In message
,
robo hippy writes
Quite frankly, I find more information in the woodturning forums than
I do in the magazines. I belong to the AAW because it does a lot of
good thing. Reading their magazine takes all of about 20 minutes for
me to read the things that interest me.
robo hippy

Not being that side of the pond, it really doesn't affect me but I am
still fairly new at wood turning, soon be a year.

I have joined no clubs, do not come from a woodworking or even
metalworking background. I come from Quality Engineering, but with the
ability to turn my hand at most things once I have a basic
understanding. My initial source for wood turning was a person in the
shop I bought my first lathe. I would tell him what I wanted to achieve
and how I thought I would go about it, he would then offer solutions
based on the tools and jigs I had, or new equipment if needed.
The only issue I had was turning bowl, and even though I had voiced my
suspicions to the suppliers, it wasn't until I got my second lathe the
issue was solved. It wasn't me it was the tools. The Banjo and Tool rest
that were supplied though the correct parts for the machine, were not
suitable for the machine. My assembly was too high, and although
suitable for spindle turning, at 5mm below centre line it was impossible
to place a tool on the rest and be at centreline for bowl turning, even
my scraper was 7mm thick, New banjo, Tool rest and the cuts were near
perfect ( just need lots and lots of practice now)

My other source has primarily been here. Asking pointed questions, which
may have been answerable in a local club, but almost certainly not via a
yearly subscription to a magazine that covered the subject 20 years ago.
My other source has been pictures of turned objects on websites
mentioned here, or just by googling, these have provided inspiration and
ideas. Admittedly the magazine may provide similar, but probably in less
abundance, and without the ability to question, which you often can if
its a website. I would rather learn from an amateur on here rather than
one of these top of his field types in a magazine, as it ends up like a
car magazine with the "I wish", but now back to reality.

Now using an analogy I used to be a member of the Radio Society of Great
Britain, our version of the ARRL, the Magazines were great for the first
year as they provided points of contact, but this was in the early 90's
before the Internet found its place. After that first year , they
remained in the wrapping they were received in, my interests were narrow
field, but the magazine was broad spectrum, the only reason I remained a
member was that to take part in competition you had to be a member.

There are many societies out there these days trying to justify their
existence, but unfortunately for many of them , their day has come and
gone.
--
John