William Noble wrote:

as the webmaster for another site (www.woodturners.org) I would encourage
you to think of something that everybody and their brother doesn't already
do on their site - some things seem obligatory, like news letters, and
links. Beyond that, everyone already has tips and usually a gallery.

so the question is, what can you do that is different? I honestly don't
know, but this could be a good place for the discussion


A friend was in a civic organization assigned to get guest speakers.
He was told not to get a speaker that members probably have
heard at other civic organization meetings. On the other hand,
he was instructed not to get a speaker that no one had ever
heard of. When pointing out the contractory instructions he
was told to look for prominent unknowns.

The Everybody And Their Brother stuff is a waste of space and
bandwidth - IF it basically a copy of something already available.
However, given the Wild West nature of turning - no cold hard
fast rules, and the More Than One Way To Skin A Cat thing, there
may be value in showing two or three methods of accomplishing
the same thing - and getting someone who has had trouble with
one method to try one that might work better for them.

As a newbie, I found that there was a ton of information that those
with experience assumed was common knowledge and not worth
mentioning. Yet everything is built off fundamentals, much of which
ain't necessarily obvious to a newbie and often isn't in any books or
videos/DVDs. In solid wood furniture making, stock prep and the
importance of doing it properly isn't all that obvious to a newbie.
Buy boards from a lumber store and it's easy to assume that it's
flat, with straight edges square to the faces, flat parallel faces
and
ends cut square. Marking parts so you can keep track of what goes
where, and it's orientation is a newbie nightmare - though there
is a simple "Triangle Method" that's an obvious solution - once you
see it and how it's used. Marking reference faces, edges and ends
can help a lot when it comes to mortise and tenon joints that
require layout lines.

Now unlike the use of tools in other types of woodworking, turning
is very dynamic - the cutting tool often having a curved cutting
edge and requires the tool to be moved in several directions - while
being rotated on one or two axis. Maybe videos are essential.
But trying to video a cut can be really tricky. Simple animation
without any distracting extraneous info might be better - and
more easily understood.

Another approach would be to go for the weird - how to set precious
faceted stones in turnings, how to vaporize precious or unusual
metals onto turnings using a high vacuum system and an electron
beam gun to vaporize the metal and spray it on the wood (you actually
can do that), methods of electroforming metal onto a turned piece,
making metal form inlays using the lost wax casting method, ...

Anyone want to jump in here?

charlie b