You never know

So, the big day has come and you are doing your demonstration. Maybe it’s your first one maybe your heart is pounding your palms are sweaty your voices cracking in your knees are a bit unstable. Or, maybe you’ve done hundreds of these and it’s no big deal and you find yourself just going through the motions. You just never know who’s in the audience. Or, just what impact you might have on someone you may never have even met. While this scenario could be true in many of life’s situations let me relate a quick story about one such demonstration in the turning world.

December 2001 the Saturday between Christmas and New Year’s. Our club’s regular meeting place was a local community college, closed for the holidays. We had made arrangements to meet in the basement of the members brand–new home. There was a single bear bulb hanging from the ceiling. It was cold and damp and there were no chairs, only a brand–new jet 1642 and about 60 wide–eyed audience members of all ages occupations and skill levels. Every one of these folks were flat workers not a Turner in the crowd.

Terms like headstock, tailstock, gouge and skew where as foreign as Chinese glyphs. Our demonstrator turned half a dozen utilitarian items while holding their rapt attention for a full two hours, no bathroom breaks, no chairs to sit on, no refreshments of any kind. I wondered at the time exactly what happened and then dismissed it out of mind. Not so Ted and Windy Riggs. They scheduled a follow–up day of instruction at our demonstrator’s shop. The next thing I knew with only one day of instruction and no previous experience, Ted had purchased in 18 inch Delta lathes and was hosting turning meetings in his garage twice a month.

In what seems like no time at all the attendance grew to over 25 people every week. Talk about the blind leading the blind, there is no substitute for enthusiasm and tenacity. There was not one experienced Turner in the bunch, but that didn’t slow them down one bit. Turners from the local area began to discover this little group and volunteered to come and teach some little something here and there. As the original founder of the flat work club my wife and I felt obligated to attend, we were not Turners, to lend moral support and encouragement. When evening my wife leaned over poked me in the ribs and said “it doesn’t look that hard. I think you can do it”. My reaction was that of course I can do it all I needed was a little practice, after all how hard could it be.

And that literally is how I got started down the path to my turning career. I wasn’t even the one who caught fire as a result of this cold damp December basement presentation. I didn’t get involved until several months later. It the seed was sown and so it grew. Today I am blessed to bring turning methods, techniques and assessories to more than 100,000 people face–to–face every year. My turning videotapes are in most countries around the world and I make a full–time living from a craft I never even dreamed of.

So, you never know who might be watching you. It could be the next Richard Raffin, John Jordan, Mike Mahoney, or David Ellsworth, all diamonds in the rough. I say this by way of encouragement and enlightenment. Invite someone over, schedule a demonstration, or just get out into the shop and make some shavings. Because, you just never know.