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average age of a turner

Hi, i'm 36 years old and been turning about 4 years, but i have a very nice story for you:

On italian forum www.il-legno.it a member Gianpiero, called peperoncino-piccante, for friends peppero, want to known a very nice person in Reggio Calabria, who made pipes, for speak with him over erica arborea wood. This is Mr. Leo. He born 98 years ago, 1910, hurt in 1936 in the war in Africa, it made the second world war and at the end of this last he emigrated in France. In France it made quite a lot works among which that of turner on behalf of the great manufacturing firms of clocks. Now he lives in Reggio, where despite the age and a recent accident, he has been invested by a car, using a French lathe (year 1946) continuous regularly to turn, it also produces rondellines and cogwheels for clocks of the diameter of 2mm, and then bagpipes, have made one of it of plexiglas, vases, pillboxes, lights and all imagination it suggests him. probably it will also take me a mini course to teach to build me the bagpipes. God blesses him.......ciao Giampiero.

Bye
Marco
 

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I just had my 69th birthday. I started turning about 2 1/2 years ago, and now I'm hooked!
 
I'm 61, and turning headed the list of reasons for taking an early retirement.

In '77 I acquired a 1946 Sears lathe to reproduce chair and table legs for my furniture restoration business. Within a couple of months, I was turning bowls, vessels, and sculptural pieces. 3 years later I bought a large lathe built in the late 1890's, put a 2hp motor on it, and used it till I bought a Stubby from John Jordan in '03.

Although my turning hasn't been constant over the years, I am making up for it now. The presence of the AAW and the plethora of turning equipment on the market help to make more folks aware of turning. Craft fairs and galleries all over the country are introducing the public to turned objects.

The future of turning looks bright to me~~
 
Follow Up..

Finally got around to updating the stats I began a while back. After adding almost 30 additional entries, the average age is still 54, and the average years of experience is still 12. Sounds conclusive to me.

After reading through each entry, it's nice to see how much turning has enriched your lives. Almost everyone said they have a blast working on the lathe...that's awesome!

Cheers, and thanks for participating!

Nick
 

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Re age

I've just hit 50 ,in our club 150 memebers we run a youth program and have budding turners as young as 8 but on average the young are 13 to 18
If you took the 12 out of the equation the average in our club is around 48
We have 6 over the age of 80 with one young fellow at 88 yes still turning strong
see www.sawg.org .nz for information on our clubs activities
I think the news letters make great reading
Cheers
Terry www.timberly.co.nz
 
My wife tells me that all wood turners are like little boys with a new collection of toys. I guess that reduces the average age factor considerably.

I'm 69 - apparently moving toward a lower number (which ain't all bad)
 
GeorgeH said:
My wife tells me that all wood turners are like little boys with a new collection of toys. I guess that reduces the average age factor considerably.

I'm 69 - apparently moving toward a lower number (which ain't all bad)
Click to expand...

LOL, turning "turns" some of us old f**ts into 9 or 10 year-olds again. Our curiosity of the possibilities seems boundless. The only difference is our prize possessions no longer fit in the pockets of our overalls. But the key to the magic garden(where all things are possible) does open the door to our shop/er, studio. 😉😀
 
I'm 66 and have been turning seriously for about 5 yrs, although I did turn a small bowl from a board in my 8th grade wood-shop class. Turning equipment and techniques have changed since then, but not as much as I would have thought.
 
GeorgeH said:
My wife tells me that all wood turners are like little boys with a new collection of toys. I guess that reduces the average age factor considerably.

I'm 69 - apparently moving toward a lower number (which ain't all bad)
Click to expand...

LOL George maybe it is time to tell your wife there are women woodturners too.🙂
 
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I have been waiting for my birthday this week just to make it more accurate. I am doing all I can to raise the average age, 61 this week and been turning 5 years.
 
im 18 years old. I started turning in high school when I was 17. I saw a video of Norm make a bat. That's when I knew that turning was for me. I turned on the lathes at school but never really had the time to finish a product since class was only 50 minutes and I usually only got 25 minutes to turn. I bought my own lathe and have been turning ever since.

Alex
 
52

52 and only been turning less than a year. I have probably spent as much money as some of the long timers, but I have enjoyed every single minute. Unfortunately I now know what an addiction fells like. OH WELL!
 
46

This seems like a good place for my first post here (Hi, everyone!). I'm 46 and was trained in metal turning amongst other things during my apprenticeship in the early 80s but ended up in drafting and design so I never used it. Picked up my first lathe (Jet pen lathe) about 5 years ago and my second (Jet 1014) about two years ago.


