Woodworking Clubs...do you belong?

[Rich Riddle]

Do you belong to your local woodworking club if one is available? I attended my first meeting at a local club and many of the members acted bizarre. Don't get me wrong, there were a few good woodworkers there but they hid among the condescending and down-right-rude ones. There was an inventor of a tool invited to talk to the group and the members were asking him personal questions, relationship questions, and financial questions instead of questions about his tool. Have any of you ever tried meeting people in real life that enjoy the hobby? If so, how did it go? Did you join a group and ignore the bizarre folks? Or were there too many of them to join?

[Andrew DiLorenzo]

I joined the Florida West Coast Woodworkers Club and met some nice people and made some friends. I just volunteered to be the web master and wil post a link as soon as I figure out the web page!

[Keith Westfall]

I joined our wood turners club a couple years ago after buying my used midi lathe. Best thing ever. A lot of them have been members and friends for a long time so it takes a bit to start to fit in, but everyone has been great otherwise. Friendly and helpful, and I hope that as this next summer won't be as busy as it has been in the past, that I will be able to attend the summer get together and BBQ.

Not all people are good - hopefully clubs are! Does that make any sense...?

[Myk Rian]

I belong to 2 groups.
Our local county club meets in the middle school wood shop every week to help those that don't have a wood shop.
The other one encompasses the SE portion of the state, and is quite active. Several of those members come here.

[Rick Hutcheson]

I belong to the Des Moines Woodworkers club and think it is great. We have over 400 members and will have about 130 at the monthly meetings. We also have splinter groups that meet like the Turners, that will have over 30 at most meetings. I find them to be a great bunch of woodworkers and most willing to help you in any way they can.

[Matt Meiser]

I've been a member of one in southeast Michigan for about 8 years and ended up on the board about 4 years ago. We've tried to stay quite informal with no dues, etc which has had its pluses and minuses but I believe that our 10th .

I can't really think of a group situation in life (school, work, social, etc.) I've been in where there haven't been some people who I can relate well to and others who I don't. Its human nature. Given the broad spectrum of people attracted to woodworking, that may be even more true at a woodworking club. We have members that are engineers, artists, a doctor, a lawyer or two, tradesmen, etc, etc.

[Rich Riddle]

I belong to 2 groups.
Our local county club meets in the middle school wood shop every week to help those that don't have a wood shop.
The other one encompasses the SE portion of the state, and is quite active. Several of those members come here.

This sounds like a good club, one where people do things and help others. Guess I am just not into yet another meeting where people only talk about things. We often define people into groups. Some of my groups include talkers and doers. At times we have an overlap of groups. I think way our local club meetings are structured brings more talkers than doers.

The first presenter was a female scientist, quite smart. Some member kept asking her about the molecular makeup of different bonding glues. She finally told him that was too technical to explain to most people in the group and that all we needed to understand concerned what glues worked best in what applications. He was taking copious notes before she shut down his line of questioning. The same man was one of the people asking the second presenter about his financial standing but had no questions about the invented tool or its operations. I will gladly go a lifetime without seeing that man again.

It sounds as if Michigan has many good groups, but it's a bit cold to drive that far let alone live in your winter climate.

[Rich Riddle]

I can't really think of a group situation in life (school, work, social, etc.) I've been in where there haven't been some people who I can relate well to and others who I don't. Its human nature. Given the broad spectrum of people attracted to woodworking, that may be even more true at a woodworking club. We have members that are engineers, artists, a doctor, a lawyer or two, tradesmen, etc, etc.

Well the group I met had some differing occupations, but they were all white middle-aged men with the exception of 2% at most. You are kind by stating you don't relate well to some people. Perhaps I will be an on-line club kind of person though that eliminates the hands-on activities.

[Dan Hintz]

I attended several meetings of a local turning club a year or two ago. The first 1-1.5 hours (no lie) of every meeting was wasted going over minutes from the last meet, purchasing tickets for the monthly raffle, and so on. I saw a few highly-talented turners in the group, but my time was too precious to waste sitting on a hard chair waiting for any real excitement to happen. OF course, my poor business dealings with the woman who soon after became president of the club 100% turned me off to ever attending another session. I hear there's a better club in the opposite direction, but I have yet to attend... maybe this summer.

