Binh Pho Is Coming! Binh Pho Is Coming!

SNIP

I had a lot of fun turning, then I joined our local club and really had a lot more fun. There are a couple in the the club that could easily match the turnings I have seen at national events.

Being a professional woodworker, I liked the freedom that woodturning gives you. No two turners turn alike, and some don't even turn in a similar manner. But so many turn out so much good work. I have always, really enjoyed that aspect. The best part of the club meeting was the open house days where we could go up on a Saturday and check out each others grinds, techniques, and choice of tools in a "hands on" environment.

But our club has turned stodgy, and we now have "artists" that don't just turn wood for the joy of turning. Worse, since some have been turning for al of 2 - 3 years now, they have formed their own cliques of the "more experienced" turners. And since we have a lot of retirees and 8 - 5 in there, they have moved the meeting time up so it is more convenient for them. It used to be at 7, now it is 6:15 or so. It was explained to me thusly: Well, Robert, you NEED to get more organized. Off at five o'clock, (NONE of these guys have ever been self employed for a moment) then home for a quick dinner while watching the evening news. Sometimes, just sometimes, you have to leave before it is over. Then straight to the meeting with no screwing around. I have to learn to schedule, they tell me. BTW, with NO traffic, the meeting place is

OK. Off at five? I am a general contractor. Maybe when it is raining. Maybe not when it is raining - I may be bailing water.

Dinner on the table at 5:30? What world do they live in? I actually, literally, don't know anyone that gets that. I don't know how that happens... I wouldn't even ask.

And they make you feel uncomfortable when you come in a few minutes late. For these guys, "early is on time, on time is late". Great. Again, just a little discipline on my part would go a long way. They have forgotten woodturning is just a hobby, no matter how serious they are about it. No lives are saved during a woodturnign get together.

The upshot is that we have no new blood coming into the club. If folks work on another side of town, they can't make the meeting due to traffic. If they are salaried, they may not get off at 5:00 on the nose so they can't take care of anything else, but must run straight to the meeting, some in their white collar garb. If they get off at 5, they may need to go home to make a head count and to feed kids and make sure they are set for a couple of hours, so they will be late. If they make it to be part of one of the cliques, they can call ahead and the meeting can start a little late. If not, the meeting starts as soon as the regulars are there, which means they will be late when they arrive.

I haven't been to a meeting in a year or so, but for about 5 years I really looked forward to going every month. It was a blast. Unlike now, it was come one, come all. Turnin' on a Sears monotube? No problem, lets see hands on how many still use theirs. What, no scroll chuck? No problem we are going to discuss ways around that. Only 8 turning tools to your name and no laser hollowing? We're making giant calipers this month and a homemade hollower.

It was an environment of learning and comraderie. If you can find a club like that Charlie, JOIN! Even if it for a little while, you will be amazed at what others are doing, and how they are doing it. A couple of tips I got at one meeting was worth the whole year's memebership. I never learned more, quicker, than I did the first year in our little club back in '97. And it was fun!

Robert

I did ... but I met them on the ONE Saturday a year they meet ... the rest of the year the meeting is on Sunday during time I have set aside for worship.

So they got my money. Once.

I'm open Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings and Saturday from the afternoon onward. Anybody in Metro Detroit want to get together on a Saturday for some free-for all turning and over the shoulder kibitzing? The minute it turns formal or the kitty grows much past the price of a replacement coffee pot I'm gone ... but I'd be interested in getting together about once a month to swap skills and stories with a group of amiable, freshly showered, folks. ;-)

Bill

Well, if Detroit didn't blow it, "freshly showered" definitely did. 8^)

You know what they say - if you can't beat them, beat them from within. Stage a coup!

Depending on how your club is organized, I would solicit many supporters to attend a board election or a meeting, run for the board of directors or force a discussion at a meeting having , get my friends to do the same and vote out those dumb rules and/or dilettantes. Worked for the Democrats yesterday. Rumsfeld is gone. Now it is your turn.

Joe Fleming - San Diego

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