Walnut Bowl Problems/Predestination

9/20/04, 1:37 AM #1

Barry Turner
Guest

Walnut Bowl Problems/Predestination

Barry Turner

>Does anyone believe in predestination as it relates to wood? Have

you ever considered that some bowl blanks may be predestined to be just firewood

while others may be headed for galleries? And it's our job as turners to figure out which is which?

You see, I have this nice Black Walnut bowl blank which I thought was absolutely

certain to become a nice walnut bowl and end up in a high-class gallery or at least a

craft shop. Well, it seems I don't know much about predestination, for it

seems in spite of my best efforts, this Black Walnut blank is hurtling

through time and space towards someone's fireplace.

Last week, I posted about problems I was having getting a smooth cut on the

outside of my bowl. Tonight, I was hollowing the inside and got a catch. The 2" foot

ripped right off the bowl and it went sailing across the shop. I glued the

foot back on and will try yet again to help this bowl reach its final destination in a

gallery/craft shop. Or, should I just fast-forward a few hours, accept fate for what it is

and toss this blank back into the firewood pile from which it came?

After all, who am I to tamper with destiny?

Barry

Re: Walnut Bowl Problems/Predestination

9/20/04, 2:18 AM #2

john lucas
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20,176 posts

Registered: 1/1/04

Re: Walnut Bowl Problems/Predestination

John Lucas

>Now you tell me. I'm sure I've probably burned several thousand dollar vessels. That must be why some people think my pieces are firewood. I put the wrong ones in the stove.

Re: Walnut Bowl Problems/Predestination

9/20/04, 3:05 AM #3

Barry Turner
Guest

Re: Walnut Bowl Problems/Predestination

Barry Turner

>Seriously, I think some pieces of wood are just determined not to work out.........no matter what we do or how hard we try. Now, if we just knew beforehand which pieces they are..........we could just skip 'em and save ourselves a whole bunch of frustration.

Re: Walnut Bowl Problems/Predestination

9/20/04, 3:47 PM #4

Tom in Red Deer
Guest

Re: Walnut Bowl Problems/Predestination

Tom in Red Deer

>Very interesting subject and one I have discussed with other people.

I am convinced that a piece of wood knows what IT WANTS to be and no amount of fiddling on our part will change that.

I was at a show this past weekend and many of the pieces I sold were ones that altered their shape from what I wanted.

Sometimes it would be because of a catch or a small chunk coming out or even a small knot in the wrong place. Sometimes a small flaw required more sanding and ended up in just a subtle change. Anyway,in almost all cases I was happier with the results than with my original idea.

So were my customers.

Tom in Red Deer

Walnut Bowl Problems/Predestination

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