Suggestion Box
In addition to our biannual surveys, we want to hear from you throughout the year--what do you need from club programs, what would you specifically suggest on topics or demonstrators, what are your dreams for upcoming programs, what would you like to offer to the club? Your suggestion will be reviewed and recorded with your name below with the response from the Program Committee to your suggestion. Ongoing input from you or the Program Committee will be added.
Have a suggestion? Click on the button to send your ideas to Dave, our program chair
11/3/2021
Suggestion from Mike Traynor--I have 3 cherry burls which I can donate to the club for a demo. We could explore cutting them up and what we might get out of them.. Each one is like an Easter Egg--you never know what's inside!
Response from Programs--Thanks for your generous offer. We had Phil Rose's demo on turning burls in August 2021 but there is always more to learn--every burl is different. As of 1/14/2022, Dave, Mike Traynor, Paul Matthias, Clarke, and Mike Grady are planning a demo focusing on both the cutting of the burls and turning in April 2022. Updated--our demo on assessing and cutting burls was our April demo and the June demo was the turning of those same burls.
11/4/2021
Suggestion from Deb Chapin--I could learn more about cutting up bowl blanks from a log. We could have a sawdust session and then accept donations for the blanks.
Response from Programs--There were 2 sawdust sessions on this topic that Dave and Mike held in Summer 2021 but I think they had more hopeful participants than slots available. Let's see if we can look at another session and see who else might be willing to help out running a sawdust session.Our first sawdust session with Bob Reynolds and Clarke Buchanan was on May 14 with a fall repeat on this topic upcoming--date TBA.
11/2/2021
Suggestion from Denis Casaubon--When we had live Show and Tell during club meetings, people would bring in their failure projects and there was always something to learn. Even on Zoom, we could have Epic Failure Night where people would show their problems and solutions.
Response from Programs--This is an interesting idea. Members would need to have some notice so that they would save their disasters, not put them in the wood burning pile, or make the extra effort to save them and document their solutions. Could be a Coffee Hour or part of a meeting. We'll keep it in mind. As of 12/15, Save Your Bloopers via photos for the March 2022 Coffee Hour! This was announced at the December Coffee Hour and will be in the January 2022 newsletter.
10/2021
Suggestion from October surveys--I would like to connect with other people who are using CNC machines.
Response from Programs--Sounds like a good sub-group meeting. We'll put a call-out in the November newsletter and see if we can find like minded people who are willing to share their emails. As of 1/13/2022, we have 6 members who have expressed interest and their emails shared with each other. They have met via Zoom and have plans moving forward. Any others interested--contact Robin.
10/2021
Suggestion from October surveys--I would like to do some shop tours to see how other people arrange their shops.
Response from Programs--We previously had shop tours in 2014 and had one planned for 2019, pre-COVID. We had photo shop tours in the newsletters (see the website newsletter archives for September 2020 and November 2020). When we can safely and comfortably return to larger gatherings, we can work to plan them again. Would you send Robin photos of your shop for the newsletter now—robinmcintyre@comcast.net?. Join us at the Coffee Hour on 1/19/2022 for tool storage both on and off the lathe--it's a mini-shop tour. The Powerpoint was sent to all members. Also the Coffee Hour on 5/18/2022 on dust collection systems showed had good information from members' shops. That Powerpoint was also sent out to all members. Another mini-shop tour!
10/2021
Suggestion from October surveys--I'd like to see the demonstrations arranged by skill level.
Response from Programs--Arranging meeting demos sequentially by skill level is difficult since we are working to meet the needs of a diverse group of club members. Also, novice or experienced turners join the club throughout the year. Over the course of the year, we plan some demos that are more basic techniques and some more advanced as we work to keep everyone engaged and interested. Maybe we could try to identify and attach skill levels to demos, like Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced. I acknowledge it’s not always clear cut, so maybe we could also use hyphen in some instances, as in “Beginner-Intermediate” and “Intermediate-Advanced”