subject: A Word on Woodturning Waste from The ToolPost [print this page] One of the UK's premier suppliers of woodcarving and woodturning tools The ToolPost urges its customers (http://www.toolpost.co.uk/), and indeed all woodcraftsmen and women, to think outside the box when approaching the common challenges they will come across when woodcarving or woodturning. Working with wood creates some unavoidable waste, but that's no excuse for a turner or carver to become a wastrel. Throwing money at problems never solves them, as Peter Hemsley, proprietor of The ToolPost, explained in a piece originally published in Woodturning magazine.
Given that Peter Hemsley is the owner of one the leading suppliers of woodturning and woodcarving tools, it's surprising how often he advises people against purchasing tools! It's not that he doesn't believe in the quality of his stock, or denies the fact that the tools he sells are highly useful; it's because there are some occasions when they are simply not required. As Hemsley himself puts it, "Supplying tools is my living but I was brought up in an age and family where waste was abhorred and was anyway not affordable. Hence I simply can't help myself when a customer asks for a non-essential' tool where, to me, there's an obvious work-around. It seems that today we so readily use our wallets instead of our imagination."
Hemsley elaborates his point with a tale from his very own shop: "I have a regular client, retired and careful with his spending. One day he waltzed into the shop and requested a hollowing gouge'. We had a chat to clarify exactly what he meant and it turned out he wanted to take the innards out of an egg-cup. I reminded him that I had recently sold him a perfectly adequate spindle gouge that would do the job very simply. I took him to the woodturning lathe and showed him how to use a standard spindle gouge for this operation. I got him to have a go, until he was hollowing like a good un. He stepped back proudly from the lathe, brushed off the shavings - and asked again for a hollowing gouge because that was what the article he had read had told him he needed to use. I picked myself up from the floor, showed him the range of hollowing gouges and let him spend a little of his hard-saved cash. He went off happy but left me pondering words like lead', horse', water' and drink'."
Hemsley believes that it's not just timber that can be wasted in the pursuit of the art of woodturning and carving, but the mighty dollar a refreshing viewpoint from a retailer! As he puts it, "Think of the elation of working out for yourself how to overcome a problem' (a.k.a. challenge'). My advice is to use your head before reaching for your wallet. Solutions are devised in the mind, not in the bank. But if you do need tools, I'll be only too happy to see you!"
You can read the full version of the original article here: http://www.toolpost.co.uk/pages/News/Think/think.html. To browse the woodturning and carving tools which really are essential, go to http://www.toolpost.co.uk/.
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