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Thread: Favorite Woodturning/Woodworking Quote?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
    Location
    Colby, Washington. Just across the Puget Sound from Seattle, near Blake Island.
    Posts
    931

    Favorite Woodturning/Woodworking Quote?

    I'm working on a project that involves clever or insightful quotations about woodturning. The broader woodworking context may be where I end up with this -- turning is a relatively small part of working with wood -- but I thought I'd throw this out to the Creepers and see what "turns" up.

    My personal favvorites are:


    "If you don't have a stack of failures in your shop, you aren't trying hard enough. --Richard Raffin.

    "Yes, I probably wood." --Anonymous


    "It's not thin enough!" -- Everyone

    Russell Neyman
    .


    Writer - Woodworker - Historian
    Instructor: The Woodturning Experience
    Puget Sound, Washington State


    "Outside of a dog, there's nothing better than a good book; inside of a dog it's too dark to read."

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Fort Collins, CO
    Posts
    946
    My second lathe was a 120 year old "Fox Monitor" metalworking lathe that had been converted from belt drive to electric, and which was re-purposed into a wood lathe. I did a little research to learn more about the lathe and the company and found some really interesting information. Along the way, I also found a catalog online which depicted my lathe. The catalog was an electronic reproduction of a pre-1892 catalog. The last few pages of the catalog contained several sections unheard of in modern catalogs. They were titled, "Suggestions to Working Men," "Save a Little Money," "Safe Business Rules," "Law Points," and "Man Can Be Compared to an Engine Lathe." The last section was of particular interest, and I know you will enjoy the read!


    Excerpt From a Lodge and Davis Lathe catalog, circa 1890:

    Man Can Be Compared to an Engine Lathe

    He has his "fast speeds" and later his "slower speeds;" by that time he has had his "full swing." If his "head stock" is light, he is liable to "chatter," which is an "index" of want of "solidity." His "carriage" and "bearing" depend on his "ways," and he is often tied to an "apron" string. If he comes home late to dinner and finds everything cold, he is wrathy, and this may be called his "cross feed." If he attends a banquet and eats and drinks for hours, this could be called his "length feed." While going through life he gets many a good "belt," and finds considerable "friction" in trying to "clutch" onto all the money he can. If he fails to pay his rent, his landlord is "bored" and he gets "turned" out. If he steals money he is "chased" to Canada, which is his "finishing cut." If he ever amounts to much, he commences by "roughing" it, then becomes "smoother," and should in time get some "polish." When old, he has some "lost motion," gets on his last "legs," then "dies," and is finally "chucked" in the grave.

    The catalog can be viewed here. Check out the catalog and read some of the sections on the last few pages.
    Man advances just in proportion that he mingles thought with his labor. - Ingersoll

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Bremerton WA
    Posts
    16
    My favorite woodturning quote to remember is "the inside diameter should not exceed the outside diameter"

  4. #4
    Turn the pith out of it!

  5. #5
    Not as good without the accent but an old German cabinetmaker was heard to comment "You never seem to have the time to do it right but you always seem to find the time to do it over..."
    David DeCristoforo

  6. #6
    John Jordan said: "Life is too short to turn crappy wood". I understand he may have used a euphemism for "crappy" though....

  7. #7
    "Use sandpaper like John Keeton is paying for it"

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Bangor, PA
    Posts
    1,853
    I warm myself by the fire of my mistakes.
    faust

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Valparaiso In
    Posts
    156
    Said by a guy that goes by "Baconsoda" in a Utube video about the Oneway Drill Wizard:

    "Normally, I have to justify everything before I buy it, but this was a situation where the very fact that it existed was justification enough for buying this tool...it just had to be bought!"

  10. "measure twice, cut once" that made famous as far as I know by Norm Abrams, who wrote a book with that title, and hosted New Yankee Workshop for 17 years if my memory serves me correctly.
    Remember, in a moments time, everything can change!

    Vision - not just seeing what is, but seeing what can be!




  11. #11
    When sphincter tightening exceeds chuck tightening, you have a problem. From 'Pats Fan' over on Woodnet.

    If it don't hold soup, it's art. Anthony Yak

    The bevel should rub the wood, but the wood shouldn't know it. Unknown

    A dull chisel is just a screw driver. From the Work Sharp sharpening people.

    Anything with sharp teeth eats meat. Woodworking tools have sharp teeth. People are made out of meat. Australian woodworker, don't have his name.

    I probably have more that I just can't remember....

    robo hippy

  12. #12
    "Dad, it's cool that you can make things."
    My daughter.

    "I wish I had a hobby like yours".
    My wife

    "Will I ever be as good as you?"
    My son
    Last edited by Prashun Patel; 09-17-2014 at 9:18 AM.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Reed Gray View Post
    When sphincter tightening exceeds chuck tightening, you have a problem. From 'Pats Fan' over on Woodnet.

    If it don't hold soup, it's art. Anthony Yak

    The bevel should rub the wood, but the wood shouldn't know it. Unknown

    A dull chisel is just a screw driver. From the Work Sharp sharpening people.

    Anything with sharp teeth eats meat. Woodworking tools have sharp teeth. People are made out of meat. Australian woodworker, don't have his name.

    I probably have more that I just can't remember....

    robo hippy
    I attended SWAT this year - third year for me.

    the new "catch phrase" among many of the professional turners is "float the bevel"

  14. Quote Originally Posted by Shawn Pachlhofer View Post
    I attended SWAT this year - third year for me.

    the new "catch phrase" among many of the professional turners is "float the bevel"
    Stuart Batty stated "float the bevel" numerous times at the Virginia Symposium last weekend...........never did see the need to bear down on the bevel myself, but I suppose there are some people you have to tell........that is a wall, not a door!
    Remember, in a moments time, everything can change!

    Vision - not just seeing what is, but seeing what can be!




  15. #15
    "I just make stuff" - Art Liestman

    One of my faves. Kinda applies too.

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