Where is Everyone?

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Chris,

Going back to your original posting, - getting a meetup of woodworkers is difficult - because in general, you need to be meeting in a workshop - to provide a common interest in equipment or items on display.

E.g. From what I've seen of carvers groups - it's easy to fit several in a workshop and they can all watch and suggest ways to improve the work in progress. I can't even get a second person in my workshop!

In fact their is quite a few of us in the Sussex/Brighton area, but meeting in the pub seems a little odd - all wearing white carnations maybe! And talking about woodworking is not the interesting bit - it's poking around someones workshop and saying "Ooh thats a good idea" or "I'll copy that jig/storage arrangement and use that in my workshop" or "That finished piece is great I'd like to do something like that ...tell me, how exactly did you do that particular bit of it?".

Whilst many of us meet at my evening class - we come from quite a wide geographical area (in fact I travel the furthest), and also some people are just "having a go" at woodworking - they are doing it out of interests sake as an evening class rather than being particularly keen on woodworking as a hobby and wishing to improve. This is reflected in the reasonably high turnover of beginners each year. They are quite happy having made a single item of furniture they can have in their house.

So... niche woodworking hobbies seem easier to form into clubs than "general" furniture making. Carving you've mentioned already - but their are also quite a few turning clubs, and green woodworking clubs. In all cases they are able to "meet" and stand around and watch someone make an item.

I'm with Aragron on the number of posts - it's just the right level per day for me. On another forum I moderate its now split into hundreds of sections (well OK not quite hundreds) and I simply ignore all postings which aren't in my areas of interest. Thats a shame as you miss things which are relevant as you simply don't have time to wade through.

Finally, people have very different expectations on what they want out of a club - in turning or carving it's more straightforward. In a general woodworking/furniture making club - some people are looking for training or mentors, some people are looking for club together for discounts, some people want to try out equipment, or find like minded people nearby they can share equipment with perhaps. All in all, it requires lots of organisation.

Dunno - just my thoughts!

Adam
 
There are lots of interesting observations here and quite a bit of food for thought.

I think Tim and Adam have probably got something when they say that a generalised woodworking club may be too broad a category for many people unlike say carving - although I am finding that can be a pretty broad subject too.

But my thoughts were really triggered by the number of forum members (especially active ones) compared to the much larger number in the potential pool of members. In a forum of this type we can and do cater for specialised interests (turning hand tools) so that should not be a handicap.

Still, as Aragorn and Adam say, you can only keep up with so many posts so I shall be careful what I wish for!
 
Adam":24v3mp60 said:
And talking about woodworking is not the interesting bit - it's poking around someones workshop and saying "Ooh thats a good idea" or "I'll copy that jig/storage arrangement and use that in my workshop" or "That finished piece is great I'd like to do something like that ...tell me, how exactly did you do that particular bit of it?".
Which is sort of what we do here, isn't it? :D

Cheers, Alf

Working on the shooting board post, btw.
 
waterhead37":1zhtqalr said:
Where is everyone?
.... it is plain that our beloved forum here is lacking several thousand members

My first reaction to this was "So what?" followed by "How do you know?" so I'd better clarify! The "So what?" part hinges around "quality over quantity." I've seen huge fora which suffer the problem of low-quality posts which obscure some real gems. I would far rather have the quality of posts that exist here, produced by the current numbers, than encourage posting for posting sake (which is what seems to happen in "recruiting drives").

The "How do you know?" part was related to voluntary organisations generally, in that no matter how many members there are, it's the same few that do most of the work. Surely this also applies to forum memberships? We know who the prolific posters are and they do so because they have something worthwhile to say which helps many others as well as the original questioner. You'll probably never know how many lurkers or one-time guests have been helped by the regular contributors here, but does it matter? If the object of the forum was to become the biggest, then yes, it does. If, however, the object was to help like-minded people (as I suspect it was), then you're already achieving that, in spades! :lol:

We are certainly missing the input of a very large number of very talented people who for one reason or another don't know how - or choose not - to engage in forums such as these.

If they choose not to, that's that. If they don't know how, they're not likely to have seen the forum anyway. I'm in my sixtieth year and consider myself computer literate. No-one in my circle of friends and acquaintances is unable to access the Internet, search the Web, send and receive e-mail, etc. There are free courses for those who want them - WANT them. If people don't want to communicate electronically, there's very little that can be done to rectify that.

Ray.
 
