Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan
03-29-2006, 6:12 AM
I'm still very new at all of this turning stuff, I'm getting my feet wet (well, my socks are covered with shavings) and doing more and more of it.
(Excuse me while I ramble a bit here, I hope you find something of interest in this.... :o)
I'm using the gouge mainly, and I'm going to put a long grind on it, but for now, I'm rubbing the bevel and having some fun.
Today, while doing some turning, I noticed a few things, the most important of which is the similarity between the cut the gouge is taking, and the traction I get on a motorcycle at the track.
For any of you who ride bikes, on the limit, you may understand what I'm talking about.
On a bike at the track, with the tires warmed up, and the bike's suspension dialed in, everything right in the world, you can feel the tires grip the track. I can feel the tires as they start to let go, you can feel them wiggle, they squiggle, and squirm, they give a little, and then...... they bite...HARD.... and you get to listen to the sound of money leaving your back account (also known as the sound of expensive race only motorcycles bouncing in the kitty litter, with expensive bits snapping off). Thankfully, if you are careful and you do it right, you don't get to experience that..... often.
I like to leave a nice big fat safety margin when riding, as I only do it for fun, and even not crashing costs a lot of money ($300 for a set of tires you destroy in one day).
Getting back to the wood turning thing, I can feel the gouge riding the bevel, taking a slightly bigger bite, I can feel the gouge start to flex in my hands and this tells me that there is more of a load on the cutting edge, I can slightly, every so lightly rotate the gouge, or twist it, or move the end against my turning muscle just a tad and the catch is no longer there.
There is a big catch coming, I can feel it start, I can hear it, I can just about smell it.... :D the thing for me is to be totally present while standing at the lathe, absolutely focused, just doing that one thing. Often I've been just this side of a big catch, I've had some small ones, just little diggers, but I've not had a big one, I will one day, we all do, just like on the bike, but it will most likely be down to me doing something wrong and nothing else, me not listening to the gouge, ignoring the signs, just like on a bike. The only big get off's I've had on a bike were when I should not have been on the bike, too tired, excited, or such. When I look back on the crash, it was evident it was about to happen, the tires were cold, the track was damp, I'd had some small slips, but I pressed on, to my folly.....
I'm really finding it amazing the parallels between the traction on a good warmed up race tire at the track, and the gouge, cutting the wood,.......
Well.... don't know exactly where all of that came from, but there is is.....
Cheers! :D
(Excuse me while I ramble a bit here, I hope you find something of interest in this.... :o)
I'm using the gouge mainly, and I'm going to put a long grind on it, but for now, I'm rubbing the bevel and having some fun.
Today, while doing some turning, I noticed a few things, the most important of which is the similarity between the cut the gouge is taking, and the traction I get on a motorcycle at the track.
For any of you who ride bikes, on the limit, you may understand what I'm talking about.
On a bike at the track, with the tires warmed up, and the bike's suspension dialed in, everything right in the world, you can feel the tires grip the track. I can feel the tires as they start to let go, you can feel them wiggle, they squiggle, and squirm, they give a little, and then...... they bite...HARD.... and you get to listen to the sound of money leaving your back account (also known as the sound of expensive race only motorcycles bouncing in the kitty litter, with expensive bits snapping off). Thankfully, if you are careful and you do it right, you don't get to experience that..... often.
I like to leave a nice big fat safety margin when riding, as I only do it for fun, and even not crashing costs a lot of money ($300 for a set of tires you destroy in one day).
Getting back to the wood turning thing, I can feel the gouge riding the bevel, taking a slightly bigger bite, I can feel the gouge start to flex in my hands and this tells me that there is more of a load on the cutting edge, I can slightly, every so lightly rotate the gouge, or twist it, or move the end against my turning muscle just a tad and the catch is no longer there.
There is a big catch coming, I can feel it start, I can hear it, I can just about smell it.... :D the thing for me is to be totally present while standing at the lathe, absolutely focused, just doing that one thing. Often I've been just this side of a big catch, I've had some small ones, just little diggers, but I've not had a big one, I will one day, we all do, just like on the bike, but it will most likely be down to me doing something wrong and nothing else, me not listening to the gouge, ignoring the signs, just like on a bike. The only big get off's I've had on a bike were when I should not have been on the bike, too tired, excited, or such. When I look back on the crash, it was evident it was about to happen, the tires were cold, the track was damp, I'd had some small slips, but I pressed on, to my folly.....
I'm really finding it amazing the parallels between the traction on a good warmed up race tire at the track, and the gouge, cutting the wood,.......
Well.... don't know exactly where all of that came from, but there is is.....
Cheers! :D