Bad week

Chuck Rodekohr

In Memorium
Messages
495
Location
NorCal, USA
It has been a rough week turning for me. I blew out my first attempt at making a pen. I got a disassembly kit and took it apart, turned another front and back piece and they didn’t fit because I left the wood a little proud of the bushing, thinking it would get flush with sanding, finishing and buffing.. I didn’t get it flush, so I put it back on the mandrel and took it down to the bushing. It still doesn’t fit properly so I purchased a new pen kit, and it doesn’t fit that one either. I’m taking a bowl turning class and was turning a beautiful piece spalted silver birch. I usually make bowls with straight sides, so I tried something new, making it more like the shape of an inverted Dough Boy helmet. I got the inside and outside shaped and scrapped to about 220, the best I have done so far. I thought it would look nice with a very thin burnt line on the lip edge, so when flattening the edge, I had a catch (yeah, I know - just one last cut:bang:) and the bowl exploded across the room. I took a break and decided to work on a small vase I had started. I cut a tennon to chuck up the bottom but found that it was too small for my 50 mm jaws and too large for my 25 mm jaws, so I screwed the top back on the screw chuck to turn a new tennon. Well, I must have stripped the threads because it let loose from the screw chuck and slammed into the tool rest, taking a big chunk out of the side, too big to salvage. I have another almost finished bowl, black walnut with an absolutely beautiful grain pattern that only needs the tennon removed and the base sanded and finished, but, with my bad luck this week, I passed on it until I’m fresh. I wanted to finish on a positive note so turned a small bowl from a maple burl. I have the shape completed, inside and out, but decided to put it to bed before I start scraping the inside and bottom, didn't screw this one up.:thumb:

Sorry, had to vent. It's all part of learning.
 
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Must be the full moon. I've stayed out of the shop so far this weekend. For the past couple of days, nearly everything I've done outside of the shop has either broken on me or gotten me hurt, so I don't want to have that luck follow me into the shop. :rolleyes:
 
If you aren't at the lathe, you can't blow anything out or up!!! Some days are like that, don't know if I am distracted, upset, or whatever. So, I go to something else, sometimes I sand/prep a bunch of pen barrels, drill pen blanks, glue in barrels, clean the shop, sharpen tools, just change up my routine but still enjoy my time in the shop. Didn't hear of any pieces doing bodily injury, so be thankful for that!! Question, why did you have to use a pen disassembly kit if you blew up the blank on the lathe? Just turn the wood and glue off of the barrel, then sand lightly then glue on another pen blank.
 
I'm not a turner but one of the things that I'm learning to identify is when my mind starts to wander off from what I'm doing, I know that when that happens I will make a mistake and have to redo or fix what I'm doing.

Luckily this has happened only a few times and not using power tools but I've learnt from the experience to stop, take a breath and concentrate, if my mind keeps wandering I take a break, and if still does I just stop woodworking or I'll regret it later.:dunno:
 
Thank you all for your support.

Well, after completing my honey do’s, I spent the morning reflecting on what I did wrong on all of these miscues, and figured it out for each one. It was all operator error :doh: consisting of failing to read the directions thoroughly, failure to double check the work, being tired and too lazy to move the tool rest to the proper position and continuing something even when you feel that something is not quite right (those voices again). As I said, a learning experience.

Jonathan, I didn’t blow it out on the lathe. I only milled three ends of the blanks down to the tubes, but didn’t notice it until after I was ¾ through the assembly, then tried to mill the one end and applied too much pressure. Maybe should have used the sander (maybe should have done it right in the first place:eek:).
 
Hey now wiat just a minute there...

Originally Posted by Don Orr
The worst days hunting are still better than the best days turning :eek::D:thumb::wave:


Larry said:
should correct this for yu, Don huntin in fall and fishing in summer :eek::D:thumb::wave:

How'd that get all twisted around like that LARRY ?:eek::D:wave:
 
I was driving down from cooperstown yesterday throught the mountains, very very rural area.
I drove down to Monticello.
On the way, I thought at one point in the middle of nowhere, I was going to stop and pick up a piece or two of the fallen wood that littered the sides of roads. (seems highway dept or some other agency cut down larger logs that might have been creeping up on road shoulder?)
as I slowed down on rt 206 south, a guy around 40 and I guess his teenage son came walking up from out of the woods with rifles slung over their shoulders and big waterproof boots(I noticed the huge boots, guess its pretty damp in there), so I decided best not to stop just at that time.I dont know if its hunting season in nys.
 
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