I think there are a couple of other factors too -

1) Search Functionality

Personally, I always use the search function before asking a question - the amount of knowledge already available here is huge. On many boards this is the most important point of "forum etiquette".

I really like the tolerant approach shown here, where a repeated question is answered with a kind reminder about the search function and a list of links to posts that were found - great! :) (says a lot about the regulars on here)

But remember that many, like myself, will have seen this and are following "best" practice - getting our answers silently via search.

At the moment I am trying to learn how to sharpen my chisels and how to use a hand plane - and all of the questions I could not answer with my books have already been expertly answered in previous posts (thank you!).

2) Future Ambitions

I am very interested in woodwork, but my ambition far outstrips my available time. So most of the jobs I do are more of the "fix it up" type than the self-made furniture I would love to be ruining.

For example, I am currently biscuit jointing stiffening strips to the bottoms of 30 cheap laminated-chipboard shelves in my library. Is this interesting to anyone here? :oops:

Maybe you would be interested in the bodged together jig that I'm using so that I can cut all the slots without measuring - but most of my jobs do not warrant even that.

So I post only when I feel I can actually contribute something interesting (rarely).

Ian

(impatiently waiting for the day he can rip out those bookcases and build his own monstrosity)
 
FelderMan is right that the search engine game is a big job and takes a lot of work to keep your site in the top ten and I have to admit, I haven't bothered with it for a while.

As UKW has been around for a while, google knows about us;

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=uk ... ing+forums


Trev,

That's a good idea. Martin from Brimarc is a UKW supporter and last year made some UKW posters and displayed them on the Brimarc stand at Tools04, which was very nice of him :)
 
For example, I am currently biscuit jointing stiffening strips to the bottoms of 30 cheap laminated-chipboard shelves in my library. Is this interesting to anyone here?

Maybe you would be interested in the bodged together jig that I'm using so that I can cut all the slots without measuring - but most of my jobs do not warrant even that.

So I post only when I feel I can actually contribute something interesting (rarely).

Ian - you make some good points.

Re your point above - post it and see what happens. If no one finds it interesting then it will quietly slip off the board but you never know and anyway I for one would like to see the jig!

As you say - it is a friendly place and no one is averse to having new threads posted. Whats the worst that can happen? If no one replies, it doesn't mean its not been useful (or viewed - I 've posted before with no replies and 300 views!) and maybe someone can help you by suggesting an improvement (if its appropriate)

Cheers

Tim
 
ijam":qmcz0ldl said:
For example, I am currently biscuit jointing stiffening strips to the bottoms of 30 cheap laminated-chipboard shelves in my library. Is this interesting to anyone here? :oops:

Funny that, it's exactly the same thing I ended up doing to my shelves. Like you I didn't end up posting - but perhaps it is interesting here.

Perhaps we need a forum for what I call "DIY- Woodwoodworking" - you know, putting shelves in, fixing a roof, fitting doors - the less "glamarous" stuff but in my house at least, such projects are very much appreciated.

Adam
 
you know, putting shelves in, fixing a roof, fitting doors - the less "glamarous" stuff but in my house at least, such projects are very much appreciated.

Easy on the less glamorous Adam. That seems to apply to a large part of what I end up doing to make ends meet between the more furniture type jobs!! :D

T
 
tim":2mafqrib said:
you know, putting shelves in, fixing a roof, fitting doors - the less "glamarous" stuff but in my house at least, such projects are very much appreciated.

Easy on the less glamorous Adam. That seems to apply to a large part of what I end up doing to make ends meet between the more furniture type jobs!! :D

T

Come on! You build a loverly roof, than slap felt and tiles over it. Can't even see the woodwork! :shock:

It's the same in my house. I've been building beehives for weeks. Takes loads of effort, but the *actual* return is more limited in terms of "instant" "oohs and aahs" you get with a big project, to just knowing these are so well built they'll outlive me. :oops:

Like I said, its just not glamorous! :twisted:

Adam
 
There must be quite a lot of people lurking and getting answers to their own un-asked questions or just simply reading and taking notes. I do this a lot but I don't always have time to post. I suspect there are a lot of people like me who prefer to keep quiet and only post if they have something interesting or valid (hopefully) to say.
If everyone who is looking in actually joins in might it not get a bit unwieldy, anyway?
I suspect this forum is much more popular than is reflected by the number of members who appear on the board most of the time.
Why try to improve something this good when it is working so well?
Does any of that make sense?

SF
 

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