Woodnet Member Distribution

[cputnam]

Assuming the Woodnet Member Map can be used as a proxy for woodworkers in general, then it is easy to see why there are very few woodworking shows west if the big muddy.

[iclark]

Considering how active the woodturning clubs are in the CO Front Range, I am surprised that we do not have more members in that are or in the area around Craft Supply in Utah.

I am also a bit surprised that Pirate's pushpin says that it is in FL even though it is in the Denver area.

[AHill]

I think the map represents more of the hobbyist demographic than the professional demographic.  If professional cabinetmakers, trim carpenters, and the like are lumped into the mix, I would predict it would skew the results quite a bit toward the west, and maybe south into Florida.

[cputnam]

Interesting! Why? More construction out here and in Fl?

[Steve N]

Assuming the Woodnet Member Map can be used as a proxy for woodworkers in general, then it is easy to see why there are very few woodworking shows west if the big muddy.

I've never been that shocked by it if you look at reality.

#1 It's hard to be a woodworker with no plentiful, and affordable sources of wood. Folks out West cite prices from places like Glimer wood ???sp, and compared to back here I always feel like I should hold my hands up, ya'll are getting robbed.

#2, the flash and dash lifestyle of the Western states lends itself to a throwaway existence. Don't like that living room, pitch it, go to Ikea and buy new. Certainly this doesn't apply to all, however it is the norm, and those living that life........My Sister and her squandering lot, and LOML's 3 Sisters, and 2 Brothers, and associated families, are all living that same dream


The thought of buying tools, and doing something with their own hands just doesn't fit in for them. The one SIL routinely sends socks at Christmas, a useful, yet very boring giftage, ya know it's coming. I routinely send a cutting board, cheese slicer, whatever the gift du jour is that year. You would think I sent her a NEW CAR!!!!!!

[AHill]

I've never been that shocked by it if you look at reality.

#1 It's hard to be a woodworker with no plentiful, and affordable sources of wood. Folks out West cite prices from places like Glimer wood ???sp, and compared to back here I always feel like I should hold my hands up, ya'll are getting robbed.

#2, the flash and dash lifestyle of the Western states lends itself to a throwaway existence. Don't like that living room, pitch it, go to Ikea and buy new. Certainly this doesn't apply to all, however it is the norm, and those living that life........My Sister and her squandering lot, and LOML's 3 Sisters, and 2 Brothers, and associated families, are all living that same dream
 
 
The thought of buying tools, and doing something with their own hands just doesn't fit in for them. The one SIL routinely sends socks at Christmas, a useful, yet very boring giftage, ya know it's coming. I routinely send a cutting board, cheese slicer, whatever the gift du jour is that year. You would think I sent her a NEW CAR!!!!!!

I agree about the wood.  The domestics (oak, ash, cherry, pine, etc.) tend to be a lot more expensive than back east.  Exotics and walnut probably more reasonable here, since a great deal of it arrives at the port in Long Beach, so shipping costs are less.  (OTOH, strawberries grown in Oxnard are $1 a quart cheaper in St. Louis than they are in SoCal!)

I'll speak for Southern California, since I live here.  The cost of living is outrageous.  Taxes, fees, insurance, gas, rent, utilities, etc.  LA metroplex population is probably 80% in apartments.  The demographics are changing year-to-year with more and more immigrants (illegal and otherwise), mostly low-income.  Doesn't lend itself to having a shop.  Ironically, there are a LOT of furniture manufacturers in LA, and a LOT of customer furniture makers.  The air quality regs now in CA have eliminated a lot of finishes from our inventory, because of the high VOCs.  Some folks try to buy elsewhere and bring them across state line for resale.  Not on the manifest and you get caught, and you'll be paying a hefty fine.  Not so bad in Northern California, but still fraught with high prices.

Sad, but that's my world.

[cputnam]

George,

"Flash and Dash" - I ;like that, never heard it before, I daresay, however, that it is not the norm with homeowners but may be with apartment dwellers.

Some woods are cheaper here as Allan pointed out - he missed redwood and douglas fir. There are other benefits to living here - depending on what you like to do outside of woodworking. From where I sit right now I can be (in less than 2 hours): up at 10,000' enjoying the cool or snow (if it ever rains again), down in the low desert, or traversing Joshua Tree NP, or on the beach, or in Los Angeles, or in San Diego. The saltwater fishing has just been insane the last couple years, big bluefin tuna (over 200 lbs.), yellowfin tuna, wahoo, dorado, yellowtail, white sea bass, calicos, barracuda, bonito, and bottom fish - and that's all local. It gets bigger and better on the long range boats.

Anyway, looking at the map, one can see that the west has more than half the space and probably less than 25% of the population.

[Steve N]

Hi Curt

It did start out on the East after all, and has moved West. For a time in the 70's and 80's it looked like everybody was going to Cali. Between weird political stances and ALL of those regulations the normal people stopped going. Now you have growth, but probably not the type a taxpaying homeowner wants to have.

Back in the 60's was the first I went out there. Immediately on coming home I went to every auction I could find, just buying up "antique" Oak furniture. Even fixer uppers were in play. 3 of us set about driving out in U-Haul trucks, then later leasing semi's, we went to the Bay area, and would get a permit near a park, and just sell like crazy. Crazy prices too. Crazy enough competition just found us, almost immediately. We got about 9 months out of it. Flipped a lot of furniture though. At that time, all there was to buy locally was junk, or you brought it out from Kansas, or wherever.

I only can base my norm on all of the people I know out there, are homeowners, and do swap furniture for cheap stuff like some folks change underwear. Granted it's probably only around 100 people/families, but I'm batting 1000, so I figured that stat would carry a ways, maybe not though?

[MichaelMouse]

No basements?

[cputnam]

No basements - at least I have not seen one in the 30 years I've been out here.