Project Background

This last summer, the members of the Antelope Valley Woodturner's Association (AVWA) decided to take advantage of the Educational Opportunity grant available to individuals and clubs from the American Association of Woodturners (AAW). As a group, we submitted projects to the club that we thought would best benefit our club and possibly woodturning as a whole. Now, the latter is not the easiest of ideas to come up with. As a club with 20 members and 1 ½ years together, we have quite a few experienced turners, as well as new comers to the art…what could we do that would benefit the largest possible audience?

One of our members, Chris Wright, suggested a web site. A web site that would encompass as much information regarding woodturning as we could fit on a server! So, after some research into what kind of sites were out there already, we found that there are a good number of quality sites about woodturning. The problem was that each of them centered their efforts on one or two areas of information, which leads the turner searching the web for information to have to look in multiple locations. The club discussed the possibilities and necessities and after a unanimous vote, Chris and Brad Stave, the club's president, drafted a grant proposal to request funding for the new site.

The plan was approved and Chris (a part-time web designer) began the task of building the site and gave progress reports and took feedback and suggestions at the monthly AVWA club meetings. Five long months later, we are pleased to announce the opening of Woodturner's Resource! (http://www.woodturnersresource.com)

Goals & Objectives

Our main purpose behind the Woodturner's Resource (WR.com) is pure and simple…to extend and share the art of woodturning with anyone and everyone we can, worldwide! Multiple areas of the website were created to address the different resources that can be provided to woodturners via the Internet:

  Interactive bulletin boards
  Woodturning gallery
  American Association of Woodturners Information
  Yellow pages
  Project plans and ideas

Bulletin boards - probably the largest and most dynamic portion of the website, the bulletin boards make it possible for woodturners worldwide to discuss projects, tools, give feedback on gallery submissions and more. Visitors to the site can easily and affordably (the charge is free to join) register for the bulletin boards and join other woodturners in turning related discussions.

Galleries - The sharing of ideas, techniques and concepts is an invaluable tool in the art of woodturning. Many times, the inspiration for a personal project is born by seeing the work of another artist or craftsman. With this in mind, Woodturner's Resource has dedicated this space to display the work of its members for the world to see. As we grow, this "global" gallery will be in place for turners and non-turners alike to appreciate, share with others and hopefully inspire the next generation of turners to go beyond what is already known. Also, the gallery will give everyone insight to the woods of the world in actual use, as it grows our hope is that our members will submit pictures of different types of wood so those turners with limited access or knowledge of these woods will be able to experience their beauty. With that said, we ask that our members submit 1-2 of pieces of their work, for display in our gallery.
AAW Information - this section of the site is dedicated to creating awareness and providing a few of the key links to the AAW website (membership info, local chapters, symposium info, etc.) to promote the parent organization and our primary sponsor! A brief history (quoted from the AAW website) is also included to help educate the public on the beginnings of the organization and modern woodturning in the US.

Yellow Pages - Finding a good resource for turning supplies can be difficult sometimes to say the least. This section of the Woodturner's Resource is our way of trying to make it a bit easier. We invite our visitors to inform WR of any suppliers, catalogs, local shops, etc. that would be of benefit to woodturners. The WR staff will also be investigating the web to find resources listed with search engines, directories and other places such as the AAW resource guide.

Project Plans and Ideas - This section is a collective area for members to contribute project plans and ideas that they feel would be helpful or of interest to other turners. It includes articles on different turning techniques and project plans submitted by our members. If it is an original article, we can produce it on our site. Projects, and other articles written by or for other sources will be linked to the originating source. The WR staff will also be investigating the web to find resources listed with search engines, directories and other places to find quality, enjoyable articles to share with our visitors.

The Bulletin Board - How does it work?

The WR bulletin boards, along with the rest of the site, are totally free to woodturners worldwide. To visit the boards go to the WR home page (http://www.woodturnersresource.com). From the WR home page, click the link to Bulletin Boards. This will open up the main forum screen. From this screen, you can view the open forums, see the latest posts from members and register to become a member.

The member registration is simple, in the upper right hand corner is a link to "register", and clicking on this link will begin the process. After agreeing to abide by the rules (mainly keep it clean and enjoy!) The registrant will be asked to complete a short login information form, which also includes a few general questions about yourself so that other turners can know a bit about you, location, interests and such. (This is known as your member profile). Once the new member is registered, he/she can read posts, post replies, create new discussions and submit pictures of their woodturning to the WR galleries.

The forums are real time discussion boards where members can discuss woodturning with other turners around the world. To access a discussion, go to the main bulletin board screen and choose the area you wish to view or post to. This can be done two ways; click on the forum subject on the left (i.e. New User Welcome, Tools and Techniques, Woods of the World, etc.) The center two columns, posts and replies, indicate whether or not there are discussions already in that topic area. If there is a discussion under a certain topic, the fifth column will display the header for that discussion, simply clicking on the header will take you into the discussion board for that specific item and the member can read and reply to it.

New discussions, questions for the community and such can be created by clicking on the forum topic. Once in that forum's board, you can view the discussions in process or create a new one. To create a new discussion, click the New Post link which will open the posting window. This window is essentially the same as any standard email composition program. You have your subject line, the message body area and once these are complete, click the post button to submit. Moments latter the new message/reply will appear in the discussion.

For complete instructions on using the WR bulletin board or to join in, visit http://www.woodturnersresource.com.

Contact Information

Made possible through the Education Grant program of the American Association of Woodturners, The Woodturner's Resource is free for turners worldwide. Our endeavor through this project is to create a space on the internet that combines as much of the information available to turners as can be located, shared, and passed on as we all share what we love…woodturning!

To visit the Woodturner's Resource, enter http://www.woodturnersresource.com in your internet browser and check it out. For more information on the site, or for questions/feedback the WR staff can be emailed here.