Woodturning Magazine #184/Feb

[Scrums]

Mrs Scrums bought me the previous issue as a stocking filler at Christmas. I thought it was quite good and waited in anticipation for the next issue......Oh dear....

Am I missing something here, it's all 'arty' stuff - (back to the Art v. Craft debate in a way !) In my opinion the most interesting things in it are the adverts. I won't be bothering again I'm afraid.

Chris.

 

[Old Dave]

I find the previous comment on Issue 184 a bit surprising.

I get the impression that "arty" is not something to aspire to!!!!

The issued featured :

a) a rectangular bowl - hardly "arty"
b) a stacking tower box - hardly "arty"
c) a basic bowl from a cored log - hardly "arty"
d) an article on how to salvage a cracked rough turned bowl ( something most of us have suffered) to produce an attractive and functional bowl - hardly "arty"
e) an article on producing a simple bowl and applying Piercing and Colour - hardly groundbreakingly "arty"
f) an article showing the production of a standard bowl form with then information on decorating the rim - again hardly "arty"


I want the magazine to show me turnings that are outside of my "comfort zone" and well as straightforward functional / practical turnings.

The art / craft debate is irrelevant. It is not a mutually exclusive choice between one or the other. There is room for both, and I for one wish to see and enjoy both.

 

[Anonymous]

...
The art / craft debate is irrelevant. It is not a mutually exclusive choice between one or the other. There is room for both, and I for one wish to see and enjoy both.

Time to drag out me old wine analogy:

If you like it......................... it's a good'un :wink:

 

[duncanh]

My enjoyment of the magazine does tend to vary a lot from issue to issue and at first I thought that I wouldn't get much from the current one. I then re-read it and realised that even if I don't like the final result in the projects that they present there is at least one thing that I would take from each.

Obviously it's all down to personal preference in the end, but for me...

the 'Object of Art' project on page 29 is art in title only. I don't like the blue paint on the finished piece so stopping at step 17, for me, would have produced a perfectly acceptable turning. I'm not exactly a beginner but I've never really tackled this type of project so I found several useful suggestions in the article.

I strongly dislike the final result of Nick Agar's article from page 36 (as has sometimes been the case for other final turnings in his series), but for me the whole series that he's presented has not been about trying to produce the same final result as him, but maybe taking one or two of the techniques that he presents and trying them for yourself. This month the final result has too many techniques applied, but just applying the lines and perhaps using the dremel would have been enough.

Tracey Owens's stacking box in pretty traditional turning with no real artistic embellishments added.

The Gabor Lacko/Patricia Spero collaboration project - the final, coloured pieces are not my cup of tea at all and I'm not too keen on the piercing or decoration as there is too much of it. If I had turning in a bland wood then I may try a small amount of piercing - I like the butterfly design that they use but again, it's over-done

The final result of the artistic turning on page 73 is perhaps not to my liking but the technique shown isn't one that I'd considered in the past to cope with splits. Having seen it I would feel happy to try something similar, or maybe I'll apply the same technique even without splits.

Out of interest Chris, what would you rather see in the magazine that would make you buy it?

Duncan

 

[Scrums]

Sorry to annoy you Dave - purely personal opinions, you don't write for them do you?

Duncan: well, in the previous issue 'Nick Arnull turns part-seasoned wood' was trailed as being a highlight of this issue.....there's a jumble of photos there, not much detail about anything in particular and suddenly he's using a 'bowl saver' (£145 + ?) ....that's a lot of blanks and a large lathe to use it.

I've said this before somewhere......'new' turners will buy mags like this - looking for something to help them overcome the pitfalls we all faced when starting out, there's not much encouragement to be gained for them here.

As for Gabor Lacko/Patricia Spero why didn't they just stop at stage 7/page 57.....nice looking bowl !

I suppose I'm just a traditionalist - I don't like fiddly bits, I only use local English timbers and I will not stain anything.

One day I'll post some piccies.

Chris

 

[PowerTool]

Chris - I agree wholeheartedly on the issue of fiddly bits,local timbers,and stains!
However,I still (mostly) enjoy reading all the articles - I by far prefer the functional to the arty,but I think this makes it interesting to read articles on things that,at this stage,I have no intention of doing (piercing/staining etc.) - I don't mind learning and understanding a little more.Some of the pieces in there are still inspirational,and give me ideas to try out.
After trying a lot of different timbers,both native and exotic,a nicely shaped,unstained,undecorated ash/oak/elm/sycamore/beech bowl will always be a thing of beauty - don't mind the odd bead or groove for highlights,but prefer to be able to see the timber for what it is.

And Simon Whitehead's articles always make me smile - they always manage to bring things back down to a level I can relate to.. :wink:

Andrew

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Chris,

I've got to agree with you about the bowl saver. Confused/annoyed me a little as well.

There does seem to be this obsession with woodturning art at the moment. It's as if calling it 'art' will save it from doom! Today I read that some nutter wants to get software engineers to study art at university as well. Didn't realise my industry was doomed as well.

As with all mags some issues are good and some are bad.

Dave

 

[duncanh]

I subscribe to the mag so I never really bother looking at the back page with what's coming next issue, and I don't see it as highlights.

In the Nick Arnull article - if you ignore the use of the bowl saver you are still given enough information on how to rough turn bowls to a suggested thickness and how to store them in newspaper. You are also shown how to rough turn boxes. As it is the article is relevant to those that have bowl savers and those that don't. Perhaps he should have mentioned that it's possible to bowl save using a strong parting tool, but this has been covered by Tracey Owen ( I think) within the last year.

Over the previous 11 issues there was a series of articles by Reg Sherwin aimed at the complete beginner. This started at lathe and tool choice and then continued with lessons on pretty much everything needed for spindle turning.

I must admit that I've often thought that they should have one project for beginners in each issue (using their own 1/2/3 difficulty rating system). There still has to be something for everyone and for all tastes but they only have so much space. All the techniques required to turn a bowl cannot be fit into a single 3 page article and a beginner will always be better reading the Rowley book

If you feel so strongly about it I'm sure they'd love to hear your suggestions.
Once again - what would you like to see in the magazine?

Andrew - showing that they can't please everyone - I don't like the Simon Whitehead articles but I know from here that several people do.

Duncan

 

[Mark Hancock]

Mrs Scrums bought me the previous issue as a stocking filler at Christmas. I thought it was quite good and waited in anticipation for the next issue......Oh dear....

Am I missing something here, it's all 'arty' stuff - (back to the Art v. Craft debate in a way !) In my opinion the most interesting things in it are the adverts. I won't be bothering again I'm afraid.

Chris.

I took another look at this issue after reading your comments and all I can say is I don't think you took the time to read the magazine fully. You only have to compare Nick Arnull's and Nick Agar's articles to find different approaches to turning a basic bowl. They explain different methods of attaching blanks to the lathe and different tools used with different grinds.

You can ignore the final stages of enhancement used by Nick Agar if it's not your cup of tea (1 page out of 5)