Richard Raffan on his career as a woodturner
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ต.ค. 2024
- This was a Zoom session in March 2023 for three Chapters of the American Association of Woodturners (AAW) who asked me to talk about my life turning wood. First you get an hour of slides as I talk about my career as a turner. Then there is question time.
Richard, I have said it before and will say it again, you are a gift to woodturners around the world. Hidden in the creases of age are the joyful expressions of youth and the eagerness of creativity and talent. Your smile and chuckle convey your engagement with your art and with us, your viewers. I am looking forward to the next TH-cam video. Thank you.
Thank you for sharing your professionell experience.
Excellent video
I met Richard in Tennessee in 2006 or7 - actually was his driver from Croosville, TN to Nashville, TN. It was an interesting drive time conversation.A true gentleman
This video reaffirms to me how the joy of turning keeps you young.
My first meeting with an accomplished woodturner was with Rudy Olsonik. He was into his 80s and the joy on his face was addictive. I was in my mid thirties 😢and was searching for something beyond my life working. So I took up woodturning and still love it forty years later.
I loved this video. Richard is an inspiration for all of us 😊.
Thank you Richard.
Richard Raffan was teaching week-long seminars in Utah in the 1980s. I signed up, and it was the most instructive, informative, and demanding week I have had since I was in basic training in the Army in 1969. Richard's instructions and teaching style had all of us refining our skills and pushing our boundaries. The big takeaways for me? I learned to quickly sharpen my skew and gouges, hold the tool, allow the wood to come to the edge, and how use my whole body when turning. Also, Richard informed me that that I was skipping steps in my sequences of turning. I always keep a sequence chart in front of me when I do lidded boxes (That is my quirk, lol.). Thank you, Richard, for this history. A sense a new craft revival is on its way. Making shavings on a lathe beats time on those I-Phones
Interesting to hear how Richard got started and evolved methods and styles to follow demand and make demand. Such a beautiful range of designs. I’m born in ‘64. Though I’ve not done much turning since my youth it remains my favorite medium for woodworking. I’ve fondly watched the evolution of the sport from such utilitarian to more artful designs. Now that I’m retired I look forward to getting in on my share of the fun once again.
I really enjoyed your reflections on a lifetime of turning.
Thanks for you very storied history Richard. I have been a follower for since the late 1970s.I bought my first wood turning book in the early 1980s and it was one of yours.
What a brilliant story about your life has a great wood Turner And you make it so easy for people to learn your craft, by explaining everything you do, making it easy to follow for a new wood turners keep it up you are doing a wonderful job 👍
In my opinion Richard Raffan is an inspiration and an amazing turner of all types of timber. Someone on one of his various videos said that he was tight as in money 💰 to me it's very professional to make the most of all types of timber
I don't like to squander any resources and see no point in buying tools I don't need, especially when I can't justify the expense.
You are amazing
A brilliant presentation of a life in turning, thank you Richard
Thank you for sharing Richard. Wonderful to hear your journey and how you navigated the ins and outs of your career.
1:21:13 I love the '80 is an age,etc.' banner or bag since I an about a month away. Been turning for @ 8 months with Illiana Woodturners and love it.
Thank you for uploading this.
Thank you for this. Im a hobby turner of 3 years, started middle aged. Trying to get to the next step of selling some work. This is a very helpful video I will watch more than once!
This could have gone on for another couple of hours and I'd still have watched it all before breakfast.
Enjoyed your presentation. Thanks for sharing your work. Have 3 of your books and have learned more from you and learn more everytime I watch your videos. Thanks again and take care
Richard, thanks for sharing your journey and thoughts. This has been a great watch.
Take care
Cheers
Harold
This was quite enjoyable and very informative. Makes me regret that I did not get into turning when you were doing your live demonstrations and motivates me to make sure I watch all of your TH-cam videos. Your comment early in the session regarding Jarrah was quite interesting to me. I got into doing flatwork as a hobby in roughly 1993, building furniture for our home because I found the commercially available furniture expensive and of dubious quality. At the time, I became active in one of the old Usenet newsgroups dedicated to woodworking. We had a gentleman from Australia in that group who had taken to using Jarrah in his furniture and was exporting some of the raw wood to the US for other furniture makers. I found your woodturner's perspective on that time period quite interesting.
I like to think most of my videos are very similar to my symposium demos in that as work proceeds I try to articulate what's going through my mind pertaining to the job in hand.
That was a very good presentstion. So informative, engaging and encouraging. Thank you mr. Raffan for sharing your experiences. It is very valueable for us, who want to follow in your steps.
Very interesting. What a career, which isn't over yet. Thank you for sharing. Have a great day and stay safe.🙂🙂
Thanks for sharing your journey with others! A great and inspiring video 😊
Wow, such a great life... thank you for sharing this Mr. Raffan!
Thanks Richard and AAW for having done this with you
Thank the clubs rather than the AAW, and particularly Doug Pixac who organised it all.
Fair enough, Thanks Mr Pixac and all the clubs that participated in this outstanding program. I’m 65 and have been turning only a few years but your videos have helped and entertained me immensely.
Thank you very much Richard for this insight into your career. I have had your books and videos since I made my first steps in turning and am still going through your you tube videos. Here's wishing you many more years at the craft!
