The subject of this blog is going to be sharing. While some may hoard all the wood and other materials they acquire, there are advantages to sharing. Yes, we all know that person who if offered something will never reciprocate. It will not take very long to figure out which of your old and new friends who will be more than willing to share with you as much if not more of treasure.

A few years ago a friend called to inform me that he had a very old apple tree that he had to cut down. Dave is not a woodturner but he thought I might have use for some of the wood even if it would only be to burn it in my wood stove. As a thank you, I turned Dave a pen using his apple wood. Two years ago another friend had a very large pear tree come down in a storm and she wondered if the wood might be good for woodturning. For this friend I turned a miniature bird house. Yet another friend needed to cut down a black walnut tree and wanted to give me some of that wood. For him I made a pen and pencil set. Another friend is a member of a woodcarving group that auctions off pieces of wood as a fund raiser for their club. There have been neighbors that ask if I would like some of their trees that they are having removed. One neighbor in particular asked if I would like some ‘lumps’ that were growing on her trees. She did not know the correct name was burl but when I turned a miniature birdhouse using one of her ‘lumps’, it gave me a chance to explain and actually show her how unique the grain is within a burl.

By making something on the lathe to give to the person using their own wood has sparked others to offer me more wood. There are always going to be the people that as the joke goes; ‘have streets named after them – One Way’, but if you share your bounty with others, the typical friend will want to share some of their bounty with you. If you give some friends each a block of wood you may be amazed at what they ultimately make from that wood. You might envision a bowl while they would make a pair of goblets or they may make a platter.

Another way of sharing is giving of your knowledge. One turning friend has always had problems using a skew. When we were discussing how I use a skew, I realized they had not sharpened the edge correctly. I mentioned the Mike Darlow sharpening guides that allow you to get the edge back to a known angle. Once she got a good edge on her skew she has been very happy with her turning results.

A while ago another friend called me to say they had a problem with turning blanks coming off of their lathe! They wanted to come to my shop to see how I attached the wood. As they only live a few miles away I told them I would stop over and see how they were attaching the wood to the lathe. After they had turned the outside of a bowl using a wormwood screw, they reversed the wood and mounted it in a standard four jaw chuck. Before they turned the lathe ON again and while they were reaching for a tool, I just hit the wood with my palm. The turning blank fell off of the lathe! The issue was the person did not have the strength to tighten the jaws properly. This was remedied by swapping the standard ‘T’ handle chuck wrench for an ‘L’ shaped Allen wrench. Now they are able to tighten the jaws properly plus they now nudge the wood with the palm of their hand to check that it is securely attached to the chuck.