Owner's Weekend/Academy Classes in July

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 5:35 pm

"It been awhile since anyone has responded to this thread. Nick, do you have any updated information?"

Yep. New web page about to be posted; will announce it here.

"...my enthusiasm to travel to this event wanes more and more with each day's price increase of Gas."

Here's an interesting and incredibly painful way to look at that. Both gallons and board feet are units of volume, and there are approximately 1.6 board feet in a gallon. Right now a gallon of gas costs as much as a gallon of poplar at Miller Lumber in Union City, Indiana. Not that I'm trying to discourage anyone from coming, but which would you rather have?

With all good wishes,

paulmcohen · Post by **paulmcohen** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 7:26 pm

Nick wrote:"It been awhile since anyone has responded to this thread. Nick, do you have any updated information?"

Yep. New web page about to be posted]"...my enthusiasm to travel to this event wanes more and more with each day's price increase of Gas."[/I]

Here's an interesting and incredibly painful way to look at that. Both gallons and board feet are units of volume, and there are approximately 1.6 board feet in a gallon. Right now a gallon of gas costs as much as a gallon of poplar at Miller Lumber in Union City, Indiana. Not that I'm trying to discourage anyone from coming, but which would you rather have?

With all good wishes,

Driving would coast almost $1,000 in fuel but I could bring lots of wood home, flying is a lot cheaper and shorter but don't get to carry much wood. Decisions, decisions

brown_hawk · Post by **brown_hawk** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 10:26 pm

For those of of thinking of coming, a visit to Frank Miller Lumber is awesome. All kinds of wood, with some pretty good deals. This is where I got the white oak for my kitchen project.

Should be a nice weekend also.

Great idea Nick!

Hawk

woodburner · Post by **woodburner** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 12:23 pm

If I were to equate the cost of a gallon of gas to the board feet of poplar, I will have a hell of a lot of wood if I spent the money on the latter. A cross-country trip by pick-up truck so I can bring some wood home will cost a small fortune. I'm sure I will spend more on fuel than on wood if I come to Ohio.

So for now, the answer is no, can't make it. If I need some spectacular wood, I'll take a two-day drive to Oregon and buy some spectacular wood there, along with seeing some of the spectacular scenery. The North Bay Area (San Francisco) also has some wood dealers with great wood at great prices. And that's only 3-4 hours from my home.

Seriously, think about doing some type of Shopsmith event here on the west coast. I'm sure it will be worth the effort, and all of us here will appreciate it. If most, if not all, the Traveling Academy classes sell-out (like they usually do here) I'm sure a West Coast Shopsmith Weekend will sell-out too and be a huge success.

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 2:48 pm

I agree that a West Coast Shopsmith Weekend may be a good idea, but let us get past this year and see how many people take advantage of our efforts here in Ohio before we start to expand the program.

With all good wishes,

woodburner · Post by **woodburner** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 6:32 pm

Sounds good Nick. Hope the Ohio event is a success so the program can be expanded out here to this side of the country.

Unfortunately, with the cost of fuel I won't be able to make it to Dayton from the West Coast for the first one.

These type of events can be a real boost to a company or club. I recently assisted my woodturning club hold a woodturning picnic and we had over 200 people show up from the area, and there are only 70 members in the club. We let other woodworking clubs in the area know about it and that helped a lot. We also had woodturning contests, a raffle with great prizes and a silent auction. Not to mention the great BBQ lunch that was served. We also invited tool manufacturers and wood dealers to the picnic to sell their wares and they made a good profit. All of this combined made it a great event.

This shows that even if owners from the local area of Ohio attend an event like this, it can turn out great. We plan on doing one again next year.

Here's hoping your event is just as successful.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 7:51 pm

Somehow, someone must get the word out to a lot of people. An affair like this doesn't have a chance of being a real success unless a very large number of people are informed about it.

The greater the lead time the better.

Now maybe a lot of people have been informed via other than this forum --- I sure hope so.

ryanbp01 · Post by **ryanbp01** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 7:58 am

I agree with Dusty. I hope that the event can be firmed up , hopefully within the next few weeks. If not, I have a suggestion: rather than having it put together within a few weeks, how about getting something planned for next year? I realize that transportation will be a consideration, but at least hotels can be contacted to get preferred rates and people who are interested in attending could begin budgeting for it.

BPR

woodburner · Post by **woodburner** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 5:46 pm

As Nick wrote earlier, a webpage will be put together very soon with the info about this event. I think they are planning it for July or August.
In my experience, whether it is planned for two months away or a year, the people who can attend will be there.
I don't think they will plan it so soon that it won't be a success. In the past (I think until two or three years ago) Shopsmith put on an annual picnic for several years. It ended when the company let a lot of their employees go do to financial reasons. The employees who did all the planning were some of the people they laid-off. That is why it ended.
I am glad to see that they are going to give it a try again and hope it is a great success. The added bonus of offering woodworking classes before and after the weekend event should help in attracting guests.
I always thought it would be fun to have a local Shopsmith picnic here at my shop in central California with a limit of about thirty guests, with the company maybe helping out with some raffle prizes and such. But this event is a whole other subject itself. Maybe someday I can put something in the works.

a1gutterman · Post by **a1gutterman** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 8:55 pm

ryanbp01 wrote:I agree with Dusty. I hope that the event can be firmed up , hopefully within the next few weeks. If not, I have a suggestion: rather than having it put together within a few weeks, how about getting something planned for next year? I realize that transportation will be a consideration, but at least hotels can be contacted to get preferred rates and people who are interested in attending could begin budgeting for it.

BPR

Well, I can not make it this year, but I think that Nick and Drew along with SS, will make it a successful event this year, and I hope that it becomes a tradition and one that I will be able to attend in the future!