Читать книгу Ellsworth on Woodturning - David Ellsworth - Страница 41

Ergonomics plays an important role in designing turning tools, especially for handles. I’ve been using oval handles on my larger hollowing tools since the early 1980s, when I got into making larger tools to turn larger forms. I realized I was overgripping the back of the handles on my round-handled tools, and my right hand was really throbbing. I’d wake up at night and my whole forearm felt like pins and needles. What to do?

I remembered a time when I was making handles for ceramic pots back in the early 1970s. As I was pulling the clay handles, they naturally became oval in cross section and fit my hand beautifully. Then, I remembered the old oval wooden screwdriver handles, and how much force they provided when screwing those dreadful slotted screws. Imagine trying to frame a house with a round hammer handle. You wouldn’t last half an hour before the hammer would start slipping in your hand. Oval is in. Our hands aren’t designed to hold perfectly round objects, so why should our tool handles be round? The answer is that round handles are easy to fabricate.

“Often, homemade tools are ugly as hell, but when you first put them to the wood, it’s like walking through cheesecake with a hot chainsaw.”