A little gloat

[John Hart]

Ok...this may not seem like much...But it is major to me.

I took a turning vacation.:eek:

Yep....for at least 5 years, all my vacation time has been spent doing stuff for other people, fixing cars, fixing the house, cutting grass, running errands...you name it..

So I took three days and wrapped them around memorial day and I have 6 full days of turning.

Today was the first. I started at 7:00am and I just came in for food. I blew up two pieces....one hit me in the face, and YES...I was wearing my faceshield. :) I'm almost done with another piece (if I don't blow it up).

The lacquer is flowing....the lathe is spinning...13 hours of relaxful vortexical bliss

Gee...I think I'll do it again tomorrow!!!:D

[charlie knighton]

cool, great vacation, need picture of pieces

i took that approach a couple years ago, i had a big piece of hackberry, dry hackberry
going to make a big bowl, i wasn't turning 5 minutes, broke the tool rest, it went sideways of me, called company and their service dept did get me another tool rest in 2 days, i did not finish that hackberry piece til i bought another lathe, and that was the first piece on it

not much of picture

[Steve Schlumpf]

John - Congrats on your turning vacation! Hope you are able to create lots of masterpieces! Do you have the main door open to ventilate the lacquer fumes? Don't need no Salvidor Dali type turnings.... then again - could be cool!

Have fun! Looking forward to seeing what you create!

[Pete Jordan]

Enjoy Big Fella!

[Greg Just]

Sounds like a great vacation - I'm hoping to get a few hours of turning time this weekend as I have not turned anything in about a week. Enjoy and post pics of your vacation creations!

[Jim Burr]

Yipee!!! More lacquer for the vacation boy!!!

[John Keeton]

John, I am proud of you!! Great plan and I hope it is relaxing for you as well as productive. I hope to do the same for the better part of the weekend, but tomorrow looks shot for the most part.

[John Hart]

Ok...Let's do pics!!!

Started the morning with coffee and nice weather. The deer were right outside my window here, so I watched them for a while...had my coffee...email...relaxing. Ahhhhh
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Then I headed out to the shop and disappeared for the day.....Ahhhhhh

Got hit by some big storms again, but I didn't care. The power never went out so I just enjoyed the power of mother nature.

Oh...and here are the blowups. The first one is a hollow form that I'm vasing up. The body is Lychee...a gift from David Keller. Not a horrible blowup. I will remount this and fix her up.
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This next one is the one that hit me in the face. It was going to be a single piece walnut pedestal vase. I was spinning at about 1500 and putting the final touches on the base of the body after hollowing. I had it between centers at the time. I had my face down real close and making the cut with the skew. It caught. WHAM!!
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Here's what I'm working on now. It's a Walnut, Curly Maple, and Teak vase. All the hollowing is done. I just have to finish up the pedestal and hollow the mouth.
Teak sticks to EVERYTHING.....oh...except the faceshield. Kinda wierd.
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So that's it for today. :)

[Greg Just]

Those deer sure are watching you.

[David DeCristoforo]

I'm starting to feel like I should wear a face shield just to read the forum posts anymore...

[Baxter Smith]

Enjoy your turning time! Those blown up hf's are about as attractive as those scruffy Ohio deer.;):)

[David E Keller]

Congrats on the 'me time'... That's the best way to recharge the ole batteries IMO. I hope you enjoyed turning the lychee... I think it's pretty cool stuff. I'm hoping to log a miniature version of your turncation over the next few days.

[Michael James]

Good plan. Enjoy every minute of it!
mj

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Congrats John....you have earned some turning time. Enjoy it.

[Curt Fuller]

If you actually pull it off, even if you actually get to spend half that time turning, I want to see a tutorial on how you did it! In the mean time, let the shavings fly!

[Tim Thiebaut]

Congrats John, Hope you enjoy all of your time turning for the next few days!

[John Keeton]

Hart, your "Yankee" deer seem to lack a certain style and class in the shedding process. We have taught our Southern deer to remain in the woods until they are decent looking enough to be seen in public!

