Why Do I Bother?

I’ve added a new semi-regular feature to my site. I got a few comments and questions about Dad’s work and I have invited him to contribute an article or two when he has time. If you find his words interesting, leave him a comment here … or better yet, visit his site to support his habit at www.heirloompens.com. Here’s his first contribution:

"When I was about 8 or 10 years old my dad would take me with him to his shop in the evening when Mom wasn’t home to watch me. I don’t think dad much liked the experience but it kept me from stealing cars at night. I would watch over his shoulder as he turned wood on his lathe. Sometimes it was things he made for fun and other times it was something he needed for his finish carpentry business.

He often made pool cues on his lathe. Hand turned cues are a rare commodity anymore if you can find them at all. He had such skills that he could turn a cue straight and true every time. In those days, as now, cues had two colors of wood. The tip end was made of Maple and the butt end was made of a darker wood like Walnut. He was able to join the wood and turn it so close to perfect that all of the points in the joinery were even. He would show me and brag. He liked approval. So do I.

I have started to focus on bowl making over the past few months. Recently I have started working on segmented bowls and pots. These are a great challenge but, if done well, they result in great satisfaction. Over the next few weeks I will try to describe the process of making a segmented bowl or vessel. Such vessels rarely have any practical use except perhaps for sealing pre-adolescent boys in until they turn 24. That’s a whole different story, forget I said it.

Every vessel begins with a drawing. You must know before you begin what you want to finish with. One of the benefits of segmented turning is economy of wood. One of the disadvantages is the amount of time consumed cutting each segment.

A segmented bowl is built in layers or rows. A row can be made up of any number of segments. The vessels I have made have had anywhere from 4 segments to 28 segments per row. The size of the segment is determined by the diameter of the vessel at that particular point and must take into account the size of the rows above and below. This is why a detailed drawing is so important. Jeff was kind enough to let me write an occasional article about wood turning and over the next few weeks I will try to provide explanation and pictures of the process.

Thank you for reading this far. I appreciate your attention and interest. If you have questions feel free to email me at rbenham@heirloompens.com If you haven’t read this far I guess this paragraph is wasted. If you didn’t read this far, tell me where you quit reading if you will. Richard"

Tags: Announcements, Dad's Shop, Features //