A moment of rage in the shop

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ToddMR

ToddMR

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Joined
May 3, 2010
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Location
Columbus, OH
So on Sunday I decided to turn some in the shop since I got the roof replaced and a ridge vent installed too. That with the temps in the 70's made me anxious to get out there. I started off trying to do a dakota burl blank for a civil war kit. I was using the woodchuck pro and making really light cuts. As I was VERY close to getting it to size one entire half flew off and smacked me in the face shield. I parted off the rest and decided, ok, I will just use some antique long leaf pine, which made the pen look really nice. I then decided I would make an executive pen with my piece of diag cut zebra wood. Again all going fine until I got close to the end and then BAM! another piece flew off. I thought to myself, "Are you kidding me?!" So I parted it off and decided to go with some wacky PR blank I had. I let it sit a bit and when I went to use the mill on it the tube spun out and was stuck to the mill shaft. At that point I hit my cool head limit. Next thing I knew the blank went soaring into the cinder block wall of the shop. LOL. I have been doing really well lately with managing my anger when things don't go my way, but something about getting 1 pen out of 4 blanks just pushed me over the edge. I just sat at my bench with my head resting on my arms against the workbench. I calmed down and thought about how I was glad that didn't happen with a tru-stone blank. Of course I don't think I would have thrown it. Oh and I forgot to mention I broke my mill cutter head too. LOL.

I just thought I would share how I let my anger and frustration get the best of me. I know I can't be the only one who has those moments. It has been a LONG time since I have had so many failures in one day. Normally after the second one I close up and walk away, but for some odd reason, on that day, I pushed myself and smashed an innocent blank in the process LOL. :biggrin:
 
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I have had issues with Dakota burls too. Never turned one to completion with any tool. I use 60 or 80 grit sandpaper. Works great.

If that pen would have worked out... Who knows what the rest of the day would have brought.
 
first bowl I tried turning (purpleheart) disintegrated, I put the gouge down, turned the lathe off and never turned it on again for 2 years and thats when I started turning pens, so don't feel bad.
 
Many years ago I had a couple of Devil's (Dakota Burl) blanks and they flew apart as I got close to the final cut. CSUSA replaced them for me and they also shattered. I thought I might have been using a dull tool on the first set but not on the second. But, it still sticks in my mind that either they were not glued properly to the tube, or my gouge was not sharp enough. So a few weeks ago when I had another blank fly apart while using my carbide tool, I changed the edge to a virgin section and no more problems. It happens to everybody not matter what lies they tell!!!:biggrin:
 
Todd, as turners we all will have those days. I used to have a really bad temper too. Thankfully, as I've gotten older, I have taken more to just swearing than throwing things. That can get costly. DAMHIKT! lol! I'm not big on cliches, but from time to time they are accurate. There is one that says, "When it rains, it pours." This happened to you today. It has happened to me... several times in the shop. Just nothing goes the way it should. Yes, it is quite frustrating. So in those moments, I usually stop, take a break, go get some tea or coffee and think about what I want to try next.

Now, just wait until you are turing a fairly expensive blank and that happens. BTDT! Hang tough, dude! It'll get better. ;-)
 
Sorry I had to step in here and post on this one. I am probably going to get hate mail, again, for posting but here goes.

Zebrawood is considered a threatened species in its native habitat. Shrugging off a blow up on the lathe is quite offensive and shows little to no regard for working with endangered species. Add in diag cut to boot and you SHOULD have been paying more attention because of the cut.

Performing repeat mistakes in the shop is a big cardinal sin. Not only does this cause accidents to happen, it leads to unhealthy habits, shows a disregard for material, time used to create the material, very wasteful and lastly causes lasting discontent and anger problems.

Truestone, now there is something to look at, being glad that threatened wood was destroyed over a man made stone shavings block from cutting various stone slabs that runs a few dollars more is just baffling. Add up the cost of the waste, time wasted, shop supplies, electricity used and you will very quickly see that few dollars is a mere drop in the bucket.