[John Hart]

Hart, your "Yankee" deer seem to lack a certain style and class in the shedding process. We have taught our Southern deer to remain in the woods until they are decent looking enough to be seen in public!

Heh heh. I'm afraid that there's a problem with the whole civilization up here in that regard. Have you been to Walmart lately? :eek:

[Roger Chandler]

Nice vacation plan, if you ask me............although, listening to the ocean waves and watching the dolphins play outside my room ain't too bad either :D;)

I may get back to the WC today for a second round of trouble today.........

Glad you had on your bionic face shield..........blow ups are not fun.....pulse raising yes, but fun no!

Go at a pace that keeps this time enjoyable for you.........rejuvenation is the goal, not simply production.

[Tim Rinehart]

Great gloat John. We can buy and save for tools, wood, etc...but time is priceless. Enjoy doing whatever comes into your head. I too look forward to seeing what else you do.

[bob svoboda]

Really great vacation idea, John. Enjoy and don't listen to SS-ventilation of your shop is a horrible waste of lacquer fumes.

[charlie knighton]

thanks for sharing....once upon a time

it really is nice early in shop, i wish i had windows, but i take a walk every once in a while

[Dennis Simmons]

I'm starting to feel like I should wear a face shield just to read the forum posts anymore...

OK, I agree with you :)

[John Hart]

Well here we are at the end of day 2. Another good one. :)

Spent the whole day in the shop and never got bored!! Imagine that ;)

Started out wanting to get David Kellers vase in the finishing stage. It was a vase from our Cherry competition and I need to send it to him. But it developed a crack and I needed to fix that. Anyway...I got that done and the finish looks pretty good. I think it's time to mail that thing. Woo Hoo!!

Next, was fixing one of the blowups from yesterday. I've never had a donut chuck, and I needed one to fix the HF soooooo...I built one. Only took an hour. Don't know why I waited so long.
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Next, I wanted to finish a vase. It was about 3/4 done, but it took me 7 hours to finish it off.
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I'll post the finished piece in another thread.

After that, I mounted up a piece of cherry for a special idea I had. Got it roughed out and ready to hollow....but called it a day.

And that's it!! Didn't mow the lawn or nuthin'. :D

[David E Keller]

Hooray! I'm so happy for you that you've been able to string together a number of pure turning days, and I'm looking forward to the photos of the spoils of this little turnfest... I'd be lying if I didn't admit to being particularly excited about the pending arrival of a Hart original!

[charlie knighton]

nice day, thanks for sharing your variety of fun

[Kathy Marshall]

Congrats on a cool vacation! Wow! 6 full days of turning, doesn't get any better than that....unless of course it's 7 days :eek:

[Keith Burns]

John, you............................................... ................................................lu cky rat !!!

[Dan Forman]

I admire your fortitude. I can never seem to avoid distraction. Have a great week.

Dan

[John Hart]

Woo Hoo! I hit the half way point Curt!!! And it doesn't look like anything is in my way for tomorrow. There is a picnic planned on monday at the in-laws. But really, I don't think anyone will notice I'm missing. They don't like me anyway....and I don't blame 'em. :)

So today was loads of fun, my Keller Lychee form that blew up was ready for refit and turning. So I did a little of that.
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Then, I hollowed a couple of cherry forms
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the one on the left is coated on the inside with black resin. I think I'm going to present this as a fully functional water vase. The one on the right won't hold water methinks.

Then there was the Keith Burns copying thing. This was an absolute joy. That hickory is hard hard hard. More than ironwood burl. When I finish sanded it, it was like glass. It really didn't need a finish!!
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These two are staged for monday....even if a picnic gets in the way....I'm still gonna turn!!! :)
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This is what my table looks like right now. This is fun gang!! I need to do this more often. I'm not grumpy or nuthin'!!! :)
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[charlie knighton]

ya got it going, enjoy

[David E Keller]

Man, that last photo really gives me a sense of how large those two pieces are dwarfing the little hickory feller... Those things are huge! My first apartment would easily fit inside one of them. I can see why you're having trouble shooting photos of them, as they wouldn't fit into my photo cube.

What's the piece on the far left of the table beyond the finished forms?... Kind of blue/gray near the bottom with what looks like a natural edge. I like the looks of that one.

