If You Want to Be a Better Woodturner, Slow Down

In my early years as a woodturner, I thought getting better meant making more.

More bowls. More bottle stoppers. More ornaments. More stock for shops. More finished pieces on the bench. Faster and faster and then faster again.

That felt like progress at the time. If I was producing more, surely I was improving. If I could get through a batch of pieces quickly, surely that meant I was becoming more skilled.

Looking back now, I’m not so sure.

Turning a Bowl Slowly and Carefully. Good bevel contact and light pressure, allowing the wood to come onto the cutting edge rather than the woodturner forcing the tool. Fine shavings are evidence of unforced cutting.

The truth is, some of the pieces I made in those early years were not as good as they could have been. They were not necessarily bad. Most customers probably would not have noticed anything wrong with them. But I noticed. I knew when a curve could have been sweeter, when a foot could have been cleaner, or when a shape did not quite sit right.

At the time, I was often too busy moving on to the next piece to do anything about it.

This is also why I try to think about woodturning as a full process, not just the cutting stage. I covered that in more detail in My Process: How I Approach Woodturning From Log to Finished Piece.

When I Thought Speed Meant Progress

When I first started building the business side of my woodturning, I was looking at some of the best turners online and trying to understand what made them successful.

From the outside, it often looked like production was the answer.

They seemed to be turning out large numbers of bowls, bottle stoppers, ornaments, and other pieces. Their work looked polished, confident, and effortless. I thought that was what I should be aiming for too.

So I pushed myself.

I wanted to make more. I wanted to supply shops. I wanted to keep stock moving. I wanted to prove, probably to myself more than anyone else, that I could do this properly.

There is nothing wrong with working hard or building stock. In fact, those early years taught me an enormous amount. But there is a difference between productive practice and simply rushing.

At times, I was definitely rushing.

Trying to Match Glenn Lucas Was a Fool’s Quest

At one stage, I remember looking at Glenn Lucas's videos online and thinking I would love to be able to produce bowls at that kind of pace. He is an exceptional production turner, and the speed and consistency of his work are genuinely impressive. I thought it was possible to get to that level.

But looking back now, trying to chase that kind of output was a fool’s quest for me.

Not because there is anything wrong with production turning. There absolutely is not. The problem was that I was comparing myself to someone working at a completely different level, with a completely different rhythm, setup, experience, and purpose and 30 odd years of experience.

I was not Glenn Lucas. I was still learning my own way of working, still building my own shapes, and still trying to understand what made a piece look right. Trying to measure myself against that kind of output did not make me a better woodturner. If anything, it added pressure in the wrong place.

It took me a while to realise that watching a master work quickly does not mean speed is the thing that made them a master. In most cases, the speed comes after years of skill, repetition, discipline, and judgement. I was trying to copy the pace before I had earned the pace.

If you are starting out and looking at the output of professional woodturners, stop. Not because you cannot learn from them, you absolutely can, but because their output is not the right yardstick for your progress. Follow your own path, build your skills, and let experience come first. Production numbers can come later, if they matter at all.

The Problem With Rushing at the Lathe

Rushing at the lathe does not always lead to obvious mistakes.

It is not always a dramatic catch, a ruined blank, or a piece flying across the workshop. Sometimes the problem is much quieter than that.

You finish a curve that is nearly right, but not quite. You leave a small detail heavier than it should be. You sand a shape that really needed another careful cut. You accept a foot or rim because it is “good enough”.

You move on because there are more pieces waiting.

That is where rushing can quietly affect the quality of your work.

The piece may be perfectly acceptable to you, but it may not be as good as it could have been. That is the part that bothered me.

Not because every piece has to be perfect. Handmade work will always have its own character. But there is a point where you know you have walked away too soon.

When You Rush, You Stop Listening

One of the biggest things I have learned is that woodturning is not just something you see. It is something you hear and feel as well.

When you are rushing, you stop listening properly.

You do not listen to the sound of the cut. You do not hear when the tool is slicing cleanly. You miss the change in tone when the bevel is not quite right. You ignore the sound of torn grain starting to appear. You do not pay enough attention to the lathe itself.

A clean cut has a certain sound to it. So does a tool that is rubbing instead of cutting. So does a scraper being pushed too hard. So does a piece of wood that is slightly out of balance, or a blank that is asking you to take a lighter approach.

The lathe tells you things. The tool tells you things. The wood tells you things.

But only if you slow down enough to listen.

In my earlier days, I was often focused on finishing the piece rather than understanding what was happening while I was making it. I was getting to the end, but I was not always paying enough attention to the journey.

That was a big lesson.

Covid Changed the Way I Worked

When Covid restrictions came along, everything changed.

The pressure to supply shops disappeared almost overnight. I was no longer trying to keep physical outlets stocked. Instead, the spare pieces I had already made gradually sold through my website.

For a while, I was not making in the same way. I was not producing stock just to keep shelves filled somewhere else. I was replacing items as they sold.

That changed my rhythm completely.

Instead of thinking, “How many pieces can I get finished?”, I started thinking more about the individual piece in front of me.

That may sound like a small shift, but it made a huge difference.

I Started Looking at the Piece Properly

Before that, I had often finished a piece, put it aside, and moved on.

After the pace changed, I found myself doing something different.

I would stop. I would stand back. I would look at the overall shape. I would turn the piece in my hands. I would ask myself whether it actually looked right.

Sometimes it did. Sometimes it did not or not quite.

A curve might need softening. A transition might need refining. The base might look too heavy. The top might need a little more attention. The proportions might be almost there, but not quite.

