(10-08-2017, 07:36 AM)Router-Jim Wrote: I don't have a WC closer than 100 miles from me, but my son who lived in Minnesota did. Several years ago as a birthday present to him I enrolled each of us in a pen making class. I thought the class was run well and the father /son experience was priceless.
Of the ones that I have taken, the ones with the BIL or the BIL and one of his daughters were especially wonderful.
Some of the WC will also do private classes if the schedule and instructor works out. The one that I arranged for a family pen turning class with myself, my sister and BIL, both of their daughters, and the older daughter's husband was truly, as you out it, priceless. Three of us had taken the regular pen turning class, one had taken the intro turning class, and 2 had never turned anything before. Those of us who had done pens before, did acrylic blanks this time. It speaks worlds about the instructor that we finished that evening with 6 pens and no blow-outs.
With most of the family shifting to Tampa, we are not likely to get an opportunity to do that again any time in the foreseeable future.
The WC that I visited in Tampa was the worst that I have been in. I would not call what I saw there a "classroom" and the employees were too busy leaning on the checkout counter and chatting to talk to strangers except when they saw me stick my head in the back room. We made the effort to visit them despite a nasty construction zone because of the false advertising on the store website for a "massive" clearance sale. They had the usual clearance table with 5-10 items on it. 
"the most important safety feature on any tool is the one between your ears." - Ken Vick
A wish for you all: May you keep buying green bananas.
A wish for you all: May you keep buying green bananas.
