I have a 30'x24' stand alone shop which is not bad for an amateur woodworker/turner but due to clutter and a lack storage racks/shelves about 20% of it wasn't useable as I had stuff stacked on the floor. Last week after returning from Wyoming, I decided it was time to organize and do a general cleaning so I could begin finishing a couple projects after minimizing the possible dust contamination sources.
After building a storage rack, I began unboxing turning blanks, and materials I had received from all over the country and even from at least one foreign country (Japan). I was amazed! Names I didn't recognize, places of which I had never heard......Fishing Creek, NJ......Blaine, WA...........Winchester, KY.....Ft. Worth, TX..and many more.
A number of years ago, a now deceased Creeker turner, Andy Hoyt, mistook a comment by me and mistakenly thought that as I was building my shop, I couldn't afford a lathe. At Andys urging, the turners here at SMC, took up a collection and bought me a Jet VS mini, tools and guys from around the country sent me blanks.....bottle stopper blanks....pen blanks......sealed bowl blanks.... I turned for a number of years on the now, infamous "Diving Board" which was the Jet VS mini mounted on a 2"x12" sitting on 2 halves of a Little Giant ladder. Later I bought a PM3520B, retired the Jet VS Mini and then paid-it forward to a CPO on active duty in Colorado Springs, CO.
Today as I found some of those as yet, unused turning blanks and materials, I was reminded of the incredible generosity of the turners here at SMC.
Thanks again!
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