10 valuable things I learned this weekend.

[Russell Svenningsen]

What I learned this weekend:

1. Turning a rough bowl out of a chunk of maple branch is FUN.

2. Turning a rough bowl out of a chunk of maple branch is DANGEROUS.

3. My circa-1940's Beaver lathe needs some upgrades to control the speed(see #2).

4. A hunk of maple branch going at 100,000 rpm hurts when it makes a hasty exit from the lathe's faceplate and hits you in the gut(see #'s 2 and 3).

5. A hunk of maple branch going at 100,000 rpm on the lathe makes that 200 pound machine dance wildly as you grope madly for the "off" switch.

6. Green shavings FLY off the lathe at 100,000 rpm.

7. Green shavings that fly of the lathe running at 100,000 rpm fly into the darndest places and rust tools they lay on all night.

8. Bill Grumbine makes this look very easy. He's very good.

9. It is not. I am awful.

10. Hope springs eternal. I will keep practicing(albeit from behind some sort of concrete bunker wall or something), and will improve(or die trying!).

Best,
Russell "Danger is my middle name"(soon to be "Patient is my middle name") Svenningsen

[Earl Eyre]

Boy, haven't we all been there! LOL Great story. I hate videos--they alll make turning look like a snap... and snap it really is, into two, three, four pieces...

Earl

[Lars Thomas]

100,000 RPMs?

[Russell Svenningsen]

100,000 RPMs?

An exaggeration(I am prone to hyperbole). My old lathe has three pulleys, but even on it's slowest setting, that headstock turns at a fast rate. Fine for spindle work, but roughing out a bowl blank.........interesting..........