My first woodturning video is now available. This one is on turning the SlimLine pen. The sections on sharpening the spindle gouge WITHOUT a jig, using the spindle gouge, sanding, and finishing with a friction polish will be of interest to all woodturners.
It can be purchased at
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linked from my website Other subjects are in the works, including a second video on advanced pencrafting, and another whose title will be "Scrapers and Skews (and other misused and misunderstood turning tools) that should be ready Spring 2004. Russ Fairfield Post Falls, Idaho http:/
Interesting idea, but you might try a few things if you really want to get anyone to buy your videos.
First, you don't have even one picture of turned projects you have made showing on your website. How do I know that you even have a clue how to use a lathe yourself, let alone be qualified to make an instructional video? Second, there isn't any "blurb" about who you are, what you do, what your experience is, etc. I for one have never heard of you, so why should I even consider buying your videos? Third, how do I know what kind of quality this video will be? You should include a short (maybe 3 or 4 minute) clip showing some technique or other on your website that is free to download so that potential customers will be able to see what they might be getting. This is especially important in light of your pretty ridiculous "all sales are final" policy. What if I get this video and realize it isn't exactly what I thought it would be? What if I simply think the video stinks? I think it is reasonable in this day and age for customers to expect satisfaction when making a purchase. The fact that you have this policy makes me think you are more concerned with getting your $20 than you are in making your customers happy.
These are meant to be helpful suggestions, so please take them in that light.
Hello Mike, I'll take you at your word and presume that you are not a troll and you sincerely want to be helpful, and just are not well informed. Russ Fairfield has given too much to the woodturning community over many years not to warrent a response to your post. He needs no defense from me and I won't burden the group with a laundry list of his contributions. I will note that with all his efforts on behalf of good woodturning in other places, he continues to share his reason, depth of knowledge and experience with rcw. In summary then: Mike, I believe that your post was owing to your wish to be of help to rcw; just not knowing of Russ Fairfield. This is a forum that supports free speech and I am no self appointed censor. I do suggest in all civility, that you not buy the tape but spend the time surfing the net for Russ' teachings. You will learn a lot, and if you are of goodwill you will return to rcw and acknowledge same. With respect, Arch
If you need a resume, go to my website whose address was also listed under my name at the end of the same message and follow the link to the video store.
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of your questions will be answered. You might also look at the following for more woodturning information
I apologize for the tone of my earlier post, I didn't mean it to sound as negative as it came across. When I looked at your page, I missed the link to your home page as it wasn't hyperlinked (I think I'm a product of my age and have gotten in the habit of scanning websites for these types of things). At any rate, the fault rests with me. I didn't intend my post to at all imply that you weren't qualified, merely that at first glance, as a consumer, I wasn't able to readily see where you were coming from. The link to your web page is a good thing to have, I would just highlight it more prominently, and include some buttons on your website to direct visitors more easily to the information.
I will definitely be bookmarking your site and reading your contributions about turning. I did look at your galleries, and as Arch stated above, your work is wonderful and any doubt I might have had about your qualifications are completely eliminated.
Mike: Due to the time delay of posts to this group, there are probably already a number of responses, but none are visible to me just now.
Your skeptical advice is meant well, I'm sure, and no doubt Russ can improve the details of his site to better reflect his credentials -- I also think a short video clip would be helpful, but on a dial-up connection like mine, it might do the video more harm than good !
While Russ may not be as well known here at r.c.w., he has been one of the resident turning and finishing experts at WoodCentral and Badger Pond, and as important to that group as someone like Lyn Mangiamelli or other recognized experts here. Russ probably doesn't want to blow his own horn very much, but in some circles he's as well known as John Jordan, David Ellsworth, or Al Stirt. Wally Dickerman is another turner who's work and 67-year turning career are revered at WoodCentral, but you might never see his name here. (Of course, had you written wondering who that Ellsworth guy was, and why you should be willing to buy his video sight unseen, and who the heck is HE anyway, well, you'd get a lot of dismissive replies, and you'd be saying more about your knowledge than his!)
A lot of fellows who've been in the turning world a long time aren't real big computer techy-types, so they might not have the most up-to-date and savvy web sites, but that shouldn't detract from their reputations as turners or teachers. If you go back to Russ's site, click on a few of the links to Wood Central, (a kinder, gentler place, for sure!), and look over the multitude of links there, you might just like it so much that you'll never be back here in Al Kyder land again
Not to dig up a dead horse here and all, but at least the carcase is still warm...
Let me begin by saying that *I* know who Russ is and additionally have read through his many, many posts here and his invaluable articles on WoodCentral. Mike's tone may have sounded harsh, and he certainly jumped into it with both feet, but I don't think the content of his message is off-base at all.
The web page Russ posted offers minimal information at best. There's a video on turning pens for sale at 20 bucks - that's about it. If I were interested in such a video, I doubt I'd get much out of what I see there that would cause me to place my order. A video clip would be nice (tho I don't do video clips of more than a megabyte or so due to my dialup); a half-dozen video captures or stills accompanying some descriptive text about what the customer will get out of the product would go a long way to easing a buyer's reluctance to part with the green. How long is the video? Are there any testimonials? Yes, there is a URL which points back to Russ's main pages, but it's not automatic and when forcing the customer to work at buying your product many will just wander away. In my opinion it's a weak site to send folks to in hopes of making a sale.
Much better (tho still not optimum as a sales tool) would be to link to: At least here, one gets a better sense of the product focus as well as links to Russ's previous and supporting work - though much of the pertinent info is still lacking.
While we can all set up personal web pages any way we please, commercial sales pages really do need to be organized and contain specific information that *assists* a potential buyer to become a customer. It doesn't have to be fancy or expensive to produce - for example, Ruth's CLTL pages are simply done, easy to navigate and put the buyer at ease by clearly showing and describing exactly what he or she will be getting by handing over their money .
Russ and others may object to the criticisms, both mine and Mike's, but I believe they are/were intended to be constructive and in the end may help sell more videos.
OK folks - hold on a sec whilst I don my hard hat & face shield and duck behind my lathe - let the skews fly.
_____ American Association of Woodturners Cascade Woodturners Assoc., Portland, Oregon Northwest Woodturners, Tigard, Oregon _____
Hi Owen, I'll launch a skew, but not toward you. A good example of how to state an opinion that differs from a friend's.
It seems that many of our 'bitter' posts have to do with members' products offered for sale on rcw: sharpening jigs, drillpress lathes, centering devices, diving masks, etc. I offer no criticisms nor better ways, just musing. Arch
Thanks for all of the messages on how to sell things to woodturners.
I posted the first link to selling the video on this Newsgroup because I had some misgivings about what I was doing, and I knew that there would be a lot of critical comments. You folks didn't let me down. I got what I expected. If I had wanted praise and the "politically correct" I would have used a different forum. If that says something about the "tone" of this Newsgroup, so be it.
Also, thank you for all of the "how to" messages. But, for someone who doesn't know an HTML from a pretzel, I will stay with the templates that are offered by the Web hosting site. It's not that I can't learn HTML, it's just that I am chosing to write articles and make more video presentations on woodturning subjects, rather than trying to learn new how to write a new (to me) computer language. Video editing is enough education for this and several more years.
As they say in Hollywood, all publicity, even the bad, is good.
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