[John Hart]

Ah...yeah..That's a walnut rough out. Still drying. I lost the bark during the hollowing and was hoping for a vase with a NE mouth. Still have 500 pounds of walnut tree to try again though :)

[John Hart]

Day 4 was spent almost entirely working on this piece
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Glad I got it finished, but now, I've come to the realization that the finial is crooked. Day 5 will start with fixing that.

Here's what the table looks like today.
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Funny that it looks like I'm not getting much accomplished. (I had delusions of a dozen)

But I ended the day with a movie-fest with my girls and a relaxing evening.

Now it's time to start Day 5 :)

[John Hart]

Ok...here we are at the end of Day 6 of my vacation. It has been wonderful. I would guess that I logged about 60 hours of turning in that time. Considering that I only completed 6 pieces, that doesn't say much for my wages I reckon.

Day 5 was consumed with making this hollow form
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And making the magnifier thingie
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Day 6...I did no turning whatsoever. I worked on finishes, buffing, and tidying up the shop a bit. My version of "tidying up" is vastly different than "clean". I've learned through my 52 years that I work best in a confused, disoriented, unorganized environment. So there it stands.

I also figured it was time to pull out the lawn mower parts that I've been hiding..."I can't mow...the mower is broken...and the parts won't arrive til tuesday" :)

So I fixed the mower and started attacking the jungle
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And then I assessed my accomplishments
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What you see is some rough-outs, some completed bodies, some explosions, some tools, and some finished pieces.
The finished pieces will debut at a new gallery in Chardon Ohio, along with work from Keith Burns and Vaughn McMillan. The debut is this saturday at the annual arts festival that is held in the town square of this charming little 19th century town, (the art gallery is on the square), and after that, I will begin itemizing a list of tools and equipment to set up a turning learning center in the upstairs of the gallery....and they would like me to teach.
I'll also be redesigning their website for them.

So that's it. Back to work tomorrow, with a whole new perspective on life.:)

It's been a great vacation!!! Thanks all for putting up with me!!! :)

[Jeff Hamilton Jr.]

Now that's what I call a "vacation" (I'm fairly certain my wife doesn't read SMC ...)!

[David E Keller]

Sheesh! New gallery, side money for website overhaul, association with accomplished turners from all over the country, free coffee from the Earth's coolest human... What left to accomplish? Nobel prize? Too tainted by previous winner?:eek::D

Congrats on all the good things coming your way... Well deserved!:)

[John Hart]

So I sit here this morning, looking forward to my workday. To tell you the truth...I could use the rest!! I am sore from head to foot. But it's a good soreness :)

[Tim Rinehart]

pssst, hey John, glad to see things went well for you during your turning vacation/holiday. I kinda took one myself Sat/Sun/Mon, but don't tell anyone, OK? I'll try to post something later. Remember...mums the word.;)

[Karl Card]

It is nice to do things for others but we all have to have "our time". Hooray for you. I am sure this time for you will produce some eye candy for us...

[John Hart]

pssst, hey John, glad to see things went well for you during your turning vacation/holiday. I kinda took one myself Sat/Sun/Mon, but don't tell anyone, OK? I'll try to post something later. Remember...mums the word.;)

Atta boy. I ain't sayin' nuthin'. ;)

[John Hart]

It is nice to do things for others but we all have to have "our time". Hooray for you. I am sure this time for you will produce some eye candy for us...

Yup...sorely needed. Unfortunately we get so wrapped up that time flies by, we get grumpy, and overly focused on tasks, that we almost become slaves of those tasks.

Here am at my desk, and soooo relaxed. :)

[Cathy Schaewe]

Hey, good for you! I'm really jealous! My lathe has forgotten what I look like :(. Nice turnout, too (pun intended)!

[Trevor Howard]

Yup...sorely needed. Unfortunately we get so wrapped up that time flies by, we get grumpy, and overly focused on tasks, that we almost become slaves of those tasks.

Here am at my desk, and soooo relaxed. :)

I can so relate to that lately, pleased you had a great time John, and some nice eye candy for us to look at.