1.
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

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 5
AZ 4
CA 4
GA 4
MN 4
VA 4
IN 3
MI 3
MS 3
OR 3
PA 3
WI 3
CO 2
ID 2
KS 2
KY 2
MA 2
MD 2
ME 2
MO 2
MT 2
OK 2
UT 2
WA 2
AK 1
AL 1
CT 1
LA 2
NC 1
NH 1
NM 1
SC 1
TN 1
WV 1
7/7/2015 norm@weekendturner.com 2

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
7/7/2015 norm@weekendturner.com 3

4.
Where we are as turners
What’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 retirement
activity/hobby
Turning is my part-time
employment/job/income
I am a beginner/novice turner
Turning is my full-time
employment/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”
7/7/2015 norm@weekendturner.com 4

5.
What we’ve been making
About 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%
7/7/2015 norm@weekendturner.com 5

6.
All about the tools
Which of these tools or equipment do you have or want?
Bought Built "Have" Want No Interest
Wood 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
7/7/2015 norm@weekendturner.com 6

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
7/7/2015 norm@weekendturner.com 7

8.
Our influences
What most helped you become the woodturner you are?
Assign a value to each of these items that helped you get where you are
HSShopclass Adultclass Workshop Mentor MyClub Pro1on1 Books DVDs YouTube Self-taught
HowIgot 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%
Someinfluencetotal: 28% 30% 38% 46% 47% 19% 70% 43% 76% 94%
Havedone/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
7/7/2015 norm@weekendturner.com 8

9.
Taking your time
How 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 groups
Cumulative
groups
~1-3
days
3-11
days
4%
8%
26%
58%
7/7/2015 norm@weekendturner.com 9

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 (norm@weekendturner.com) 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.
7/7/2015 norm@weekendturner.com 10