out of practice

[fyrcaptn]

loml "made/ coerced/ commanded/ told er...." asked me to redo a pen this morning so she can send it to her sister the finish wasn't quite right (it really wasn't)
no big deal.... well that's what I thought popped it apart chucked it up sanded went through the mm.... guess its been too long since I did a dang ca finish
I almost let my religion slip twice - once right before I THOUGHT I was almost done and looked at it the first go round argh how did that happen?? , and once when I let the paper towel I was applying with stick and wrap
I handled it okay I thought - I just laughed at the stuck towel (after stopping the lathe and a l m o s t thinking bad things)
so after re-re-re re-doing it..... it looks good enough (to ask her opinion now)

it hasn't been THAT long but my mind wasn't in the right place and I was having to think about things I got used to just doing.

guess that means I need more regular shop time! right??

 

[rjwolfe3]

I feel the same way about things when I haven't done them in a while. I launched a bowl blank twice yesterday before I walked away. Went a turned a pen instead lol.

 

[TomW]

my mind wasn't in the right place

Not good when using power tools, cleaning guns or skydiving...

Practice, practice, practice!

Tom

 

[Daniel]

Definitely a sign of shop deprivation. You really need to take care of it because it can progress into a sever break out of Honey Doos if your wife sees you in the house for very long. At that point you are a real risk of outright Repairs which are often permanently debilitating if not fatal. The risk with Repairs is the Neighbors will actualy see them and then husbands up and down the street will blame you for their case of shop deprivation.
scuse me now, it took so long to write this that my wife is looking at the window screen that needs to be replaced with every sign that she will actually speak to me any moment. We may have a plague on our hands.

 

[ed4copies]

Well, Cap!!

The problem is simple, the solution even simpler.

You give your wife the pen and THANK HER for the opportunity. She has made you aware of the error of your ways --- in abandoning your regularly scheduled turning sessions. The ONLY way to recover (so you can continue to produce the masterpieces SHE expects to "gift" to her acquaintances), is to have at least four (insert more, if you think you can get away with it) nights a week to maintain your level of expertise. Explain to her that it takes VERY SHARP tools, including a "hand-eye coordination" that needs continuous honing.

Intersperse frequent allusions to HER project making you AWARE of this.

Then, go buy a few kits, cheap ones you can mess up on. Present these (turned pens) proudly to her. Each one, just a little better - remind her she will SOON be seeing "High-end gift quality".

Good luck and good turning!!! Don't progress TOO quickly or your plan to be alone with your lathe for hours at a time could go amiss!!!!

 

[ed4copies]

Daniel and I posted simultaneously.

Do you see a pattern here???

 

[jkeithrussell]

To me, that's how CA works all the time. Take the same blank, in the same shop, and it works one day but not the next. Maybe higher humidity, or lower temperature, or maybe you had your chewing tobacco on the right side instead of the left. All you can do is keep trying. My CA finishing has been going a lot better lately, but I still get a blank every now and then that doesn't work even though a blank from the same wood worked fine only minutes before. I'm moonlighting to figure out how to use the airbrush acrylic urethane finish, but I'm not all the way there yet. I will definitely dance a jig when I have it figured out and can move away from CA.

 

[ssajn]

I have a sure fire way get in the shop. I just put a tv show on my wife can't stand (doesn't matter if I like it either because we're not going to watch it anyway). Then I tell her "I'll be in the shop for a few minutes" her reply "Take your time" so I do.
Hasn't failed me yet.