What's your pleasure

[Von Bickley]

Take the Poll and let us know what type of work you enjoy.
Do you turn bowls, pens, both, etc.?
Do you build kitchen cabinets, tables, book cases, etc.?
I have an old lathe that belonged to my father but I enjoy doing "flat work". I like building book cases, small tables, and some kitchen cabinets.
What's your favorite?

[Steve Clardy]

in my line of work, cabinets and staircases, I do both. Steve

[Bob Boake]

Started out with racing small sailboats (single and double hull, 15 to 20 footers). Then started to do maintenance on wooden boats. Ended up with no boats and some woodworking tools.

Have built lots of cabinets and casework type projects. Now that my house remodeling is over I think I would like to try chairbuilding and maybe some wood bending.

Design is my favorite part. Ever notice that some people can mix wood specis on a project and it looks really great and some people mix woods and they just look horrible.

[Robert Simmons]

I had to vote both because round and flat work all come out of my shop, but turning really is my main interest. Bowls, hollow forms, pens, etc., pretty much in that order.

Robert

[Bill Grumbine]

It's both round and flat for me. Sometimes its round and flat at the same time. :D I really enjoy turning, but I also enjoy building furniture, especially when it actually fits together the way I want it to fit.

Bill

[Ed Falis]

I'm a newbie. I like exploring different kinds of joints. Pretty funny.

- Ed

[George@Colonel's Workshop]

Good Afternoon Von,

I mostly "sold" my work to finance the shop, and was lucky to become affiliated with a couple antique shops. I restored and repaired their items, and they referred my to their customers who were in need of furniture repair or upholstery work. Consequently, I hardly ever knew what kind of a job I'd cope with next. I never advertised, and word of mouth brought me many different kinds of jobs. I like them all since they forced me to always push my envelope. Presently I am trying to transition my work so I can design and build more of my own stuff from scratch. I am beecoming more selective about what kind of furniture work I do for others, preferring not to do any stripping, or accepting anything which was never real good to begin with. I really like to complete a piece which required new parts, and have the restored item look as though the new parts came from the original maker, not out of my shop. I do some turning work associated with furniture repair, but turning does not provide me the enormous satisfaction I get from admiring an antique walnut nursing rocker which I restored by replacing missing parts, hand caning, oiling and waxing. That kind of thing makes me want another beer when the work is all done.

[John Miliunas]

I'm fairly a greenhorn at either, but enjoy both. Each have their own challenges (to me, anyway:D ) and their own rewards. And then there's the "in between", like as in bandsaw boxes.:D :cool:

[Malcolm Timbers]

Neither,

I work with mostly warped, bent and crooked lumber and tree branches.

[Dale Thompson]

Von,
I'm kind of surprised at the results of your survey. Now I know how Galileo felt when he was imprisoned for saying that the world was round. ;)

I must admit that I have bowed to the "flat" world in terms of mantle clocks, cabinets, jewelry boxes, etc.. On the other hand, I always look longingly at my PM 3520 lathe and apologize for my indiscretions as I do the "flat" stuff on my PM 66.

I would rather make all scrap on the 3520 than recreate the Mona Lisa on the 66. :mad:

:o The fact is that I make scrap on BOTH of them!

Anyway, the world is pear-shaped. The galaxy is elliptical and the universe is--who knows.?? :eek:

I LOVE the lathe!! I'm addicted!! I'm not a well person!! :) :D

Dale T.

[Gary]

Ahhh.....

if I could figure out how to turn a kitchen cabinet on the lathe it would be the best of two worlds............

oh, sorry, dozed off for a moment and had a weird dream.....

gary

[Paul Geer]

turning is a real joy for me, and so is other forms of woodworking...

yeah, both :p

[Bill Roland]

Because I do not own a lathe it is awful hard to do round work. When I get my new shop and have more room LOML says I can have one, until then I guess I will have settle for making cabinets and furniture that are flat.

Bill Roland

[Bob Janka]

Originally posted by Dale Thompson
Von,
I'm kind of surprised at the results of your survey. Now I know how Galileo felt when he was imprisoned for saying that the world was round. ;)


Dale,

Why are you surprised? It seems to me that before we can "turn" a piece, we usually have to square off the ends and/or sides so that we can work with it.

Besides, I haven't yet seen a wooden toolbox that came completely from the lathe. Perhaps a handle and some knobs, but never the entire thing. :)

Cheers,
Bob
- who will be building his own wooden toolbox this summer!
(gotta have something to hold all of my pen-turning tools ;-)

[Jim Young]

I do both but only really enjoy the flat work. Right now I find turning a little stressful, I figure that will subside when I get better and more comfortable with the spinning wood.

[keith zimmerman]

cause I don't do flat work...unless you count shop stuff.

keithz

[George Troy Hurlburt]

Woodturner
I do mostly segmented work on my lathes. To get there I have to do the flat work. So I do flat work made round.

[Jim Shaver, Oakville Ont]

Hi,

I really must say that furniture and aspects of furniture design are my passion. I discovered turning about 4 years ago and love it! I have since turned pens and bowls, but more recently began to turn furniture parts for my designs, i love turning drawer pulls and table legs, it's so much fun!

The flat stuff is still number one, but while the work is set up and glued, drying in the clamps, I will be found at either my General or Jet Mini turning something....

Take care,
Jim

[Dale Thompson]

Bob Janka,
How about those buckets that many folks are using for toolboxes? That would be a good challenge for the lathe.

Jim Young,
Don't give up! I think that most folks give up on turning because they can't get the sharpening thing right. Relatively sharp tools are a REAL asset to turning. If you have to "cop-out" like I did, get youself a Wolverine Jig. With a little practice, you can sharpen with the pros.

Another thought, I like to put a radius on my skew chisels. If nothing else, they look less threatening. Even with that, however, I gave up on turning for about six months because my skew always gave me a "catch" on the last "shaving" cut. When I went back, my skew, all of a sudden, became my most reliable tool. When the gouges and stuff fail me, I go for my trusty skew. It's a great tool.

Give it a chance, Jim, you will soon find that spinning wood is a lot less intimidating than spinning carbide. The downside is that you are gambling with the possibilty of achieving the same level of brain-damaged addiction as the rest of us turners. ;)

Not to say that I am a turner--but I sure enjoy trying. :) :)

George,
WOW!! WOW!! What more can I say?

Jim Shaver,
Get a pocket jig for those cabinets so that you have more time for turning. :)

Dale T.