Overcoming Extended Breaks

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egnald

egnald

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Joined
Jun 9, 2017
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Columbus, Nebraska, USA
Hello Community,

Two or three months ago I under turned a Sonoran Desert Ironwood cabochon intended as the finial insert on one of Smitty's Pen Works Caballero kits from Ed at Exotic Blanks. The CA finnish chipped off on one side when I snapped the cabochon into the finial. I decided to turn a new cabochon and already have a similar piece of Ironwood glued up and ready to turn.

However, ever since that fateful day, I have had the rest of the Ironwood chucked up and ready to turn, but just haven't been in the mood. I keep telling myself I just need to get on the lathe and finish this thing up so I can move forward, but so far it just hasn't happened yet.

Have any of you ever taken extended breaks from turning?

Regards,
Dave
 
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egnald said:
Hello Community,

Two or three months ago I under turned a Sonoran Desert Ironwood cabochon intended as the finial insert on one of Smitty's Pen Works Caballero kits from Ed at Exotic Blanks. The CA finnish chipped off on one side when I snapped the cabochon into the finial. I decided to turn a new cabochon and already have a similar piece of Ironwood glued up and ready to turn.

However, ever since that fateful day, I have had the rest of the Ironwood chucked up and ready to turn, but just haven't been in the mood. I keep telling myself I just need to get on the lathe and finish this thing up so I can move forward, but so far it just hasn't happened yet.

Have any of you ever taken extended breaks from turning?

Regards,
Dave
Click to expand...
Absolutely. I have and for many different reasons. Health, other projects, and just no drive or ambition.
 
Yup - and in the very recent past. Don't know why other than I found myself making stuff that just sits in a drawer, and it seemed pointless to just make more of that stuff.

Then, this past week, one of my wife's oldest friends (going back to first grade) visited, and noticed a scoop (https://www.penturners.org/threads/the-scoop.175054/) that I had turned a few months ago and wondered if I had made any more of them. I hadn't, but since she left I've made more. They are still going into that drawer, but I'm having fun perfecting the design and process.

I also started experimenting with a new food-safe finishing technique for utility kitchen items - pure Tung oil thinned in citrus solvent. The citrus solvent is totally colorless, unlike the turpentine that I had been using that was grayish and caused the Tung oil to cure to a slightly darker tone. So far, I like it, and it smells much nicer! I've also tried a commercial mineral oil-beeswax butcher block finish - that's OK, but it won't hold up as long as the Tung oil.

So far I've made four in this latest spurt of activity - three in cherry, and one in what I think is birch. After watching Richard Raffen's recent YouTube video on making scoops, I abandoned the idea of gluing a sacrificial scrap of timber on one side of the blank, and instead am making them symmertical about the axis of the handle, and then just sanding off one side to make the open portion of the scoop. The first was OK except that I thought that the handle was too short and the scoop too long. The second blew up as I was sanding off the top of the scoop - I made the inside slightly too large which meant that the wall was too thin, and it couldn't take the stress of power sanding. The third was OK except that there was a crack in the blank that I had reinforced with CA - the repair held, but it's visible. And then the fourth blank also had a crack that I repaired with CA, but that was OK because I knew I could make it disappear when I sanded away the top of the scoop. Except that I had a catch and created an even more obvious defect in the scoop that had to be sanded off. If I can ever make one without a defect, I'll stop! However, I doubt that anyone but me would actually see those defects.
 
For me shop time is how I relax and unwind. I had a order of a dozen pens commissioned for a friend of the Mrs. and it turned into work. I started to dread having to go to the shop or sometimes would say things like I have to finish x more today. I stopped doing commissions. Now I make what I want when I want. If someone likes something I already made enough to buy it I can sell it. It keeps my hobby safe.
 
I did my first craft show, and applied to a second one, a good holiday show in December. But was rejected (they already had too many wood turners). Wind went out of my sails and I figured it was too late to find another holiday show. I didn't even go into the workshop for a couple weeks.

Several people here shared some resources on how to find other shows, and I sent out three new applications. Right away, I was back in the scramble to complete the items I dreamed of having for the next show.
 
Hi Dave, I also take breaks from pens. I haven't posted anything in a while. I have other hobbies that I seem to rotate through. Now I am doing some leatherwork and before that it was woodcarving. All have the same cathartic effect so it really doesn't matter which one I do. Taking breaks is good and refreshes the mind and ideas when you come back.
Just enjoy it whatever it is.
 
I made pens for every person graduating a local high school. About 400 in a big year. At first I enjoyed the challenge and made them in batches of 50. After turning and finishing I had them all engraved with the persons name. After a bit over ten years, I decided that I was done making them. Told the principle that last year was going to end my production. After a couple graduations without them, I stopped hearing about them from locals. Time passes and things change. It was fun until it was not fun and then I needed another hobby. You might find more interest after a break.
 
egnald said:
Hello Community,

Two or three months ago I under turned a Sonoran Desert Ironwood cabochon intended as the finial insert on one of Smitty's Pen Works Caballero kits from Ed at Exotic Blanks. The CA finnish chipped off on one side when I snapped the cabochon into the finial. I decided to turn a new cabochon and already have a similar piece of Ironwood glued up and ready to turn.

However, ever since that fateful day, I have had the rest of the Ironwood chucked up and ready to turn, but just haven't been in the mood. I keep telling myself I just need to get on the lathe and finish this thing up so I can move forward, but so far it just hasn't happened yet.

Have any of you ever taken extended breaks from turning?

Regards,
Dave
Click to expand...
I'm in one of those breaks now kind of a turning funk... mine was more or less the result of a medical issue, after I had the problem with the internal bleeding in my left leg, the leg was not as strong as the other so I took the month of June off from turning, that ran into July and then August.... I need to get motivated again and get back into the shop.... I have half a dozen bowl blanks on face plates and ready to turn, just not so inclined right now.
I taken a few half hearted attempts to start again, just can't get enthused.... also my jointer slipped a belt in July on one of those half hearted attempts, and it's a project to repair that I haven't started yet.... I took this year off from selling at craft shows, but thinking about going back next year as missing the income....
 
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