Richard, this was so interesting, you have had a great run and I dear say you had to work hard to achieve what you have done. Fantastic stuff well done
Legend!
Not much else to say but thank you. 😊
Richard, thanks for sharing. A year ago or so I listened to another interview that covered some of this but this is a broader view. I am new to turning although I did do some in High School (54 years ago) that was nothing compared to now and my shop teacher had a much more rudimentary knowledge of turning I'm sure.
I want one of those shirts! :)
Tank you very very much!!!
This is a timely presentation, I hope many more viewers watch this, it is always nice to know how one maybe got started in a particular speciality craft and the success it has been. As an aside, what musical instrument do you play? guitar perhaps, flute? looking at the height of your music stand. My main instrument is basically wood (clarinet) but others have crept in during the years, some made of silver, some brass some wood with strings. My instruments are mere decorations these days to remind me of the fun years in another interest.
I usually sit to play my flute.
@@RichardRaffanwoodturning As well as the standard concert flute I have an alto flute, which is much bigger, lovely sound, used to play all three instruments for different parts, in the concert band/s I have played in over the years, as a consequence my thumb joints are bent outwards, which now makes holding a pen and writing rather difficult. Had a great time during my years in Adelaide belonging to the various guitar, flute and clarinet groups, orchestra's etc. Adelaide had a wealth of music choices that covered all my interests-great city for music and art, loved many trips to the Flinders ranges, and attempting to paint those fantastic colours. One lifetime is just not enough I have found. Enjoyed your presentation, I like the historical aspects of what was available-(not available), the same when I started astronomy,one had first to build a decent telescope, nothing available like there is today, and I think people are missing out on so many skills one aquires as the journey/s progress. Greetings from the 'Southern Cross Observatory-Tasmania 42 South
Thank you for posting this Richard. What a fascinating look into the career of a production turner. I loved the bag hanging behind your head in the office shots. Do you do this IRD for clubs?
I envisaged this as a one-off with thanks to the clubs that paid for it being generous enough to let me publish here for anyone to see. I also respond to a lot of common questions in the Lancaster Coffee Hour video th-cam.com/video/p0QCsV7oNm8/w-d-xo.html. The short answer is no, this is not something I do regularly for clubs, but I'd consider it. www.richardraffan.com.au/contact/
Thank you so much for this entertaining story Richard. I was thinking I needed a negative rake scraper when I heard you say (on YT) that you do not have any. 😎 Mine are ground to about 60-70 degrees. Are yours really at 45 as I understood from your elaboration?
Just about all my tools apart from spindle detail gouges are 45°.
Good sir,
As with hundreds of others, you and your work are an inspiration and you are very much valued as a "remote mentor".
I am incredibly curious to know, however, what is it about finials that American (of course it would be Americans... and I can comfortably say this, being one myself) insurance companies that creates heartburn over finials? Do they actually ask whether your work has any "pointy bits"? Are we all just supposed to make bowling balls?
It was c.1976 that British insurers refused to provide third party manufacturers liability for boxes with finials going to America. They feared a massive payout should a child might break free a finial, swallow it, and choke to death. And that's partly why my boxes don't have finials.
What is the sheet music there? Is it for a wind instrument?
I play the flute ineptly and slowly. No attempt at bird imitations.
@@RichardRaffanwoodturning :) that's a nice talent to have! I love music, but as I was a teenager, my grandma got me an accordion and when I felt the weight of it, I grabbed paper and pencils and went straight to the art school 😂
Anyhow, the music piece you have there, seems very coloratura---lots of notes.
Question for Mr. Raffan;
Sir, when turning green wood (cut within the past few weeks or months), if the goal is the distorted rim, how do you prevent the wood from cracking while the finished piece dries & distorts?
Generally bowls turned green will distort rather than split provided the blanks are free of splits. These Japanese maple bowls are typical: th-cam.com/video/mxtQ36w0Epo/w-d-xo.html and th-cam.com/video/mxtQ36w0Epo/w-d-xo.html. Careful preparation of the blanks is essential and I've a number of videos on cutting blanks.
You've aged very well. I had no idea you were born in '43!
Still a young fellow then.
Cynthia Brackin
One question that was not asked, "Have you seen a resurgence of interest in Richard Raffan Art since you started your new videos on TH-cam?" What is that impact?
And where are you headed next in your career, both professionally and artistically?
Yahoo!
Something to fill your evening Burnley.
Enjoyed it! What an interesting life in turning you have had… and continue to have.
Chuck rebates are even worse than screw holes I'd say
At least you can disguise a rebate with decoration. Most rebates are far deeper than they need to be and consequently compromise the balance of a bowl.
@@RichardRaffanwoodturning Yes i think the depth of them is more the problem, you're right. having seen some of the thin lips you seem to be able to chuck to, I can't see any reason for the big 'holes' in the bottom that use to be ubiquitous back in the 80s. I've not done turning for a long while, I need to catch up with these new options! I also must say I'm in awe of how you've monitised your passion for so many years.
@@duncanh3466 Not so much a passion at first because I was never a hobby turner and knew nothing about the craft when I took it up for a living. It was sink or swim and fortunately there weren't many turners around in 1970 when I started.
I f you price it like that you're eating the cost of electricity, degradations of the tools, lathe and the grinding, the cost of the space you're using, the cost of the finishes and sand paper