Emerging Turner Intro page - Woodturners Guild of North Carolina

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Welcome to the Emerging Turners Resource Page!

We are happy and excited to have you and hope you find this resource page helpful as a New Member or in your journey as an Emerging Turner (ET)! It is a place you can explore and find specific resources to help guide you on your way to really enjoying the woodturning experience.

Part of the learning process for every turner is to be exposed to all the questions and answers other turners have already experienced. Because when you are first starting out you might not even know what questions to ask, you just are eager to get started and see the chips fly!

Here are some of the questions that might emerge:

· What lathe and tools do I need as a beginner?

· How do I sharpen tools and how often?

· If I don't have a lathe, can I rent one?

· What wood should I start out using?

· What speed should I turn at?

· Are there any safety concerns I need to be aware of?

· Are there woodturning classes available?
· Is there someone who can guide me on this journey?

......and the list grows as your adventure begins with woodturning. It is for these reasons that WGNC has created the "Emerging Turner" section of our website.

If after exploring these information pages you have any questions, please don't hesitate to send us a message by clicking here and someone will try to respond quickly to your inquiry.

Welcome and Enjoy!

Ted Ross
President - Woodturners Guild of North Carolina

Below, you will find a list of topics with brief descriptions. To learn more about a particular topic, click on the button to be taken to the full content of that topic.

New Member Information Guide

Visit these pages if you are looking for general information about meetings, meeting locations, demonstrations, show and tell sessions, breakout sessions, WGNC's library lending program and more.

For more about Member Information, click here

Mentoring Program for Emerging Turners

Need someone to help you with all the woodturning questions that seem to come up daily? Well our new mentoring program might just be the ticket! This program was established to assist any member who has a desire to learn or needs guidance about a specific topic, such as the use of a particular tool, how to sharpen tools, design and layout a woodturners shop and many more useful topics.

Member Mentors are matched to each Mentee, taking into account the Mentor has the right topic experience and a convenient location match so the Mentor/Mentee can easily schedule times to meet.

For more about Mentoring, click here.

Breakout Sessions

What's a Breakout Session?

A breakout session is a woodturning event that is hosted by another member for other members to join in and learn or practice any element of woodturning. This could be a shop tour, how to sharpen or make tools, turning a bowl, how to use a skew, pyrography, carving, embellishments and a whole host of other topics. The location could be at a host’s shop or another public location such as NC State Craft Center or a retail store.

Breakout sessions, generally, take place on a weekend or a weekday evening and are free of charge to members. These sessions are usually 2 to 4 hours long and focused on a specific topic. Breakout sessions are a great way to become exposed to new skills, refresh yourself on a skill not used often, see how another member approaches a topic and, of course, to have an opportunity to meet you fellow woodturners.

For more information on Breakout Sessions, click here.

Tool Rental Program for Emerging Turners

If you are a new turner, there seems no end to the questions to be asked, like what kind of lathe do I need, what tools should I start with, how often do I need to sharpen my tools and how do I do it.

WGNC has a program to help. Basic tool sets are available to the emerging turner to rent at very reasonable cost. Taking advantage of the tool rental program and coupling it with our Mentoring programs, the emerging turner will be able to begin to learn woodturning basics while they consider what lathe and other tools they will need as they learn more about woodturning and the objects they want to turn.

For more about Tool Rentals for Emerging Turners click here.

Tool and Accessories Resources for Emerging Turners

If you are looking for some recommendations on woodturning tools and accessories then the linked group of pages below, just might be the ticket. You will find a variety of recommendations for both Economical Basic and Intermediate turning tools and other turning accessories. Each listing contains several choices with built in links to manufacturing sites. From there you can determine what tools you want and utilize our Vendor Links page to find your best choice.

For more detailed information about Tool and Accessories Resources, click here.

Woodturning Safety

Woodturning is inherently dangerous. The woodturner is using a piece of equipment that is capable of spinning heavy pieces of wood at a high rate of speed. At the same time, very sharp cutting tools are in use, making contact with the moving wood. A mistake can turn into a life threatening accident faster than a woodturner can react.

Because of this, the woodturner must learn about woodturning safety from the outset of their woodturning learning experience.

For this purpose, WGNC has created a collection of links to Woodturning safety information. This information, in connection with the mentoring program, will provide the new turner with a good foundation in woodturning safety.

For more information about the library and available documents, click here.

WGNC Lending Library and Downloadable Documents

WGNC has an extensive lending Library of both print and digital media. The library is maintained at the NC State Craft Center and is open to members at WGNC meetings.

Members may browse through the library at meetings and check out up to two books and two CD-DVD's each meeting. Members may also browse through an on-line list of books and digital content by selecting the links that follow. The lists may also be downloaded, as a convenience to members.

In addition to the Library materials, WGNC also has available downloadable documents. Subject matter varies and is added to on a regular basis.

For more information about the library and available documents, click here.

AAW Resources

AAW members include amateurs, hobbyists, professionals, gallery owners, collectors, tool and equipment suppliers, and others.

AAW wants to help you enrich your woodturning experience and pursue your aspirations wherever you are on your woodturning journey. We invite you to learn and grow with us and become part of the special community that is woodturning.

Emerging Turners are especially in need of information to help them get started in choosing tools, handling the tools, safety at the lathe and much, much more. As such, AAW has a special area called "Learning Portals" that are an excellent first destination.

For links to the AAW Learning Portals, click here.