he told me one day that he was upgrading his lathe and did i want to buy his old one of him, by then i was hooked and obviously agreed. this is where it gets sad, i couldnt start using it until mid 2005 as i simply had nowhere to put it!! patience is a virtue they say and i think i was, 13 odd years patient!! but im there now and have not and never will look back, total addict.

 

[PowerTool]

With me,it was a combination of wanting a hobby as the kids got older and left home,and an interest in history leading to the desire to make mediaeval-style eating and drinking vessels.
As it turned out,my son left his mothers and moved in with me,and I only ever made one goblet...but really enjoy it,and like to try to re-create ancient pottery shapes out of wood.

Andrew

 

[Paul.J]

My first effort at turning was at school,which i really enjoyed (the turning that is) which was a laminated table lamp,still got it somewhere.Don't know what the woods used were.
Then i done a ladder at my first job for the gaffers sons bedroom.
The lathe was tucked away round the corner,first time it had been used for years apparantly.
And that was that till about ten years later when i made my first rocking horse.
Got some plans free out of a ww mag and my only stumbling point was the turnings for the posts.I was going to make them square but thought it wouldn't look right.
So one dinner time off up the road i went to a company we dealt with who i knew had a lathe and they turned them for me.
Then later as i made another horse i decided to buy a cheapish lathe DML 24X to do my own posts,and that was all i done in the next few years,about a dozen posts.
The lathe wasn't being used then i decided i'd have a go at making a bowl which was my first posting on here asking for advice.
Now i think i'm hooked too
Paul.J.

 

[Anonymous]

aha! memory test....

Back in 1990 the head of domestic trivia decided to have a go at making bobbin lace (Torchon, for those in the know :wink: )... cost a fortune for bobbins!

So, being a little on the 'careful' side (OK, tight) I thought, I can do that...
with hindsight it would have been cheaper to buy the bobbins :lol:

One thing lead to another and I was off down the turning equivalent of the cresta run ... not as fast, not as exciting but more than satisfying...

Miniatures: there was always a bit left in the chuck after finishing a bobbin... off again down the green road, save the planet, sod global warming, make the most of the wood... (no, it wasn't being tight,,, honestly... )

:roll: Just one regret, I still haven't managed to convince H o D T that cleaning the workshop comes under domestic trivia....

 

[CHJ]

With me it was a spur of the moment thing at the end of a rather traumatic few months of family stress involving my 98 yr.old mother.

All my life I have been in the situation where if you wanted something you just set to and made or built it, it was the norm in our family, be it a new garage, barn door, gate, new house extension, kitchen cupboard, driveway etc. personal labour is cheap.

Having retired early and spent 10 years or so generally extending, building, pathing, etc. the living space was DIYed to the limit and I was getting more than a little tired of being a good neighbour to one and all.

I had bought one or two attractive but functional pieces of turning whilst out and about and one day whilst collecting my thoughts when the trauma subsided I looked at one of the pieces and thought, well if he could do it, surely I could.

This resulted in the purchase of a cheap lathe, followed by the more than equal expenditure of essential bits and pieces to get started.

Then came the horrible thought that I had no idea what to make, lets face it the table lamp made at school is still around somewhere and you can only absorb so many bowls etc..

For a few weeks due to other commitments the “lathe” sat in all it’s glory with the odd bit of wood mangled nearby and a reluctance to admit that it was a bit intimidating, which was daft really as I was making micrometer grade tools in my teens using far more sophisticated machines.

Then it happened, a piece of spalted beech that had been given to me was mounted and an hour or so latter This was the result

The unstinting encouragement from members of this forum for my amateurish outpourings proved a lifeline, to say our lives have been transformed is not an exaggeration, we have travelled to areas of the British Isles we would not have contemplated, met people here and abroad and made friends anew, got involved with numerous projects and have a full calendar for months ahead as a result, sometimes of a tenuous nature, but nearly always because I started turning.

 

[La Truciolara]

Memories...memories.
It is just because I had to. I started on the lathe whose picture I use as an avatar. I was so light in weight that I could not stand on one leg and push on the other one, so I was putting both my hands on the bench, I was peddling with both legs, jumping out when the lathe was fast enough, turned for a little while and jumped on the pedal again.
Since then I have put some weight on (but I only turn with variable speed lathes...) :lol:

 

[Bodrighy]

I was given an old Black & Decker drill attachment lathe and very quickly got frustrated by it's limitations. I had done some turningin school and remembered getting a huge buzz out of it. I have a better half who reads me like a book and suggested that she buy me a lathe for Christmas....slippery slope from then onwards.

Pete

 

[ctb]

My first woodturning experience was at school in the early 70's don't remember much about it, my accident in 78 where I paralysed my right arm and had my right leg amputated below the knee, sort of put me on the downward slope of woodturning, in as much that I met my wife in hospital, she was my nurse, and still is, we started going to craft fairs in 2000 and I spotted some pretty mediocre turnings, saying I could do better than that, she challenged me to prove it, late oct 2005 I got my first lathe and quickly proved I could indeed do woodturning, haven't looked back since.

 

[seanybaby]

I got hooked when making wheels for a train for my GCSE project. My uncle used to run a little turning club, so used to go every week for a while, but then i went to uni and did fine art, came back and didn't have a clue what to do. I remembered how much fun i had on the lathe and in the workshop making that train so, decided to go on a course to make furniture, which i'm still doing. Bought my own lathe last Nov and some tools came from my uncle who passed away recenlty. All my turnings i have made with no help from anyone else, so this site is going to be a real help

 

[wood yew believe it !]

well helo seany and welcome! b good to see some of your work ! be carefull u sound like you could have droped onto the slippery slope there! lol
atb dave