The numerous mentions of equipment problems is but a mere cop-out and diversion from the real problem here. That would be not in the right mood and/or state of mind to stat with. Anger issues? There is no place in the shop for that, leave that where it belongs, at the door; better yet learn good coping skills and life habits that reduces/removes the anger before it starts and becomes a problem.

When mistakes are made, yes everyone will make mistakes, the proper thing to do is learn from them, find out why it happened, correct that mistake then move on. If you don't the body count (materials) is just going to pile up and your odds of accidents happening will drastically go up. Accidents in the shop just does not happen, they are a chain of events that leads to something bad happening.
 
ToddMR said:
Normally after the second one I close up and walk away, but for some odd reason, on that day, I pushed myself and smashed an innocent blank in the process LOL. :biggrin:
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2 is normally my limit as well. I sometimes have to remind myself "This should be fun not 'Work'"
 
dogcatcher said:
I have yet to find a carbide tipped chisel that cuts as clean and good as a properly sharpened HSS chisel.
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Do I assume correctly that you are comparing a carbide tool being used as a scraper to an HSS tool used with a shearing cut (i.e. skew)? Or are you comparing carbide scraper to HSS scraper?
 
edstreet said:
Zebrawood is considered a threatened species in its native habitat. Shrugging off a blow up on the lathe is quite offensive and shows little to no regard for working with endangered species. Add in diag cut to boot and you SHOULD have been paying more attention because of the cut.
Click to expand...

could you perhaps point me to website with this info?
 
A couple suggestions....

Todd,
I'd suggest a couple of changes. First, and most importantly, throw away your CA glue and use epoxy to glue in your tubes.

Second, spend a Sunday morning sharpening your tools. If you're using carbide that means using diamond stones. If it won't shave the hair on your arm it isn't sharp.

Third, learn to make a shearing cut with a skew. You really only need two tools, a parting tool and a skew. A roughing gouge is handy, but you can rough out with a skew. Your roughing gouge isn't sharp until it will shave hairs on your arm like the skew.

Some will disagree, and that's fine. I started turning wood 60 years ago this summer, and that's some of what I've learned standing at my lathes. I've also learned that carbide won't get as sharp as HSS, which won't get as sharp as carbon steel. Get close to final size with whatever you like, but make all your final cuts with a really sharp carbon steel skew.

Ok, ok, I'll go back to sitting quietly in the corner. What do I know anyway? I've only turned a couple thousand pens in the last 20 years..

txbob
 
Been there, done that. I am now to the point where after 3 failures, I take a deep breath, turn off the lights and call it a day.

I have one pen on my bench right now that is on its 4th finish in 3 weeks. I am trying real hard not to lose my cool and destroy the pen.
 
I usually send them flying I they are messed up. Long leave pine is exstexed I thought I have a lot wondered what it looks like spun.
 
terryf said:
edstreet said:
Zebrawood is considered a threatened species in its native habitat. Shrugging off a blow up on the lathe is quite offensive and shows little to no regard for working with endangered species. Add in diag cut to boot and you SHOULD have been paying more attention because of the cut.
Click to expand...

could you perhaps point me to website with this info?
Click to expand...

sure.

wiki Zebrawood - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Environmental issues

Zebrawood is considered a threatened species in its native habitat. Its fast-growing popularity in the West has resulted in some reforestation efforts, but these are not keeping up with the pace of harvesting. The extensive use of zebrawood in Prada's flagship Manhattan store in 2002 resulted in protests from environmentalists and a promise from Prada never to use wood from endangered forests again.
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globaltrees.org Threatened trees of Mt Cameroon
The forests of Mount Cameroon are highly threatened by conversion to agriculture, logging and hunting. Threatened trees include Microberlinia bisulcata (commonly known as Zebrawood), a large Critically Endangered forest tree endemic to Cameroon which has been heavily exploited for its striking stripy timber. The enigmatic Crudia bibundina is only known from Mount Cameroon and is also Critically Endangered.
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wiki again. Microberlinia brazzavillensis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Microberlinia brazzavillensis is a tree in the family Fabaceae, found in West Africa. It is also called zebrano, zingana, and allen ele, and is commonly sold in the US as zebrawood. The tree is tall and straight, growing up to 40 m in height with a diameter of up to 1 m. The flower has white petals and, as other legumes do, the tree produces pods.

