• January Turning Challenge: Thin-Stemmed Something! (click here for details)
  • Conversations are now Direct Messages (click here for details)
  • Congratulations to Gabriel Hoff for "Spalted Beech Round Bottom Box" being selected as Turning of the Week for January 6, 2024 (click here for details)
  • Welcome new registering member. Your username must be your real First and Last name (for example: John Doe). "Screen names" and "handles" are not allowed and your registration will be deleted if you don't use your real name. Also, do not use all caps nor all lower case.

Attracting next generation of turners

G

Gordon Seto

Joined
Aug 20, 2006
Messages
159
Likes
0
Location
Ohio
This is a picture of the hands-on class our Club has with the YMCA campers last evening.

We gave one on one turning lessons to 10 young campers of age 11 to 17 each week during the summer camp. This is our 2nd year doing this. They each did a dry flower vase (we used to call it weed pot) and a slimline pen or 2 key chains in about 2 hours.

They were fresh green wood; easier to cut and the kids enjoy the long ribbons. We had a good time; we learn as much as they did. It would be a bonus of joy if we were paired up with a natural born talent for the evening. We were there to help them; the shape and form are all their own designs. Don't you agree that some pieces were great, especially for the first timers? I have been to at least 10 of such classes. There is no advantage in age or gender. Some pick up the technique within the first minute; once in a while there will be one that you need to hold their hands to guide them most of the time.
Please withhold your opinion on individual piece. Some of the makers may not wish their works commented on publicly. The face of the young camper was also blurred because of privacy. I regret I am not able to post pictures of the smiley faces.
Thanks to the AAW grant, the foresight of our former President, Larry McCardel & our members ( I am not going to mention the current officers, I don’t want the appearance of kissing butts and I am afraid I am going to miss some names). We have 10 Jet mini VS lathes and each station is equipped with 5 turning tools, a Talon chuck and face shield. We added two additional stations this year. Our Club (http://bwwt.org/) is able to hold workshops for our members and YMCA campers. The average age of AAW members are on the mature side, I think our Club is doing our part to introduce woodturning to the next generation. We were told some parents wanted to make sure the Y camp is still offering the woodturning program before they signed up their kids this year.
I believe this is a good use of the AAW grant money, we are planning seeds for the future woodturners.
 

Attachments

  • 7f95c530-1-1.jpg
    7f95c530-1-1.jpg
    96.2 KB · Views: 74
  • 28bd13b0-1.jpg
    28bd13b0-1.jpg
    94.4 KB · Views: 67
Gordon,
A worthy effort indeed by your club and the AAW! Can imagine many kinds of future success for your campers as a result of their exposure to woodturning.
 
Gordon,

great Job! kudos to your Buckeye Club!

To me, teaching kids is a lot like coaching little league.
it is very rare for any of the kids to play baseball beyond the high school level.
They will understand and appreciate the game for life!

There are lot of efforts out there like the Buckeye does for the AAW.

happy turning,
Al
 
I am not expecting we will be teaching the next Osolnik, Stockdale, Stubbs or Sudol. At least they have a good time and being introduced to a hobby they may continue later in life. I hope they may have a better chance to advance to the next level than some of us who started turning after retirement.

I can't say that about sports. When they don't make the cut to the pro level, the only way to go is most likely down hill. The only dream most of them may have is for their children to fulfill what they didn't.

Every kid in the turning class is the winner, they all went home with a master piece they made. I am addicted to seeing the overflow of joy and satisfaction from every kid at the end of the each class. This is a group effort; I am one of the volunteers. Each class took us about 5 hours from set up to clean up; I am looking forward to it every week. It was time well spent.

Gordon
 
I was in my early 50's when I first tried turning. I can only imagine how much pleasure it would have brought if I had started in my teens. That's really great of you and your club to take that on.
 
I can still remember the "pinch" bowl I made out of clay and another where we layed the clay over a river stone, when I was very young. How much of that influence stayed with me after all these years is impossible to say. I do think we need to try and influence the younger generation. I am going to invest in educating them in turning and then I'm going to start my own chuck and grinder line to tap into their income to fund my retirement. 🙂 Good job Gordon.
 
John's idea is right on the "money". I hope John, that you are serious because that is the kind of forward thinking that WILL stimulate interest if not income. Good post.
 
bicycle powered lathes

I don't know if this is the right place for this but it is younger generation oriented project. I have been trying to develop a bicycle driven lathe to use for kids. I wonder if any one has information on this. I want to develop this so two of the youngsters are involved at a time. I want to develop this with minimal expense and to be able to break it down so the kids can take it apart and put together. This would allow them to go to various fairs and demonstrate and sell their product. It obviously gets kids involved in turning and also working together. I have seen several at least in pictures foot powered lathes and tree powered but I think the bicycle is doable as a power source.
Thanks for any help you may email me
Marshall
 
Marshall Look at treadle lathes. You can find a lot of information on Youtube, google search, and books like Foxfire and Roy Underhill's books. I have a foot powered lathe although it's not a treadle lathe. I'm working on that but I've been too busy to finish it. When I demo with it I let one child push the pedal and then I turn.
I have a very small lathe that I picked up at the flea mkt. It has bushings instead of bearings and is very light weight. I'm going to mount it on a Singer treadle sewing machine base as soon as I find a cheap one. That whole apparatus should be small enough for children to use, with supervision of course.
Along with your thread, I'm going to build a bicycle driven Ice cream maker. I've been looking for an old hand crank unit that I can adapt to my bicycle.
I passed up a pedal driven sharpening wheel this summer. I just didn't have the money and wasn't sure where I would store it.
 
Thanks John, I have seen these in pictures and they could be adapted. I am thinking of a design that would utilize wood probably as it would be lighter than steel but adding wood and sand bags for stability. I am thinking the kids could build it at a fair or meet and go to it and then break it down and store it or set up again at home. I think that some type of counter wheel to help keep it going would be desirable. Head stock and tail stock need to be inexpensive and available such as pillow blocks etc. I am trying to keep the cost down so other groups could copy and get more people involved.
Marshall
 
Marshall, since cost and problem-solving seem to be part and parcel of the sort of project you are describing I would keep it simple. Wooden headstock,bed and tailstock, oil-lite bronze bushings, scavenged spindle, etc. Wooden driver and driven wheels with a segmented style drive belt. Some sort of weighted flywheel would be the heaviest single component.
 
Marshal The one thing I'm leary about on the treadle lathe is the belt drive. I would look at putting a protective cover on it to keep their fingers from getting pinched. I'm toying with a removeable wire cage.
 
I have a copy of Finewoodworking's Making and Modifying Machines.

There are a couple of lathe designs in there that would be worth looking at and adapting to your use. One used a treadle, a flywheel, and a sprocket off of a bicycle for a lathe.
 
For those of us who remember reading Chaucer or Shakespeare only with the help of footnotes to get the jokes or other meanings, this is a word to the wise. Always love reading this "list" as much as I love reading the list of words to ban published by LSSU each year. http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/2012.php

Some might think it belongs on the porch, but it can be quite a challenge to talk across the generations no matter where you are.
 
MichaelMouse said:
For those of us who remember reading Chaucer or Shakespeare only with the help of footnotes to get the jokes or other meanings, this is a word to the wise. Always love reading this "list" as much as I love reading the list of words to ban published by LSSU each year. http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/2012.php

Some might think it belongs on the porch, but it can be quite a challenge to talk across the generations no matter where you are.
Click to expand...

MM, sage advice, and for once I get it.😛
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top