At the upcoming “Special Interest Night†(SIN) at the San Jose AAW Symposium I will be moderating one of the Friday evening SIN sessions “Woodturner’s Gizmos and Gadgets†which will highlight various jigs, specialized tools, repurposed items, and creative solutions developed by woodturners. I first moderated this session last year in St. Paul, and we had over 150 meeting attendees at this session!! I agreed to hold another similar SIN session this year at the 2012 AAW Symposium.
This SIN activity is essentially a specialized “Show and Tell†session for the exchange of ideas on how woodturners have solved problems through creative tinkering, repurposing items, and development of practical solutions to common woodturning problems. I know that for many woodturning clubs where Show and Tell is a part of the typical meeting, this is often a popular and well-received activity. I certainly enjoy it as one of my favorite meeting activities, and have benefited from participating in it too! These kinds of items also evoke a high level of interest on Internet forums as well.
For those who are planning on attending the Symposium and can bring their ‘gizmo’ or ‘gadget’ item with them to show, they would get about 2-3 minutes to present their item to the group, explain how it works, give some idea about how it was made, and from what items. If others have an interest in contributing to this SIN discussion but can’t bring the actual item to show, I can generate a few Powerpoint slides in advance of the activity for you to present the item or idea to the group if images of the item can be sent to me as e-mail attachments in advance. Contact me if you are able to make a presentation!
For those that can’t attend the Symposium this year, you can still participate in this SIN activity by sending images of your “gizmo†to me, and I will include it along with an explanation in the presentation with attribution to you, and including your contact information for those that might want to ask questions. Prior to the St. Paul Symposium last year, several turners sent images of their items to me with brief explanations, and it worked out really well!! This would allow many members to contribute and participate in the symposium, even if only for a few minutes, and would contribute to the goal of sharing practical woodturning information and ideas. My hope is that participants in the ‘Gizmos and Gadgets’ activity will come away from this SIN session with lots of ideas they can take home and try themselves, and tell others about them at their Chapter meetings or in Chapter newsletters.
If you have great woodturning gizmo or gadget ideas that you would like to share with fellow woodturners, I’ll ask that you please send images to me as attachments to an e-mail message at rwallace@iastate.edu along with a brief explanation of what it does and how it is made. I will include it in the presentation. If you will be attending the SIN “Gizmos and Gadgetsâ€activity on Friday evening at the Symposium and would like to show or speak about your item, please contact me to be added to the program. I will need to receive all contributions by MONDAY, June 4th by 9:00 pm CDT at the latest.
BTW – Because they were not included in the last American Woodturner issue, I will invite Symposium attendees to my two rotations on “Designing a Safe and Efficient Woodturning Workstation†– held on Friday at 2:00 pm (Room A2) and again on Saturday at 8:00 am (Room B2).
Thanks in advance for your help!
Rob Wallace
This SIN activity is essentially a specialized “Show and Tell†session for the exchange of ideas on how woodturners have solved problems through creative tinkering, repurposing items, and development of practical solutions to common woodturning problems. I know that for many woodturning clubs where Show and Tell is a part of the typical meeting, this is often a popular and well-received activity. I certainly enjoy it as one of my favorite meeting activities, and have benefited from participating in it too! These kinds of items also evoke a high level of interest on Internet forums as well.
For those who are planning on attending the Symposium and can bring their ‘gizmo’ or ‘gadget’ item with them to show, they would get about 2-3 minutes to present their item to the group, explain how it works, give some idea about how it was made, and from what items. If others have an interest in contributing to this SIN discussion but can’t bring the actual item to show, I can generate a few Powerpoint slides in advance of the activity for you to present the item or idea to the group if images of the item can be sent to me as e-mail attachments in advance. Contact me if you are able to make a presentation!
For those that can’t attend the Symposium this year, you can still participate in this SIN activity by sending images of your “gizmo†to me, and I will include it along with an explanation in the presentation with attribution to you, and including your contact information for those that might want to ask questions. Prior to the St. Paul Symposium last year, several turners sent images of their items to me with brief explanations, and it worked out really well!! This would allow many members to contribute and participate in the symposium, even if only for a few minutes, and would contribute to the goal of sharing practical woodturning information and ideas. My hope is that participants in the ‘Gizmos and Gadgets’ activity will come away from this SIN session with lots of ideas they can take home and try themselves, and tell others about them at their Chapter meetings or in Chapter newsletters.
If you have great woodturning gizmo or gadget ideas that you would like to share with fellow woodturners, I’ll ask that you please send images to me as attachments to an e-mail message at rwallace@iastate.edu along with a brief explanation of what it does and how it is made. I will include it in the presentation. If you will be attending the SIN “Gizmos and Gadgetsâ€activity on Friday evening at the Symposium and would like to show or speak about your item, please contact me to be added to the program. I will need to receive all contributions by MONDAY, June 4th by 9:00 pm CDT at the latest.
BTW – Because they were not included in the last American Woodturner issue, I will invite Symposium attendees to my two rotations on “Designing a Safe and Efficient Woodturning Workstation†– held on Friday at 2:00 pm (Room A2) and again on Saturday at 8:00 am (Room B2).
Thanks in advance for your help!
Rob Wallace