tips for American Woodturner

[john lucas]

I'm looking for new tips for the next issue. If you have any good ideas please send them to jlucas@tntech.edu. If you send a photo please make it as large a file as you can get through the mail. I can shrink them if necessary.

 

[dkulze]

Tip #1: Never glue youself to something too heavy to pick up. (this includes a wall or the floor)

Dietrich

 

[Keith Krebs]

Tip #2: Never work with wood or tools that are smarter than you are.

 

[Eric]

My tip is - Protect the AW in a plastic mailing bags.

My last four issues of the AW have arrived with the covers, and pages, torn, bent, dog-eared, or otherwise multilated. :mad:

I receive free catologs proteceted by plastic wrap, why can't the AW do the same for its paying members.

I would, if I had to, pay a "little" more in dues if it ment I would receive my AW protected from the US mail machinery.

Well, that's my tip for the AW

 

[Richard Baker]

Eric,
Am pretty sure the last issue came in a plastic wrapper. Maybe somebody has been reading your mail (over and over) before it reaches you.

 

[odie]

I'm looking for new tips for the next issue. If you have any good ideas please send them to jlucas@tntech.edu. If you send a photo please make it as large a file as you can get through the mail. I can shrink them if necessary.

Hi John.....

I have some posts in the "tips and techniques" forum that all have pictures. They are titled "odie's crazy idea #2,#3,#4,#5,#6,#7". The first in this series is titled "bedway work table.....quick and easy." From time to time I'll be adding to the series when the inclination strikes me!

You are welcome to use any of them if you'd like.

I'm not a member of the AAW, and I may not become a member......I'm sort of a "lone wolf" kind of turner.......but, if you use any of "odie's crazy ideas", I wouldn't mind getting an issue in the mail, if you don't mind. Who knows.....I may decide to join, if I read one of the issues......!

otis oc

 

[paulspencer2001]

Newby contest

I would like to make a sugestion for the contests. I would like to see maybe a two level contest, One for new turners (say under three to five years) and one for more experienced turners. As a new turner I look at the great work of those that have entered and fill I would have little or no chance of winning and so I don't even try.

 

[john lucas]

I agree to some extent but I don't know how you would create this category. I've seen turners who have only been turning for a few years who can create pieces that would win. I've also had turners in my classes who have been turning for quite a few years and their skills are terrible. Most of these contests have as much to do with imagination as it does turning skill. I have found that some turners with terrible skills produce excellent pieces. It takes them a lot longer than a skilled turner but with enough patience you can turn extraordinary pieces with just a scraper.

 

[Ed_McDonnell]

From my point of view it's not about the winning, rather it is about what I can learn by taking on whatever the challenge is. Participating also provides an incentive to study the various entries a lot more closely than I might otherwise do. Another good way to learn. Just wish I could see all the pieces in person rather than just in pictures. Not participating in the contests is a lost opportunity.

A lot of the members in the clubs I belong to never bring anything in to the instant galleries because they think it won't stack up against the other work. Another great opportunity missed as far as I'm concerned. I've never been shy about showing my work at club meetings. I've gotten a lot of extremely good advice that has helped me learn and grow as a turner.

I'm just a beginner, but I'm working on getting better. Maybe someday I'll win one of the contests, until then I'm having fun.

Ed

 

[George Guadiane]

I would like to make a sugestion for the contests. I would like to see maybe a two level contest, One for new turners (say under three to five years) and one for more experienced turners. As a new turner I look at the great work of those that have entered and fill I would have little or no chance of winning and so I don't even try.

Paul,
Do your best, let THEM decide if it's good enough.
I have only been turning for 4 years. I can tell you EVERYTHING that is wrong with EVERYTHING I ever turned, and if I only turned in the stuff that I thought was "good enough, I would never turn in anything. Sometimes, I don't agree with the decision, whether I have a "dog in the fight" (I know that this isn't PC, but it's only an expression) or not, but sometimes it's the idea as much as the execution... GO FOR IT!

 

[Jeff Greenwood]

Like the guys said!! GO for it Paul

Paul
Listen to what John, Ed and George are saying.
I've been turning wood only a couple of years. Though a full time machinist pretty much all my life. Turn the pieces Paul and enter them. And next time enter another piece .
I'm like you Ed . Not shy of showing at show and tell. Turn and learn Listen and learn.
Regards to all ------- Jeff.

 

[John Abt]

Paul,

I know the feelings that you're describing. I've been turning for almost two years and often feel that my work is nowhere near the quality of others. Members of my club do their best to provide support and encouragement.

Everyone in the AAW forums (and other forums as well) have always provided support, tips, ideas and even wood to one another. I can't think of another group of artisans that are so willing to share their experience with us newbies.

Sandor Nagyszalanczy (no, that's not a typo) has an entertaining article in the October 2007 issue of Woodworker's Journal titled "Woodworking's Seven Dastardly Sins." It's worth the read. It's given me the incentive to get back to the shop and just start turning. I may go overboard and actually plan a series of exercises to develop my abilities. Now, if I can just overcome my sloth.

 

[Ruth Niles]

John, do you print tips that were submitted say more than a year ago? I don't have back issues but would like to see some of the best tips from before I became a member.

Maybe one issue a year could have "the best" tips from the past 2 yrs.? 5 yrs.? Maybe repeat 2 or 3 past best tips in each issue?

Very sincerely yours,
Ruth Niles GM, GGM

 

[Steve Worcester]

John, do you print tips that were submitted say more than a year ago? I don't have back issues but would like to see some of the best tips from before I became a member.

Maybe one issue a year could have "the best" tips from the past 2 yrs.? 5 yrs.? Maybe repeat 2 or 3 past best tips in each issue?

Very sincerely yours,
Ruth Niles GM, GGM

Howabout putting the tips over the years on the members only site?

 

[Ed_McDonnell]

Howabout putting the tips over the years on the members only site?

That sounds like a great idea to me!!

Ed

 

[john lucas]

Ruth We just did a best tips of the last 20 years or whatever it was.
Steve I think the tips on the website is a really good idea.

 

[Ruth Niles]

Ruth We just did a best tips of the last 20 years or whatever it was.
Steve I think the tips on the website is a really good idea.

When did you do the best tips of the last 20 years? Where was I?

I agree with Steve on putting the tips on the website; excellent.

 

[john lucas]

ruth I don't remember. Actually I don't remember much of anything anymore. I think it was within the last 4 issues but I would have to check to be sure. Time passes so fast now. I turn my back a month is gone and it seems like I haven't accomplished anything.

 

[Jerry Rhoads]

I would sure like to see 20 years of tips on the website.
As I have only been a member of the club for three years I'm sure I would pick up a lot of great information.

Jerry

 

[john lucas]

Ruth and Jerry The 20 top tips of the last 20 years are in the Spring 2006 American Woodturner Vol 21 vol #1