Name: Mark Pruitt
DOB: 8/4/59, tail-end Boomer
Physical description:
5’10” and about 210 pounds. Too fat, but how do you resist sweets when they’re in your face all the time?
Where is home?
Bedford County, VA, a few miles outside of Lynchburg. I’ve been here two and a half years; previously lived in Birmingham AL all my life except during college. Birmingham used to be a fun place too but it became so congested that I was more than ready to escape. I do miss my friends there terribly, but you couldn’t pay me enough to move back. (Well, maybe a couple million—HA!)
Moving to the outskirts of a city one fourth the size of Birmingham was a culture change to say the least. I’ve had to make some adjustments and learn to live with the inconvenience of being further away from “a real city,” but all in all it has been a great move and I would unhesitatingly do it all over again.
Family information:
Susan and I have been married for almost eight years. Our only “boy” is a 6 year-old miniature schnauzer named Zach, who is quite convinced that he owns not just the house but the planet it sits upon as well. To be so small, he has a bark that’ll put you into orbit.
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Vocation:
I am a full time Clinical Chaplain with a large health care organization in Central Virginia. We are a Level Two Trauma Center and have one of the busiest emergency departments in the state. I serve the ED and also our cardiology / cardiovascular services, which has national recognition for its speed in moving patients who are in cardiac arrest from the point of entry to the lab where they receive life-saving interventions. I may be a strange character for this, but I get a certain kind of rush out of being able to help families move through these kinds of crises.
So, what do you consider to be a “good day” at work?
That’s the question I keep asking myself and I don’t know the answer. But I do like my work.
Do you have a website?
Ha! It’s all I can do to keep up with what’s going on without having a website to keep current! Maybe someday, but that’s way, way down the list.
Shop Overview:
“Two car woodworking shop” is the description that the LOML gives it. It’s the garage of our house, and while I envision being able to actually park one vehicle in it someday, heaven only knows if that will ever happen.
The shop itself: Machinery includes a Delta LT Unisaw with the long extension rails and aux. table on a mobile base; a Grizzly 8” x 65” jointer; Grizzly floor drill press; 12” disc sander; Delta 12” CMS; shop-made router table housing a PC 7518; DeWalt 735 planer; Delta mortiser; Delta 14” BS; 26 gallon air compressor; 3hp dust collector (LOUD!); Leigh dovetail jig; Kreg jig; Slow Speed Grinder w/ Wolverine jig, Skew and Varigrind attachments.
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Standard collection of portable power tools, mostly PC but also Senco, Bosch, Freud, and a couple of cheapo cordless drills that have worked surprisingly well. Two Ridgid shopvacs, one dedicated to the CMS and plugged into a switch that turns it on when you pull the trigger on the CMS. My “workbench” is a laminated maple slab that is presently sitting on a pair of sawhorses. I have completed the leg assembly and need to mount the two vises and aprons and it’ll be good to go. If I could “turn” the rest of this bench, it would be done by the end of the day. That’s how “spin crack” has affected me.
How many lathes do you own? Tell us about 'em. Even the ones you no longer have. Why did you choose these lathes?
My first “lathe” was a Sears Router Crafter. I thought it was a neat concept, but two things discouraged me – the amount of time it took to turn a spindle with only a minimum of features, and having the constant scream of the router going for all of that time. I became frustrated with it and it sat in a box for 15 years or so before I finally realized I was never going to use it again. I gave it away. Equally frustrating was the Sears Bowl Crafter, for the same two reasons. I let it go as well.
My first “true” lathe, which I still own is a Harbor Freight 34706. I bought it not really knowing whether I was going to be any good at turning or even how well I would enjoy it (more on that later), but it was priced low enough that if I didn’t find it to be worth keeping, I wouldn’t lose much in reselling it. I have also recently purchased a Rikon mini, and posted it after being thoroughly taken to task by the esteemed MOA for failing to post it within the required…..Hey, what IS the limit? I just read the TOS and I don’t see it. You’re pulling my leg, Hoyt!
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How many turning tools do you have? Store bought, home made, favorites?
Eighteen. The 8 piece Harbor Freight set, two Sorby bowl gouges ¼” and ½”, a Crown inbound bowl scraper, a Pinnacle hook nose scraper, two Sorby beading tools, a Crown square scraper, a Sorby thin kerf parting tool, a Sorby multi-tip hollowing tool, and a Sorby bedan tool. I have also just ordered the Sorby texturing/spiraling tool and am awaiting its arrival. At this point, the ½” bowl gouge has by far been my favorite. I love its stoutness and rigidity, and the various cuts it is capable of making with the swept-back grind I gave it. The multi-tip hollowing tool has also been very enjoyable to use, and I’m only beginning to learn about turning hollow forms. The ¼” bowl gouge has been somewhat disappointing, as it seems not to have enough rigidity to perform some things I ask of it. My chuck is a Oneway Talon, and as frequently as I change jaws on it, I really ought to buy a second one. Always something more to spend money on!
Given my preference for visual learning, videos have proven to be some valuable turning “tools” as well. I’m not sure that I would have even tried to learn woodturning if I were not able to watch it. The videos by Raffan, Del Stubbs, and of course our own Bill Grumbine, have been incredibly helpful.
Wait a minute. There you went with a stealth gloat again. You ain’t getting past me, Pruitt! As the MOA, I see everything!
Yeah, I know. I’ll post a pic after the spiraling/texturing tool gets here. Gee whiz…… OK. Break time. I’m going for some coffee, be back in a bit.
And on that note let’s break for a commercial interruption.