Eyes or hands?

[Carole Valentine]

On final shaping, if you could choose only one sense to tell you if you were achieving a fair curve, which would you choose?
I find myself relying almost totally on my hands. They can "see" many subtle things my eyes can't. In fact I was wondering tonight if it's bad for my lathe to keep turning it on and off so much!

[Harry Pye]

Carole,

I think my hands are more sensitive to the curvature of the surface. They detect flat spots or abrupt changes in curvature much better than my eyes. They also work really well measuring the thickness of the walls of bowls. But to detect small surface defects like scratches, tear out and that sort of things, my eyes seem to be best. Like everything else, use the right tool for the job.

I don't think turning the lathe on and off will significantly hurt it.

[Jim Becker]

Both for me, but as you and Harry both point out, our fingertips are extremely sensitive and accurate "measuring devices" and touch is a wonderful thing. Your eyes are still necessary to sense proportion, but your hands will guide you in the refinement of the form to what Phil Brennion (AAW President) calls, "Sexy curves"...a very subtle thing.

[Carole Valentine]

Is THAT why I like turning...it's sexy! LOL Oops, this is family forum, better shut up before I get in trouble.:D

[Randy Meijer]

.....In fact I was wondering tonight if it's bad for my lathe to keep turning it on and off so much!

It does cause a little extra wear on the switch; but they are not terribly expensive or difficult to replace if one goes bad. Not sure about the effect of lots of switching on a VS model??