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An unofficial survey of and for Woodturners By Norm Cloutier WeekendTurner.com in Raleigh, North Carolina on July 7, 2015 An unofficial survey of and for Woodturners

An informal survey of woodturners -- early results analyized

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An unofficial survey of and for Woodturners

By Norm CloutierWeekendTurner.com

in Raleigh, North Carolina on July 7, 2015

An unofficial survey of and for Woodturners

04/15/2023 [email protected] 2

Who has taken the survey? (so far)

• 126 responded to post in Facebook groups 86% in US (108) 55% Non-AAW members (69)

OH 10

TX 7

FL 6

IL 7

NY 5AZ 4CA 4GA 4MN 4VA 4IN 3MI 3MS 3OR 3PA 3WI 3CO 2ID 2KS 2KY 2MA 2MD 2ME 2MO 2MT 2OK 2UT 2WA 2AK 1AL 1CT 1LA 2NC 1NH 1NM 1SC 1TN 1WV 1

04/15/2023 [email protected] 3

Just the highlights, please…• About half (53%) have been turning for less than 5 years• Under a third (30%) have been turning for more than 10 years

• Most turners are self-led (81%)• Majority find books helpful (70%)• Many are influenced by YouTube (76%)• Under half influenced by a local club (47%)

• More than 80% of all turners have:– Band saw, table saw, compressor, drill press, grinder, jacobs/drill chuck

• 72% own a scroll chuck, 40% have 8-12” lathes, 19% own a vacuum system• Between 35% and 44% would like to get:

– Steady rest, vacuum, hollowing, or coring system

• 35% have yet to sell a piece• 23% have sold more than

100• 23% have sold 1-20 pieces

04/15/2023 [email protected] 4

Where we are as turnersWhat’s your current status as a woodturner?

38%

36%

12%

9%5% Turning is my after-work hobby

(have unrelated full-time job)

Turning is my retirementactivity/hobby

Turning is my part-timeemployment/job/income

I am a beginner/novice turner

Turning is my full-timeemployment/job/income

< 1 year 14 11%1-2 years 18 14%2-3 years 17 13%3-5 years 17 13%5-10 years 22 17%10-15 years 17 13%15-20 years 3 2%20+ years 18 14%

None... 43 34%1-3 pieces 7 6%4-10 pieces 13 10%11-20 pieces 10 8%21-50 pieces 15 12%51-100 pieces 8 6%100+ pieces 29 23%

How long have you been turning?

Count only years in which you produced at least 12 items

How many pieces have you sold?

“None – I keep or give them away”

04/15/2023 [email protected] 5

What we’ve been makingAbout how many of the following items have your produced; honest estimates are fine.

None 1-4 5-9 10-24 25-49 50-99 100+Bowls 4% 16% 18% 16% 16% 4% 26%

Platters 26% 37% 18% 10% 4% 2% 4%Hollow forms 37% 26% 14% 10% 7% 2% 6%

Boxes 22% 28% 18% 16% 6% 3% 7%Segmented pieces (10+ glued segments) 57% 29% 5% 6% 2% 0% 2%

Pens 40% 7% 6% 12% 14% 6% 15%Furniture/architectural turning 62% 17% 8% 6% 3% 1% 4%Toys (tops, kaleidoscopes, etc) 34% 29% 14% 7% 9% 5% 3%

Other kits (stoppers, pepper mills, razors, etc. 38% 18% 14% 10% 7% 6% 6%Other no Kits (goblets, spoons, knobs, etc.) 36% 23% 14% 9% 7% 7% 5%

Other art (wall hanging, ornaments, etc) 41% 27% 12% 7% 3% 3% 7%

04/15/2023 [email protected] 6

All about the toolsWhich of these tools or equipment do you have or want?

Bought Built "Have" Want No InterestWood lathe 96% 2% 98% 2% 0%

Band Saw 90% 1% 91% 9% 1%Table or miter saw 90% 2% 91% 6% 3%

Air compressor 87% 1% 88% 8% 5%Drill press 87% 1% 88% 12% 1%

Grinder/sharpening system 90% 4% 94% 6% 1%Scroll chuck 71% 2% 73% 14% 14%

Lathe Jacobs/drill chuck 88% 1% 89% 10% 2%Longworth chuck or jumbo jaws 50% 10% 59% 34% 7%

Vacuum holding system 11% 8% 19% 44% 38%Hollowing tools/system 39% 10% 50% 39% 12%