Concern is expressed due to the tree's rarity in some areas of its native tropical habitat in Gabon and Cameroon, typically less than one tree per square kilometre; it is listed by the IUCN criteria as Critically Endangered (Tree Conservation Information Service).
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IUCN redlist
Microberlinia bisulcata



Brachystegia spiciformis, is often called 'zebrawood' but it's not the same thing by far.
wiki Brachystegia spiciformis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An outlying population of Brachystegia has recently been discovered in the Soutpansberg mountains of northern South Africa. This tree is a protected species in South Africa.

The pale brown and heavy wood is not durable and is not useful to make most articles or furniture. However, the Msasa tree is widely used for fuel, both as charcoal and firewood. It is often heavily branched and in parts of southern Tanzania the hard wood is highly sought after.

The Msasa is ecologically dominant over large areas of central Africa where sufficient summer rainfall is received. In many parts of Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi, it is the dominant woodland tree and its colourful springtime foliage is striking seasonal marker.
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Again Msasa is very weak and not that durable. I have worked with it and while it is some what dense it's stringy and structurally weak.

I would also like to point out that many exotic woods are endangered, threatened, etc.. Know your wood! The #1 key to conservation and preservation is education.

OH and sorry for being so blunt, did not know how to put it and get my point across any other way.
 
Next time I will mail you the pieces and you can enjoy it until your heart is content. Sound good? Good, I knew it would. :biggrin: Your comments are fine, no worries here.


edstreet said:
Sorry I had to step in here and post on this one. I am probably going to get hate mail, again, for posting but here goes.

Zebrawood is considered a threatened species in its native habitat. Shrugging off a blow up on the lathe is quite offensive and shows little to no regard for working with endangered species. Add in diag cut to boot and you SHOULD have been paying more attention because of the cut.

Performing repeat mistakes in the shop is a big cardinal sin. Not only does this cause accidents to happen, it leads to unhealthy habits, shows a disregard for material, time used to create the material, very wasteful and lastly causes lasting discontent and anger problems.

Truestone, now there is something to look at, being glad that threatened wood was destroyed over a man made stone shavings block from cutting various stone slabs that runs a few dollars more is just baffling. Add up the cost of the waste, time wasted, shop supplies, electricity used and you will very quickly see that few dollars is a mere drop in the bucket.

The numerous mentions of equipment problems is but a mere cop-out and diversion from the real problem here. That would be not in the right mood and/or state of mind to stat with. Anger issues? There is no place in the shop for that, leave that where it belongs, at the door; better yet learn good coping skills and life habits that reduces/removes the anger before it starts and becomes a problem.

When mistakes are made, yes everyone will make mistakes, the proper thing to do is learn from them, find out why it happened, correct that mistake then move on. If you don't the body count (materials) is just going to pile up and your odds of accidents happening will drastically go up. Accidents in the shop just does not happen, they are a chain of events that leads to something bad happening.
Click to expand...
 
To answer some other questions I use the woodpen pro from start to finish. I even turned the blade to a fresh edge before starting. Also I prefer CA over Epoxy. I have some, but don't use it much. That is just my preference. Normally the tube coming out on me doesn't phase me at all and I fit it right up, but that was the last straw that day hehehe.

I am feeling good vibes for turning this weekend. Sometimes it just helps to speak out about my short comings and my challenges. Thanks for letting me bend everyone's ear and telling me mostly how you can relate. Hope everyone has an awesome weekend!

:bananen_smilies046:

Just to clarify, because someone mentioned it, no I did not break or even think about breaking my skew. 1 PR blank and my cutter head for the pen mill, were damaged during my fit of rage. LOL. Sorry if it sounded like I broke the skew.
 
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