I wonder how many of you agree that:-
Charles Darwin had a suitable beard, intelect and dress sense to have been an active member of this forum?
He might have bored some of us rigid with his waffle about finch's beaks and the sailing qualities of a beagle?
We would still have made him welcome, in spite of his well documented habit of opening paint tins with a skew?
He would have made a far better job, than I, of writing up the following addendum to his work, 'The Origins of Species'?
It took me all of two and a bit lockdowns to realise that there are, in fact, two distinct species of modern day woodturner. They seem to have split from a common(as muck!) ancestor 'Woody Bodgacticus' sometime during the cantancorous period. The two surviving species look very similar and inhabit the same kind of habitat but have never been known to interbreed. They sometimes appear to share mancaves and, while frustrations between the two have been noted there are no reports of visible aggression.
The first, and probably most numerous, species is 'Woody Perfectacus'. This creature is rarely observed without an immaculate drawing, either carefully drawn by himself or lifted from a well respected publication. He stacks his, usually storebought, blanks in neat heaps, carefully tabulated by species, rather than size, and, when actually making shavings, employs engineer's methods and measuring instruments. After much, intricately documented, observation it is now well accepted, in most circles anyway, that he/she apparently, considers absolute precision to be the main, or only, measure of success.
The second, lesser, species is 'Woody Seatofpantsii' There appears to be far fewer in the wild and it has been thought that the species, as a whole, might be on the verge of extinction.
This beast makes similar shavings to 'Perfectacus' but works in totally chaotic surroundings, measures almost nothing and relies on his sharper eye for proportion. To him the 'appearance' of any piece is the only thing that matters. He often starts with no idea whatsoever what he is about to make. He wanders, apparently aimlessly, around his untidy wood pile until a mental connection is made, for no apparent reason, with a blank or log of unknown species or condition. He then starts the conversion process with, apparently, no end result in mind, letting the wood have at least as much influence, as himself, over the final artifact. Because of his lack of pencil sharpening 'Seatofpantsii' tends to have a more time effecient method of working (not counting the inordinate time he spends looking for lost stuff among the knee-deep shavings!) and spends more time actually turning. But, with his habit of choosing less than perfect blanks in the first place, lands up with a similar number of useful finished pieces as 'Perfectacus'. But, of course, he always has a much larger and more attractive firewood pile for his mate to admire. This leads to more regular matings. Is this why 'Seatofpantsii' has a more smiley countenance?
Before forwarding this addendum to David Attenborough, The Royal Society and my publishers I would like to extend an invitation to my peers for their thoughts and reviews?
Stay safe
Brian
PS
Which species are you?
?