Blind woodturning

[Bruce Schoenleber]

https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p06t5pd3/-this-might-freak-you-out-i-don-t-want-my-eyesight-back-

"... listened to 600 hours of youtube videos ..."

If you can survive listening to 600 hours of youtube blabber you can overcome anything.

[JohnC Lucas]

Wow That's cool. I've worked with 2 blind wood turners and it's fascinating watching them work. I'm super impressed. George Wurtzel was one of them. You may have seen him in the Subaru commercial. I just found out he is moving to Tennessee so we may get to meet again. I will do my best to make it happen. He is such a cool guy.

[John K Jordan]

George Wurtzel:

https://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/people/2014/07/25/my-eyes-are-in-my-hands-blind-craftsman-george-wurtzels-magic-touch/

http://www.gmwurtzel.com/

[Mike Hunter]

Before moving to California, George was a member of our club. He is a great individual and is an asset to the Woodturning and Woodworking Community. His turnings set a very "high bar."

[Richard Madden]

We have a blind gentleman in our turning club who is nothing short of amazing. He gave a demonstration last month on coring and a couple of years ago a demo on ornaments. At this months meeting he had a large segmented lidded hollow form some called a "cookie jar", made of walnut. A beautiful piece indeed. I was fortunate to get an ornament from him at our anual ornament exchange several years back. It sits on a bookshelf year round. At the other end of that shelf is an ornament I made, and his puts mine to shame.

[Paul Williams]

I received my first woodturning lesson from my father who was blind. He went to public schools at a time when that wasn't normal for blind people. His mother rewrote textbooks in braille for him, and he practiced law for 50 years before retiring. He also had to try everything. He was very good at waterskiing. Not so good at woodturning. I don't think I was a teenager yet when my cousin received a lathe for Christmas. All the men and boys were in the basement checking it out. My dad had to try it. He stuck the gouge into the spinning wood. It caught. The tip went down. The handle flipped up. The gouge went sailing away from us, and right through a window that was behind the lathe. First lathe safety lesson 60 some years ago.

[John K Jordan]

His mother rewrote textbooks in braille for him. ...

Wow, that in in itself is impressive. My uncle was a Baptist minister - his braille copy of the Bible took up a large bookcase in his study.

JKJ