Categories of Woodturning Contests

[Russell Neyman]

On a whim, I entered the Washington State Fair's woodturning competition last week, and was somewhat taken aback by the very limited categories offered:
DIVISION 351


CLASS 1101 Face Work
CLASS 1102 Spindle Work
CLASS 1103 Mixed Media
CLASS 1104 Segmented

I'd be interested in your take on this range of types. It seems to be these categories are out of balance relative to what woodturners typically do.

Isn't "face work" effectively just a reference to grain orientation? Am I the only one who finds that designation to be odd? The ladies at the entry table really didn't know, either. I entered one natural edge piece in the Face Work category simply because I knew it didn't belong in the other three.

Spindle Work, I assume, is balusters, candlesticks, and rolling pins, although there might be a walking stick or two. This seems like a very small category of woodturning to take up one-quarter of the judged entries.

Mixed Media probably refers to woodwork that involves turning and another discipline, too, like a baby cradle or stool.

Segmented is clearly a legitimate subcategory for woodturning.


I'm already beginning to work on a suggestion for next year to include classes like hollow forms, pens, turned art, boxes, etc. Is there a standardized list that most competitions use?

[John Hart]

I agree with your assessment. Facework sounds like the closest thing to bowls hollow forms and boxes. And I also agree it should be better defined.
The state fair I entered a couple years ago didn't bother to subdivide anything though. It was just wood turning. I won that one and was quite surprised

[Russell Neyman]

I agree with your assessment. Facework sounds like the closest thing to bowls hollow forms and boxes. And I also agree it should be better defined.

Yep. It just doesn't seem fair to measure a food-safe fruit bowl against a hollow form with needle-thin finial. How would you like to be the judge for that competition? And what about comparing something that is hardware-dependent (like a pen) with a natural edge monster full of holes and inclusions?

[John Hart]

Oh yeah...I couldn't do it. You'd have to judge on difficulty beauty, precision, and finish. A gorgeous bowl couldn't compete with a gorgeous hollow form and shouldn't have to

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

There's a few here that primarily do face work. Flat wall hangings, clock faces, those spiral groove things that have grooves on both sides, etc.

[John K Jordan]

On a whim, I entered the Washington State Fair's woodturning competition last week, and was somewhat taken aback by the very limited categories offered:
DIVISION 351


CLASS 1101 Face Work
CLASS 1102 Spindle Work
CLASS 1103 Mixed Media
CLASS 1104 Segmented

I'd be interested in your take on this range of types. It seems to be these categories are out of balance...

Face work traditionally describes pieces where the grain is perpendicular to the lathe axis. Each revolution has you cutting twice across side grain and twice across end grain which can be a challenge. A spindle roughing gouge is not safe to use with any face turning. The turnings include most bowls, platters, trivets, seats of stools, round picture frames, and more. Such turnings are subject to out-of-round warping. I turned a paper towel holder whose base was face-turned.

Before the common use of scroll chucks face work was typically mounted on a face plate, perhaps one reason for the name of the category. Screws hold well in face-oriented blanks.

Spindle work traditionally describes turnings where he grain runs parallel to the lathe axis. The tool is always cutting across side grain. Turnings include stool and chair legs and stretchers, conductor's batons, finials, drum sticks, pepper grinders, tool handles, most pens, and some of the other things you mentioned. Technically most lidded boxes and many vases and some hollow forms are spindle turnings. You can use a spindle roughing gouge safely on pieces with spindle orientation. The predominant wood movement with spindle oriented work is radial.

Spindle blanks are often held between centers and with scroll chucks. Since screws and face plates don't work well in end grain at one time spindle-orientated blanks were often with cup chucks and jam chucks. (Thank the stars for scroll chucks!)

Some pieces comprise both face and spindle turnings, for example stools and some ornaments. My paper towel holder used a spindle turning for the upright piece.

Many things can be turned from either face- or spindle-oriented blanks such as hollow forms and bowls. I've turned lidded Beads of Courage boxes in face and spindle orientation. Some things may defy clear categorization, such as three-corner bowls and boxes turned on the "bias" and things turned from burls or other wood with wild grain that can go every which way.

Seems to me the problem with definng more categories for a contest would be deciding where to stop. From my experience with various clubs more people seem to turn bowls than anything. But a lot of these appear to are relatively inexperienced turners who probably wouldn't enter a contest anyway. Come to think about it, I don't know any experienced turners who enter contests. Maybe a way to approach it would be to first take data on what kinds of turnings are actually submitted to various contests over a few years.

JKJ

[Russell Neyman]

So the question really is, if you must boil a competition down to 6-8 categories, what would those be? Let's assume that the "mixed media" is intended to include furniture that involves spindle work, and not count that one.

Here's my shot at it:
> BOWLS & PLATTERS
> HOLLOW FORMS
> SEGMENTED
> PENS/PENCILS
> BOXES
> TURNED ART
> SPINDLEWORK

I'd give serious consideration to kitchen-related category, like pepper mills, rolling pins, salt shakers, bottle stoppers, etc.

[John Hart]

Yup...Looks like a good list Russell

[Russell Neyman]

Come to think about it, I don't know any experienced turners who enter contests.

I don't know if I should take offense to this holier-than-thou statement or not. Putting pieces on display --the contests are, effectively, merely displays-- is a way of showing the newbies what can be done and providing a bit of inspiration. In this case, the entries were quite good, and it's quite evident that most of the craftspeople were experienced. In my case, I've been turning for 16 years, teach the craft, and demonstrate at many clubs in my part of the country.

[John Hart]

Years ago I had a thought....wouldn't it be fun to learn wood turning? So I set out to have fun. I never want to lose sight of that. Now decades later...
I still want to make it fun. Entering a piece at the fair where there's little or no notoriety...a solid challenge, and personal satisfaction....is what continues to make it fun.
I almost took offense as well but refuse to let it get to me.
Now I think I'll spend the day in the shop having a ball. :)

[Russell Neyman]

Years ago I had a thought....wouldn't it be fun to learn wood turning? So I set out to have fun. I never want to lose sight of that. Now decades later...I still want to make it fun. Entering a piece at the fair where there's little or no notoriety...a solid challenge, and personal satisfaction....is what continues to make it fun. I almost took offense as well but refuse to let it get to me. Now I think I'll spend the day in the shop having a ball. :)

Couldn't agree more, John! I competed most of my life in sports, business, and politics, and when I became a woodturner I decided that I would do it to satisfy myself. If passersby and other woodturners like my turnings, fine, but it really doesn't matter. So many of the people clubs meetings participate in what I call "competitive turning" trying to out-do each other. Not my cup o' tea.

I do find, though, that people enjoy watching me work and generally like the finish product. That's gratifying.