Turn for Troops - Woodcraft

[George7]

I thought it might be appropriate to mention that there will be a "Turn for Troops" at the Bedford Woodcraft on Saturday, Nov. 8. I'm going to try to call tomorrow to get some details.

I went last year, and it was a little disappointing that there was a very small turnout. If anyone in the northeast part of the state has any time next weekend, they might think about attending.

Update!

I was finally able to get some details from Woodcraft about this event. They will be doing the "Turn for Troops" from 10:00 Am to 3:00 PM. There will be an hour lunch and they will be "blowing up the Sawstop". The sales flyer indicates that the Sawstop demo will be at 1:00 PM.

 

[rjwolfe3]

Was anyone able to make this event and how did it turn out?

 

[George7]

I was there. There were a total of 5 people who turned pens. Woodcraft had a class scheduled in their shop/classroom, so we ended up with 3 Jet minis set up on the floor of the store. It was nice that te penturning was visible to the public, several people stopped to watch and talk. One of the turners had never done a pen before, he happened to be at the store and asked if he could try a pen.

It's probably best that there wasn't a big response. There were not enough lathes for everyone who wanted to make pens. Last year there were only 2 turners, and a wife who drilled blanks, glued tubes, and used the barrel trimmer. The manager said there was nobody at all the year before. So maybe next year they'll get Woodcraft to commit to a date early enough that they can schedule their classes around the event. Perhaps we could do something as a group.

The SawStop demo was interesting!

 

[fiferb]

I think it is the franchise owner that is not on the ball. The Woodcraft in Greenville, SC starts cutting and drilling blanks a month ahead of time. They start signing up turners at that time as well, both Friday and Saturday. Six lathes in 3 hour shifts for the full two days. Their goal this year was 400 pens and I think they exceeded that. They even asked us to stop on Friday to leave some blanks for the Saturday crew. The employee that was running the turning said that Woodcraft HQ repays them for both the blanks and kits.

 

[George7]

I think it is the franchise owner that is not on the ball. The Woodcraft in Greenville, SC starts cutting and drilling blanks a month ahead of time. They start signing up turners at that time as well, both Friday and Saturday. Six lathes in 3 hour shifts for the full two days. Their goal this year was 400 pens and I think they exceeded that. They even asked us to stop on Friday to leave some blanks for the Saturday crew. The employee that was running the turning said that Woodcraft HQ repays them for both the blanks and kits.

You could be right. This has not been a strong event at this store. The manager is a very nice man, he said that he schedules the woodworking classes in the shop 6 months ahead of time. He also said Woodcraft didn't give him the date until well after his class schedule was released. I just looked at the class schedule for November, and every Saturday had/has a class scheduled. So it doesn't look like the event was given any consideration in the schedule.

I'm thinking that maybe we could, as a group, commit to having some turners available on the Saturdays near Veterans' Day next year. If the store knew that they could count on having a good turnout, they might make a better effort to support the event. Seven turners over a 3 year period probably doesn't make much of an impression.