Some things just make you sick

[Bill Bulloch]

I had been working on this piece -- cutting, gluing, sanding, turning -- cutting, gluing, sanding. turning -- for about a week, when I took it off the lathe to glue another ring and dropped it. It had an eight pound chuck attached to it when it hit the concrete floor. Just made me sick.

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[Mike Peace]

I hope Chuck is ok.

[Todd Bin]

Bill, my heart sand when I saw this. I am so sorry about that. That is just horrible.

I will take an opportunity if I may to make one suggestion so that perhaps this is not a total loss. The base in the bowl looks kinda large. I have been watching the Malcolm Tibbets DVD's and he uses a floating bottom. This prevents the bottom from splitting in the future due to wood expansion (much like frame and panel construction).

[bob svoboda]

Bill, That sucks. I wish turnings, if they HAVE to break, could break at the beginning of the process rather than near or at the end. Hope you figure out a save.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Bill that just isn't right and really sucks especially toward the end.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Man! Sorry to see that! I hope you can figure out a save but it sure looks drastic in your photos!

[Thom Sturgill]

Boy, I'd hate to have that happen. One thing, with segmented pieces you might be able to cut the base off and save most of the rings - cut out the broken pieces and replace them. After all, it already has glue joints. Don't know if it would be worth the extra effort, but I would give it a try if just for the learning experience.

[Donny Lawson]

Sorry, It's no fun to put all that work into something like that and drop it. Look on the bright side the next one will be better.
Donny

[Richard Madden]

Sorry to see this...totally sucks.

[Ron Stadler]

As Bill Grumbine would say, "Words would have to be said", ouch! such a nice piece, better invest in some rubber floors.

I hope you can save it some how but with the way it cracked not sure where you would start.

[Scott Hackler]

Ah man that stinks. Been there done that. Looks like it was going to be a gem of a bowl too. I once turned a delicate 4" tall bell for an ornament and pierced the whole darn thing (looked like lace), decided to clean up the rim and watched (in horror) it fly off the chuck and down the vacume tube to be ground up in the fan. 3+ hours shot to ........ :(

[Bill Bulloch]

Bill, my heart sand when I saw this. I am so sorry about that. That is just horrible.

I will take an opportunity if I may to make one suggestion so that perhaps this is not a total loss. The base in the bowl looks kinda large. I have been watching the Malcolm Tibbets DVD's and he uses a floating bottom. This prevents the bottom from splitting in the future due to wood expansion (much like frame and panel construction).

The bottom would have ended up being close to 6" in diameter. I have made quite a lot of vessels with the "floating bottom". And, while I am sure that they serve there purpose of helping prevent any segment failure that might result from wood movement, I don't particularly like them: (1) They limit the use of the bowl because the bottom is not sealed, so you cannot use it to hold any open foods. (2) They leave a visible seam in the bottom of the bowl that takes away from its attractiveness. I am, also not sure there is a real need for them. Some pros on the Segmenting Woodturners Forum claim to have segmented vessels up to 30 years old with large solid bottoms and they have never experienced failure due to wood movement. Another example is the many vessels at exhibitions, on the internet, in magazines, and books where large solid bottoms are use on vessels without fear of failure. Malcolm presented the "floating bottom" as an option, and I am sure I will use it many times in the future, but some projects just demand large solid bottoms.

[John Keeton]

Bill, I have never attempted segmented turning simply because of all the underlying effort involved. Having done a lot of flatwork, I have some idea of what you have invested in this piece in planning, time, and creative effort. I really hate this for you. I have destroyed a couple of pieces from crazy stuff, but early on in the turning - never anything like this. My heart goes out to you!

[Bill Bulloch]

Man! Sorry to see that! I hope you can figure out a save but it sure looks drastic in your photos!


No save here. It is easier to make a ring from scratch than to try and repair one, especially one this shattered. At least I still have the top three rings. I am fortunate they were not attached when I dropped it. When I made this feature ring I thought that it would have looked better if the fishhook design was a little narrower: Now, I 'll get the chance to see.

[Jon McElwain]

I felt ill in my gut when I saw your pictures. Of course, I just ate an entire bag of pork rinds just before looking at them.

Really sorry to see all that work destroyed. Although, the second time around always goes faster and you have the opportunity to improve upon your design as you mentioned. Look forward to seeing how it turns out!

[David Warkentin]

I am sorry too! My simple segmented stuff takes long enough that I don't want to ruin it so I can believe you feel bad.

[David DeCristoforo]

Ouch... all the appropriate adjectives have already been used. Go have a beer. Or several. Then start looking for the bright side... there's gotta be one in there somewhere. If you can't find one, make one up. The only thing worse than pics like these are the ones guys post of severed body parts. Maybe you should just finish it and call it "Earthquake bowl"...

[Ted Calver]

Ouch!! Now I can see the advantage of leaving 6" of shavings on the floor.

[Chris Colman]

Ouch! And it was looking so good too!

Thank God that has not happened to me, yet. I have come close a couple of times, caught one with my foot before it hit the concrete. Heavy faceplates are hard on tennis shoes.

Can you save the feature ring? The lower layers look shattered, but all I see is one crack in the feature ring. If you could glue that up, bandsaw the lower layers off, could it be chucked up and trued up and saved? I hope so, it looks nice.

Please post pics when it is finished, I would like to see the completed bowl.

[Tim Thiebaut]

I cant even imagine the amount of work you have in that piece, man I am sorry to see that.

[Michael James]

OUCH....... sadly that is a part of turning life.

[Michael Short]

Bill,

That bites. Looks like it was going to be a great looking bowl.

[David E Keller]

So sorry to see this for your sake, but this helps reaffirm my avoidance of segmented forms.

[Curt Fuller]

The agony of defeat.

[dan carter]

Durn burn it. Suspect you may have uttered an unkind word or two. Suspect you will hang on a little better next time. As a matter of fact, I am am sure that I will.

[GLENN THOMAS]

Bill,

Maybe I can offer a bright side for what little it may be worth. At least you weren't completely finished. I've never done a segmented piece but I once completed a small piece only to have if fall off a shelf and bust into a few pieces. There's no doubt you invested more time in yours than I did in mine though.

[Jim Burr]

Poor bowl...RIP

[Baxter Smith]

Feeling sick would be an understatement. Great looking bowl for a while.

[Sid Matheny]

WOW I feel your pain Bill. All that work and time. >:(

Sid

[George Guadiane]

Everyone has pretty much told you how much this sucks. so let me add, the important thing is that you still have the skill and means to make another one.

Not much of a consolation, I guess, but what I'm trying to say is you can recover from this, even if the bowl can't.