Colin
 
83

I've been turning since my wife bought me a lathe. She knew I wanted something that turned, and the Sears salesman sold her a lathe (I was thinking of a router). This was about 20 years ago. A book of directions about how to turn came with the lathe, and I struggled along for awhile. About 13 years or so ago, I took a course with Dave Ellsworth and learned how to turn. I do beautiful work now, but I am still learning.
 
Turning at almost 50

I'll be 50 this December and I've been turning for the last 4 years. I had exposure to lathes in Jr. High School shop class where I turned legs for a stool I made. Happy turning.
 
I am 42 but act like I am 16 (just ask my wife). My dad was a shop teacher for 20 years so I have been exposed to it for some time with a little experiance. Been doing flat work for many years but just recently got into the round stuff more.

Alan
 
Gettng Old

I am 58 and have been turning for about 3 years. I would venture to guess that the youngsters in the hobby are in their 40s with a few exceptions.
 
Average age of woodturners

Hi all,

I'm 58 year old woman who just started turning. I feel like a zit faced teen in our club. The club is comprised of Old and Older men. I was surprised to see so few women and younger men.
 
71

As a youngster I turned some Christmas presents on a lathe that my father acquired. I can't even recall what the tools looked like. I made custom furniture for an Annapolis designer in the 70's and wrote two articles for Fine Woodworking. I turned pieces that were needed for the furniture only. Youth soccer, then computers, and then sheepherding with border collies followed. In the late 90's I started turning and got serious about it around 1999 or 2000 when I spent a weekend at Bob Rosand's place and a week with Ray Key at Arrowmont. Retirement in 2002 has allowed me to focus on turning.

Interesting sidenote: Whenever I have tried to focus on some aspect of turning something has always come along and redirected me. I thought that I was going to turn bowls mostly. But I ended up making a lot of ornaments instead. So I got a Robust and was headed into bowls again when I assisted Bob Rosand at John C Campbell Folk School. Then I taught "Ornaments and Boxes" at JCCFS and will teach just ornaments in November. A gallery just placed an order for a dozen or so bowls. So it's still not clear what I might do when I grow up. 😀
 
Midi Haws said:
Hi all,

I'm 58 year old woman who just started turning. I feel like a zit faced teen in our club. The club is comprised of Old and Older men. I was surprised to see so few women and younger men.
Click to expand...

Says a lot for having time on your hands that most turners are vintage individuals. Or it might be a continuation of acquisition over creation of items that consumerism fosters.

Age is sort of relative. To my kids I'm one day younger than dirt. When I go to talk to seniors about the dangers of throw rugs I'm "sonny."

Still the same age inside, but clerks are starting to call me "sir.".
 
first turned in high school enjoyed it but stayed with flatwork over the years tried it after all these years again and been at it as much as possible for over a year now. theres nothing like seeing a piece take shape. the club i am amember is mostly my age or older 53.
 
I'm 60 and have been turning about 6 years. Most of the active members of my club appear to be older than me.
 
I'm 32, started turning 2 yrs ago, maybe 3, and have jumped to a 3520B recently, paid for it with bowl sales! I'm definitely a youngster in the turning club locally; other members average a few years more matured than I, but range from teenagers to eighty something, including many great turners!
 
75 and 20 yrs. I am on my 5'th lathe. Quit turning 3 times but could not stay away. I concentrate on smaller segmented and inlaid work. I now have a lathe I can sit at and turn.
 
I am 52 and have been turning for 5 years. I was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson's Disease at age 40 and medically retired a couple of years later. I was doing flat work at that time and it was getting too much for me to lift and turn. A good friend got me intrested in turning pens. I was having a blast with it but it soon became boring. I moved on learning to turn bowls. Now I do a lot of segmented, staved, and hollow forms and pens. I know one day the Parkinson's will force me to stop turning but until then I am going to have fun.
 
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responsibility

I am 62 and been turning for about 9 years. (can't remember for sure). I think alot of it is that when we're young we have lots of other responsibilities of family and career. We we get older and the kids are gone we have more time and money for tools. This is where I see most of our members coming from.

I think getting rid of shop in school was the worst thing they could have done. Not every kid has the disposition or finace for college, so why not let them have a look at other trades so they can make better decisions. We will always need plumbers and electricans. If everyone goes to college we'll have too many burger flippers and not enough tradesmen.

Vernon
 
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