Arch wrote:

Once I suggested
that our club host a willing expert with a sense of humor and have
him/her demo as in some of the member's real world...ie. in a phone
booth, turning a unrehearsed form from punky wood on a AMT lathe using
HF's bottom line tools.

Man that would separate the turners from the demo masters, wouldn't it?
We had a turner here that had his tools sent to another place courtesy
of the airlines. He didn't have his tools, his jigs, his wood, and in
general his "stuff" when he demoed. He was supplied with Sorby and
Crown tools, and told to PLEASE grind them anyway he wanted with the
underlying motive being that someone would have a tool ground by a
master to take home and study.

He had a terrible time, and he was so out of sorts after the first 30
minutes or so it was actually embarassing. We heard every excuse in
the book. The flip side was when Stuart Batty came, and I swear that
guy could turn a Tiffany lampshade with a scredriver.

I think your request holds water, Arch. I am reminded of a woodworking
show I went to a few years ago and they were demoing some new sawblade.
It was laser cut and computer balanced. It was so well ligned,
sharpened and designed that (like a Forest) it didn't leave any saw
marks. This guy cross cut, ripped, and angle cut with a miter gauge on
a delta table saw that had the wings taken off. He put a pieced 4/4 of
cherry in the saw, ripped it about 12 inches and left it there; after a
couple of minutes, he took it out and there was nary a sign of burning
or teeth.

Here's the parallel (for those with turning idols, this doesn't apply
to anyone you know or have heard of!). I stuck around after the 20
minute demo and asked him some more questions about the blade. Then I
asked him how long he had been a woodworker. Well, he replied, never.
He had goofed around some with his Dad as a kid, but was looking for a
job when this came up. They trained him to do the demos, and that was
it. He was paid a commision for every blade sold at the show and a
smaller one for everyone that called the office and gave them the local
trade show number when ordering.

All he could do was rip, crosscut and angle cut boards. Never built a
project in his life.
But he did have lots of kinds of wood to demo the blade on if you had a
question, and everyone kinda took the flannel shirt, hiking boots and
worn ball cap as the uniform of a woodworker.

Too funny.

Robert