How do you determine the quality of turned work ?

[The Bowler Hatted Turner]

As the title suggests, how do you determine the quality of turned work? is it the design or the finish or off lathe enhancement? The type of timber used or the turning method? Tell me your thoughts.

[GBF]

Form and finish John

Regards George

[Wood spinner]

A lot depends on what you are turning

Is it ornamental , Colouring project ,Pierced , Functional , All in my opinion require a different approach and Finish

[Les Symonds]

When I studied 'Three Dimensional Studies' many moons ago as a part of my teaching certificate, we were always taught that there are three essential criteria to determine good design quality, and those criteria are...

• Harmonious appearance
• Suitability of materials
• Appropriate methods of construction/manufacture

...and we were taught that these design criteria can be used to ensure, or to assess quality in everything that we make.

The first item in the list sits perfectly with what George has just said about 'Form', and the second and third items ensure the 'Good finish' that he mentioned.
Les

[bodrighywood]

Basically agree with George and Les. A perfectly turned, finished piece can be ruined by bad form and a beautiful form can be ruined by bad finish or workmanship.
Pete

[seventhdevil]

surely it's all a matter of perspective and the eye of the beholder seeing the beauty/quality in the artefact under observation?

i saw a program about christie's auction house a couple of nights ago and in my opinion the contemporary stuff being put under the hammer was absolute crap of the highest order and some of it looked like a child's tantrum created it, BUT, it was selling for hundreds of thousands if not in the low millions, so who is to say what is quality and what is not?

[bodrighywood]

surely it's all a matter of perspective and the eye of the beholder seeing the beauty/quality in the artefact under observation?

i saw a program about christie's auction house a couple of nights ago and in my opinion the contemporary stuff being put under the hammer was absolute crap of the highest order and some of it looked like a child's tantrum created it, BUT, it was selling for hundreds of thousands if not in the low millions, so who is to say what is quality and what is not?

Emperors new clothes?

Pete

[Les Symonds]

surely it's all a matter of perspective and the eye of the beholder seeing the beauty/quality in the artefact under observation?

i saw a program about christie's auction house a couple of nights ago and in my opinion the contemporary stuff being put under the hammer was absolute crap of the highest order and some of it looked like a child's tantrum created it, BUT, it was selling for hundreds of thousands if not in the low millions, so who is to say what is quality and what is not?

Emperors new clothes?

Pete

Abso-bloody-lutely, Pete....just 'cos some rich fat-cat chooses to lash out a fortune on a piece, it doesn't make it a piece of good quality. There's a world of difference between what is artistically (and faddishly) popular, and what is good quality.
Les

[edbanger]

Design and Finish I have to agree with the others a good piece of work is pleasing to the eye and the finish must be spot on.

Ed

[Derek]

I agree design and finish. Having said that the design depends on the personal taste of who is looking at a piece many may like the design others not

[Bryan Milham]

While not disagreeing with any of the above answers. It does depend upon the purpose of the work.

Decorative work needs to be form and finish.

Replacement parts for antiques etc., need to match the rest of the piece, so if its a bit worn, a new knob, highly polished would look wrong.

Replacement 'Second Fit' parts for a house (e.g. stair banisters) must match the others to the eye, but probably need only sanding to 180 grit, to leave a tooth for the paint to adhere.

[bodrighywood]

How often do we see a piece (perhaps something we have made ourselves) and whilst the workmanship, quality etc is really excellent it leaves us cold simply because the design etc is not right. It isn't always easy to say what's wrong either. Like many I have a shelf of things that I have done that I am happy with the finish but for some reason they just don't look right. I agree to a certain extent that beauty is in the eye of the beholder but one thing I have noticed with wood turners is that often they look at the quality of the workmanshkip but perhaps don't look at the ovrall effect. I am as guilty as anyone and have learned that there are basic rules that aply no matter what your taste is. If a piece doesn't follow those rules then it is unlikely to be pleasing. Having said that Brians comments are also applicable. I remember talking to a turner who specialised in restioration and he had to replace the spindles on an old staircase. When he checked it out he realised that each one was different as they went up the stairs, instrad of a simple job of producinmg a number of identical spindles he had to make each one different to match the originals.
Pete

[Bryan Milham]

When he checked it out he realised that each one was different as they went up the stairs, instrad of a simple job of producinmg a number of identical spindles he had to make each one different to match the originals.

Pete

Not sure I'd want to take on that job.

[bodrighywood]

Replicating old stuff can be a different ball game. I had some roof newels to do and they brought the originals in for me to copy. Three different sizes, all over a 100 years old, made of pine with heaven knows how many layers of paint on them. They fell apart as they were handled. Held together with the paint. Quality and aesthetic design were the last thing on my mind initially LOL. Fortunately managed to get a decent job done to the customers satisfaction but certainly not something I would look to do deliberately again.
Pete

[The Bowler Hatted Turner]

Thanks for all the replies, a topic worth posting methinks.Everyone is sort of in agreement talking about form and finish. One thing that differentiates our work from that of a copy lathe is the crispness of the finished article but more stair spindles are sold that are turned on a copy lathe than those that have been hand turned, So replacement spindles apart does this now mean that customers in the UK now are unaware of what quality turning (or anything really)is? Have standards slipped over the years and if so how can we raise standards in woodturning?