[Dave Anderson NH]

The "club" I belong to, The Guild of NH Woodworkers www.gnhw.org, has over 550 members. We are now in our 23rd year and are comprised of about 25% full or part time professionals with the 75% balance being hobbiests. As a 501c3 non-profit our mission is education. Members and guests are welcome at no fee to almost every one of our events. Since we grew so much over the years we have evolved from a dozen folks meeting 5 times per year in someone's shop to an umbrella organization with the same meetings per year and over half a dozen special interest sub-groups. We have a turners group, Beginner Intermediate Group, period furniture, hand tools, luthiers, woodworking as a business, boatbuilders, and a design/philosophic group named the "Right Brained woodworkers". Each of those sub-groups meets either 5 or 6 times per year. It is a rare weekend when there isn't some event going available for those interested. Yes, the vast majority of our members are middle aged or orlder men, but we actively support the local school programs with scholarships and grants from our Scholarship Fund.

I have only very rarely seen problems with personalities, attitude, or behavior over my 20 years in the guild and those were quickly solved. I owe much to our organization and would be no where as skilled or passionate about woodworking without the training and mentorship I received right from day one. Interenet forums and internet or other videos are great boons to all of us, but nothing can ever come close to real time interaction during a presentation, demonstration, or class. Any guild or club is what you make it. This means attending, becoming active, changing what you don't like, and becoming a part of the management structure. I did and served on the board for 17 years including 2 as president.

[Steve Wurster]

I don't think there are any near me, ignoring those that are for turners (I don't turn; don't even have a lathe). But if there was one I would consider joining.

[Don Orr]

I have been a member of the Northeastern Woodworkers Association for many years. It is an active group of varied individuals of all types and interests. We put on a large woodworking show every year in the spring and it is done entirely by volunteers. We also have several special interest groups such as scroll sawing, carving, turning and a craft group that makes projects for a camp for children with terrible diseases. We have an annual lumber and tool auction that is a fundraiser for our educational grant fund. I have met many interesting people throught his organization and some that I am not interested in just like in the other aspects of life. There are monthly meetings which I don't always get to, a Family Night around the winter holidays, a summer picnic and other special events and speakers throughout the year.

I was very active for many years but have had to back off quite a bit as it was becoming too much of a time demand and I am not retired. Most of the members are and have much more spare time. When they are no longer with us, I hope to pick up some of the slack. We are lucky to have quite a few younger members including many women.

www.woodworker.org

http://www.nwawoodworkingshow.org/

http://www.totallyturning.com/

I'm sorry to hear of your recent experience. It's a shame that 1 or 2 people can ruin something that should be fun and educational. We have many highly educated members but they usually at least have manners. We also have many highly skilled members that are eager to share their knowledge and skills. Often enough they are the same people. I am fortunate to have learned a great deal from many nice people over the years. I hope things work out better in the future for you. If not, there's always a bunch of friendly folks here at the Creek.

[Mike Henderson]

The local club in my area is a woodworker's club and has a splinter group of turners. The turners group was very active and brought in demonstrators almost every meeting. The flatwork group was not very active - the meetings just didn't go anywhere. I tried to talk the board into sponsoring more of an on-line presence, especially a forum for sharing information and experience, and volunteered to do the web site, but there was no interest. I eventually dropped my membership.

Mike

[Stew Hagerty]

I belong to two Clubs, which just happen to meet at the same place. The Huntertown Woodworkers and the Three Rivers Woodworkers. Locally, we were lucky enough to have a benefactor who built and outfitted a Clubhouse / Workshop for the benefit of all those who wished to join. He, and most of the original members happened to be Turners so the workshop side of the building is primarily set up for that purpose with like 10-12 different lathes (I haven't counted because I'm not a turner). Other equipment includes 2- TS's, 2- SCMS's, 1- Jointer, 2- Planers, 1- Belt Sander, 3- Band Saws, etc. There is also plenty of bench space. The other side of the building is open and can be set up for meetings, shows, demonstrations and such. It has a complete multi-media setup, and a library section. Separating the two halves is a smaller entry area with space to sit down and eat lunch. The club also owns a large barn with a splitter and a kiln. The last I heard we had in the neighborhood of 10,000BF of lumber stored that is available for purchase by the members at prices far far below what is commercially available. Both clubs meet monthly with demonstrations, education, fellowship, show & tell, and more. It is an amazing space and being a member there is an incredible experience for anyone interested in any type of woodworking. Most af all though, the people there are so friendly and helpful that is a joy to be there. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

[Jamie Lynch]

I used to belong to SAW's in Oklahoma City before they fizzled out. They got me started in the hobby. When I lived in Colorado I was a part of the Colorado Woodworkers Guild, but unfortunately I didn't have much time to get involved there.
Now back in Oklahoma and all I have been able to find is wood turners.