The important thing was that I was finally giving myself time to notice.

That is when I started making better pieces.

Not because I suddenly became a different woodturner overnight, but because I had stopped treating completion as the only goal. I began to care more about the finished form, the balance, the small corrections, and the overall feel of the work.

Slower Turning Does Not Mean Lazy Turning

Slowing down does not mean working without purpose.

It does not mean spending endless time on every small item or turning a simple bottle stopper into a week-long project. In a business, you still have to be practical. Time matters. Costs matter. Stock matters.

But there is a big difference between working efficiently and rushing.

Efficient woodturning has rhythm. Rushed woodturning has pressure.

Efficient woodturning still allows you to think. Rushed woodturning pushes you past the point where you are really paying attention.

Efficient woodturning listens to the cut. Rushed woodturning just wants the piece finished.

That distinction matters.

The goal is not to become painfully slow. The goal is to become more aware.

Slowing down does not always mean running the lathe as slowly as possible. Lathe speed still matters, especially with larger or unbalanced blanks.

This is not only about lathe speed. I have covered that separately in What Speed Should a Woodturning Lathe Run?. Here, I am talking more about slowing the woodturner down: taking lighter cuts, watching the shape develop, and not rushing the finish.

The Early Years Were My Apprenticeship

I do not regret those early years.

At the time, I was learning the ropes. I was learning how to make stock, how to work with different woods, how to sharpen more consistently, how to finish pieces, how to deal with customers, and how to run a small craft business.

That experience was invaluable.

In many ways, I now see those years as my apprenticeship. Having already gone through a full carpentry apprenticeship, I understood the ins and outs of the process.

I had to go through that stage to become more competent. I had to make a lot of pieces before I could really understand what I was looking at.

But I can also see now that the pressure to supply shops was not always good for the quality of my work.

The worst thing that happened to me, from a making point of view, was the constant pressure for more stock. Shops always needed something. Shelves always needed filling. It was very easy to fall into the habit of making for quantity rather than quality.

Had I stayed on that path, I do think it could have damaged my reputation over time.

Not because I was making poor work, but because I might never have given myself the space to make better work.

The lesson only became obvious later.

I realised that things weren't quite right with my work after visiting the shops a few months after each batch had arrived and seeing some of my unsold pieces still sitting on the shelves.

They were not badly made pieces, but with a bit of distance I could see things I had missed at the time. A curve slightly out of place. A sanding line I should have caught. A finish that was not quite right. The whole package just not 100% there.

Maybe some customers saw the same things I saw later. Maybe they did not. But I saw them, and once I saw them, I could not unsee them.

Why This Matters for Beginners

If you are learning woodturning, it is very easy to measure progress by how many pieces you finish.

Your first bowl. Your first pen. Your first bottle stopper. Your first ornament. Your first matching pair of something.

Those are all important milestones, and they should be enjoyed.

But do not let the number of finished pieces become the only measure of improvement.

Sometimes the better question is:

Did I understand the cut better this time? Did I hear when the tool was working well? Did I notice when the shape needed adjustment? Did I stop before sanding and ask whether another cut would improve it? Did I look at the piece properly before calling it finished?

Those questions will teach you more than simply adding another finished item to the shelf.

Final Thoughts

If you want to be a better woodturner, slow down.

Not forever. Not to the point where nothing gets made. But slow down enough to listen.

Listen to the tool. Listen to the sound of the cut. Listen to the lathe. Listen to the piece in front of you.

Stand back before you decide it is finished. Look at the overall form. Ask yourself whether it could be a little better. Sometimes the answer will be no, and the piece is done. Other times, one small adjustment will lift it completely.

That is where real improvement happens.

For me, becoming a better woodturner was not just about sharper tools, better equipment, or more time at the lathe. It was about learning to stop rushing long enough to see what I was actually making.

And once I started doing that, my work changed for the better.

If you found this post useful, you can find more of my practical woodturning advice on my Woodturning Guides & Articles page, including beginner tips, tool guides, safety advice and workshop lessons learned the hard way.

Thanks for Reading,

David

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About the Author

I’m David Condon, a woodturner and small business owner based in Tralee, Co. Kerry. I’ve been working with wood for most of my life at this stage — 11 years as a carpenter and over a decade running my own woodturning business.

Over the years, I’ve learned that woodturning is as much about patience and problem-solving as it is about tools and technique. I work mainly with Irish hardwoods, teach woodturning full-time, and spend most days learning something new in the workshop myself. On this site, I share the same practical knowledge I pass on to my students, shaped by experience, mistakes, and time spent at the lathe. If you’re interested in learning in person, I offer woodturning lessons in Tralee, with details available on my Woodturning Tuition page.

© David Condon Woodcraft – All Rights Reserved.

More Woodturning Pages to Explore​

● Hampshire Sheen - Fine Finishing products that will highlight your project pieces

● Hamlet Tools - Fantastic Woodturning Tools from a well trusted brand

● Woodcraft Hub - View my woodcraft creations for inspiration of gift buying.

● Sanding Essentials - Essential sanding products for Woodturners & Woodworkers.

● Woodturning Blanks - A fine range of Hardwood Spindle Blanks & a few Bowl Blanks too!

● Woodturning Pen Blanks - A huge assortment of Acrylic & Irish Hardwood Pen Blanks.

● Crafter's Haven – A vast range of craft supplies for crafters and gift givers!

Original content © David Condon Woodcraft — Written by David Condon. Please credit and link if shared.