Knowledge base

[Douglas Robinson]

Scott Smith and I were talking at lunch today and thought it would be helpful, especially in view of our recent growth in membership, to have a list of people that others thought were very knowledgeable in various areas of woodworking.

For example:

With regard to identifying wood species, one of the first people I think of DaveO.

Building rocking chairs: Touchwood,

Dust collection or modifying a tool Allen in Washington,

3 phase power: Travis Porter, Scott Smith,

Scroll sawing: Cskipper, ScottM, Sawduster,

You get the idea. The foregoing is not meant to be exhaustive, but rather to start a thread and have the rest of you add various areas of woodworking and the people you would go to if you had questions.

Just a thought.

Doug

 

[scsmith42]

Joe Scharle comes to mind for jigs and fixtures.

Another category is finishing.

 

[CarvedTones]

Joe Scharle comes to mind for jigs and fixtures.

Another category is finishing.

Howard Acheson (despite our disagreement over my favorite finish).

I am a Jack of a few trades and master of even less, though I do know how to stretch a dollar until it's almost bigger than a dollar...

 

[Ray Martin]

Doug,

What would you use this list for? One thought might be to have several subject matter experts review specific forums... in addition to the mod for a given forum.

Would there be any liability for offering "expert opinion" in any of these forums ==> :XXfridge:

 

[sawduster]

Joe Scharle comes to mind for jigs and fixtures.

Another category is finishing.

I nominate FredP for finishing :rotflm:

 

[FredP]

I nominate FredP for finishing :rotflm:

:rotflm:finishing what??????:rotflm:

 

[Douglas Robinson]

Ray:

I see a list like this (which I imagine would be a constantly changing list) as a resource for members to use via which they can contact one or more people, by post or PM, with questions. I do not forsee any liability as these people would be "experts" per se, but rather people considered by many here to be very well informed a particular topic(s).

 

[ashley_phil]

in CWA we have a "Mentor" program where members agree that they will assist other members with certain areas: Sharpening, Turning, Dovetails, Shopsmiths (yes we have an avid Shopsmither), etc.

these folks are published on our newsletters and if members want help they can ask them.

this is sort of the same concept and i think it would work well. we could have a "Mentor" list and folks could be nominated and accept to be on the list and/or volunteer.

if some of the more code savy folks wanted to you could make it part of folks profile even. perhaps that would need to be moderated though.

 

[ScottM]

in CWA we have a "Mentor" program where members agree that they will assist other members with certain areas: Sharpening, Turning, Dovetails, Shopsmiths (yes we have an avid Shopsmither), etc.

these folks are published on our newsletters and if members want help they can ask them.

this is sort of the same concept and i think it would work well. we could have a "Mentor" list and folks could be nominated and accept to be on the list and/or volunteer.

if some of the more code savy folks wanted to you could make it part of folks profile even. perhaps that would need to be moderated though.

TWA uses the same term. Some "mentors" even run workshops. I did an evening scrollsaw workshop for TWA and had 10 members come. I would be happy to do the same for NCWW.

 

[Joe Scharle]

Go ahead and put me on your list, along with some other jigmeisters.:eusa_danc
I know they're out there!

I can also help with basic dovetail jigs too. Haven't used them all, but a basic understanding of how they do the job goes a long way to using another.

 

[Trent Mason]

Another great suggestion Doug. You can file me in the category of "Experts on screwing things up." :rotflm:

 

[striker]

Personally, I don't see the need to anoint anyone as master, expert or what have you. If you have a question, then ask away. Its up to you to glean the response that is best suited to your needs. If we're to direct questions to the expert via PM we defeat the purpose of the forum. Readers don't get the benefit of the question being asked and answered.

Also, if I am soliciting the expert's advice then I am only receiving experts advice. Out of nearly 4000 members I'm sure there are more than one or two folks with information that may be pertinent to any given question.

Just my opinion....
Stephen

 

[Douglas Robinson]

Stephen:

Good point. The purpose is not to give people titles, but rather to provide members, both new and old, an idea of the persons skill level. As an example from another of my interests: knowing a person is a trained and experienced bicycle fitter makes their response to a bike fit question much more likely to be helpful than someone who is relatively new to the subject. BTW this subject is very complex and most answers are wrong.