Steady rest (spindle or bowl) 26% 17% 43% 43% 14%Bowl coring system 20% 1% 21% 50% 30%

Woodburner/pyrography pen 42% 1% 42% 30% 29%Power carver (rotary/reciprocating) 38% 1% 39% 24% 38%

Red-green spectrum is per tool/row "Have" = bought or built

04/15/2023 [email protected] 7

If it ain’t got that swing…What is your lathe's capacity?Swing: Largest diameter you can turn -- in inches

Range of inches

% 0f All Responses

Cumulative groups

Just 8 0.8% 1%9-10 12% 13%

11-12 27% 40%13-15 7% 47%

Just 16 16% 63%17-18 2% 65%19-20 11% 76%21-22 1.6% 78%23-24 9% 87%25-26 4% 90%27-30 2% 93%

31-to-33 1.6% 94%34-to-36 1.6% 96%37-to-48 0.8% 97%49-to-60 1.6% 98%61-to-72 1.6% 100%

Distinct groups

16-20"

14% 21-26"

27-26"6%

29%

47% < 16"

36"+4%

This is a histogram (grouping) of all the values submitted.

It shows 40% of all have lathes with no more than 12” capacity

Also, 29% have lathes that can turn between 16 and 20 inches diameter

04/15/2023 [email protected] 8

Our influencesWhat most helped you become the woodturner you are?Assign a value to each of these items that helped you get where you are

HS Shop class Adult class Workshop Mentor My Club Pro 1on1 Books DVDs YouTube Self-taught

How I got started 21% 13% 4% 24% 4% 5% 11% 5% 13% 37%Most influential 3% 5% 18% 14% 25% 9% 19% 12% 34% 44%

Moderately influential 4% 12% 16% 8% 18% 6% 39% 26% 30% 14%Some influence total: 28% 30% 38% 46% 47% 19% 70% 43% 76% 94%

Have done/seen 8% 7% 11% 4% 6% 6% 18% 23% 16% 6%Not at all 65% 64% 51% 50% 47% 76% 13% 34% 9% 1%

Shop class in HS Adult beginner class Workshop(s) with pro(s) Friend/family mentor Local club meetings

Studied 1-on-1 with a pro Read books Professional DVDs/tapes YouTube Videos Self-taught trial & error

04/15/2023 [email protected] 9

Taking your timeHow many hours did you spend turning last month?Or in an average month; include time spent on design, planning, cutting, gluing turning, sanding, surface embellishment and finishing

This histogram shows, for example:

* 9% of turners spend 33-40 hours per month turning

* 84% spend less than 11 days per month

A few answers of more than 260 hours per month were ignored as, well, unrealistic.

Range of hours

As 8-hour days

% 0f all responses

None 0 4%1-8 ~1 15% 15%

9-16 1-2 22% 37%17-24 2-3 20% 58%25-32 3-4 8% 66%33-40 4-5 9% 75%41-56 5-7 2% 77%57-72 7-9 4% 81%73-88 9-11 2% 84%

89-104 11-13 5% 89%105-120 13-15 2% 91%

121-to-136 15-17 0.8% 92%137-to-152 17-19 0.8% 93%153-to-168 19-21 2% 95%169-to-184 21-23 0.0% 95%185-to-200 23-25 0.8% 96%

13-17 days

17-25 days

Distinct groupsCumulative

groups

~1-3 days

3-11 days

4%

8%

26%

58%

04/15/2023 [email protected] 10

About the survey…• Where to get/see/answer it: http://bit.ly/1LpAXP4 (It’s a Google Docs form)

• Who is doing this and why? Just me; I’m a turner and a data guy – my day job is web analytics director. I wanted to give my club a useful view of our members but then realized the potential for a larger audience. No, I have no master plan for world domination or woodturner marketing.

• Where can I see the raw results?Send me ([email protected]) an email and I will invite you to access the raw Google data.

• Can I use this for my club?Sure. Just send around this URL http://bit.ly/1LpAXP4 . You can filter the results by zip code to keep it local, but please help grow the overall data set by using this version of the form.

• Why didn’t you ask about “xyz”?The goal was to keep to a 10-question limit. I worked on a long list and culled to what I thought would be most interesting to local clubs. A few questions are structured to reveal a LOT of info.

• What’s next?Crosstabs! With more data (hundreds or thousands) I can analyze specific sub-groups, like new versus 5+year turners. With only 120 or so results, slicing that thin can be very misleading.