>I've always dated my turnings, for the main reason of just letting myself know when I made it, however over the past 9 months or so, I've started to not date them. It dawned on me that perhaps someone might wonder why nobody has bought this or that bowl that is dated 2002 or 2003 yet?....they might think "must be something wrong with it"? What are your thoughts? I mean lets just that I become some wildly famous woodturner known in every far corner of the globe....and in 2070 a turning of mine turns up with the date of 2003 Dremel engraved into the bottom of it...it might actually be worth something?
I've been wondering the same thing. Because I work so much sometimes there is a lot of time between major projects. That means if I have a show there will be pieces with as much as 5 years apart. I turn a lot of pieces inbetween but it's production work and I don't mind dating that stuff.
>Yup. Just the last two digits of the year. It might mean the year, the number in a series, or something else. But it is the year, and if nobody else knows it, I do.
>I am not that prolific as a turner, but I do date most of the pieces that I do. I have had some misgivings, as you have, about dating work and making it appear..........dated.
I think it is beneficial to the craftsman to know when a piece was made, but I doubt there are many benefits for the customer.
If archeologists in the future need to know the age of our pieces, they can always use carbon dating........Barry
>Sorry Barry, radio carbon dating doesn't work for current time frames ever since the nuclear age started screwing up the amounts of radio carbon taken up by living things. They may eventually figure it out but don't count on it. About 1955 is time 0 for RC dating. Even the last couple hundred years really doesn't work well.
>Mike, using just the last two digits means that in "Antiques Roadshow" in, let's say, 2433 the experts might have a hard time pinpointing the century.
Sorry, I just couldn't resist! I actually do sign and date all of my work for the reasons others have mentioned, so I know when I made it and can see how I am progressed. I also sign and date all of my furniture pieces as well.
One of the "big" turners, maybe Rude Oslnik or one of the other godfathers of turning didn't date his work, he numbered them sequentially. knew when it was made, but the buyer didn't. It's an interesting thought and one I've considered adopting.
I look forward to what others have to say.
Good idea for a thread,
Mike
Flatwork is nearly done, bowl blanks are piling up in Apex, NC!!!
>If the date is slowing down the sale and you have a chance, you can say "Ah, I really liked that piece and kept it in my private collection a while, but it's time to let it go." Train the gallery to do the same thing.
Of course you could code them, 5 dots for O5 or something similar.
>I did year date my pieces but eventually decided I needed a better way of tracking various pieces so I created a log which records #, type of turning and size, type of wood, where it is and other things.
Everything made in a given year (ie 2005) will be numbered #05-15 or whatever is the next sequential number. If I choose to give that piece away I go into the log for that number, list it as a gift, when and to whom. Same if the piece is sold.
The biggest job about this was going back 5-7 years to number pieces that are still here and enter them into the appropriate log page. I also photograph each piece and file it in a photo file by year and number.
>Or you could just invent a number scheme that doesn't necessarily make the date obvious, and like Jim does, log them into a book so you can look up the date, finish, etc...
For tax purposes, any of us who sell in retail shops or craft shows probably ought to have a master log book of our turning inventory for CYA reasons...
If someone has a good system for keeping track of not only finished pieces ready to sell, but materials, wood purchased, etc..., that would be helpful to all. My accountant is pretty conservative, so if I spend $ 250.00 on real cool wood and burls at a symposium, he expects me to keep that on some sort of inventory until I actually sell it, and not simply write it off on the date of purchase. A real stickler will want to know that a given $350.00 piece was made from a piece of wood that cost me XXX... Maybe I just need a better accountant !
>Yes. I use the YearMonthDay-# method so a bowl dated today would be 50311-1. If I were to do a second bowl today it would be -2. This method is less obvious as a date to North Americans and being in Canada I am beseiged with both numerical Month/day/Year and Day/Month/Year dates which sometimes make knowing which is the day or month impossible so I like the above format.
I used to do the coin trick where you bore a 3/4" depression into the bottom of the piece with a Forstner bit and then glue in a current penny. Too much bother now and I don't like it as much as I did.
As far as dates go, the date I put on the bottom is the finished date. When I rough turn a piece I will write GT (for Green Turned) and the date as above on the bottom. I also make an entry in a log book for the piece with that number which will describe the wood if known, where I got it from, anything unusual or of interest like "sealed bark inclusion with CA". I then leave some extra space so I can continue with the notes when the bowl is finished. Takes a bit of discipline (which doesn't come easy for me) but I really find it valuable several months later.
>I looked at some of Raffin's pieces when he was here and they had the full year (i.e. 2001,2002). So I have been putting the date one mine. On limited edition pieces I also put a number x of y, which is the number made in that year. I set a target of only making that many before I start the run, and then get it out my system and go on to something else. I mainly do that on dyed jewlery boxes which I can stand to only make so many year. On some of the spindle work I do, I decided to add a sequenital number along with the date, just to keep track of how many total I have made when I get to the end of this journey. These are pieces that I typically will make in batches of 50-100.
Raffin said that he had collectors that would buy some of his pieces every year, so that is one way to increase sales. That would also give some collector a chance to say "and this is from Jennifer's early period and this one is from her later years, and this one is from her classical years"... and then go off into the development of form over time line..
>I dont date the piece but I do number everyone. And then I keep record of the numbers, discription of the piece with a picture and month and year it was made and when it was sold. Works good for me.