Doug

 

[JimmyC]

knowing a person is a trained and experienced bicycle fitter makes their response to a bike fit question much more likely to be helpful than someone who is relatively new to the subject.

Fitting for a racing bicycle is easy, all you have to do is be able to stand over the top tube :rotflm::rotflm::rotflm::rotflm:.

You are right Doug, this is a very hard question to answer.

 

[b4man]

Personally, I don't see the need to anoint anyone as master, expert or what have you. If you have a question, then ask away. Its up to you to glean the response that is best suited to your needs. If we're to direct questions to the expert via PM we defeat the purpose of the forum. Readers don't get the benefit of the question being asked and answered.

Also, if I am soliciting the expert's advice then I am only receiving experts advice. Out of nearly 4000 members I'm sure there are more than one or two folks with information that may be pertinent to any given question.

Just my opinion....
Stephen

I echo Stephen's remarks. It doesn't take long to realize who here is expert caliber when you read the post. I would not want to squelch a member from answering a question because they weren't branded as an expert. I like the idea that every one of us is made to feel welcome to discuss any woodworking question or topic and I'm afraid that might change if we implement such a program.

IMHO,
Barbara

 

[PeteM]

What if, instead of labeling experts or whatever, we made a list of people that are willing to give extra assistance in a given area outside the forum. Setting up a hand plane is a good example. You can't learn that on line but there might be a member who you could contact offline and arrange to get together for some instruction.

pete

 

[DavidF]

As you say, a very difficult one! I for one, tend to go for a consensus opinion when I need help; however, on particular subjects I would tend more to go with someone I feel has a particular knowledge of the subject if there is a large variation in opinion. Such as finishing, Howard immediately comes to mind, tree/wood identification, Dave O, etc. With the group so large now I have found I sometimes have to apply the same rules as all other internet searches - One man's experience is another man's google search! I would find something as simple as a word near the avatar that the person has "special" experience in EG, "finishing", "Scroll saw", "Intarsia" etc, very useful.

 

[Mike Davis]

The danger in setting up something like this is that some people will refuse to answer any questions because the "expert" is going to come along and say something slightly different. Even if the first guy's answer is perfectly valid and helpful, the "expert" is always right and so every other answer is viewed as somewhat wrong.

 

[Glennbear]

I echo Stephen's remarks. It doesn't take long to realize who here is expert caliber when you read the post. I would not want to squelch a member from answering a question because they weren't branded as an expert. I like the idea that every one of us is made to feel welcome to discuss any woodworking question or topic and I'm afraid that might change if we implement such a program.

IMHO,
Barbara

I am in this camp also. I think that by having a "list" of members with certain skillsets we run the risk of individuals utilizing the list as opposed to asking in the forums thus denying the rest of us the opportunity to see the questions and responses. I am sure that for any given question in an open forum there will be a response by those with the most experience e.g.- If I ask a question about jig making I am 99% certain Joe Scharle will post a response. As the bottom line in the banner at the top of this page says we are "An Educational Service of NC Woodworker Inc." IMHO the best way to educate the maximum amount of members is to have questions asked and answered in the open forums. If someone has some particular expertise and want to share that with an individual posting on a one to one basis they can volunteer in the post. Over the past couple years I have built my shop up from bare ground, purchased 99.9% of my tools and accumulated a fair sized stash of project wood from various sources. A majority of these tasks were accomplished by haunting the forums here and I can see where a new woodworker might similarily benefit from my experiences/failures despite the fact that I am no way qualified as an "expert". BTW, if any one needs tutoring on how to make a post much longer than it needs to be please feel free to contact me. :rotflm:

 

[ScottM]

This is not a perfect solution but how about scheduled group chats in the lounge? Let's say Mike Davis, Earl, and Woodartz, our turning experts, lead a group chat at 8:00 PM on the first Tuesday of the month. On the second Tuesday Sawduster, Cskipper, and PChristy do a scroll saw chat. I think you get the idea.