Utah Symposium

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nava1uni

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The symposium starts tomorrow morning with CSUSA's day long demonstrations and warehouse sale. Hope to see some of you there. I just drove for two days from San Francisco. It snowed and rained along the way. It is way too late for snow, but it sure did happen all along the way. It was sure a beautiful ride.
I look forward to all of the demonstrations and all.
 
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nava1uni

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We brought this weather in just for you Cindy.:tongue::biggrin:

Gee, thanks.
Some good demonstrations today at CSUSA. The warehouse sale has some good buys and I was able to resist buying things I really don't need. I did get a nice 1/2" bowl scraper and a stepped attachment for my Nova chuck.
Have met some nice turners.
 

its_virgil

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Jan 1, 2004
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Wichita Falls, TX, USA.
Hi Cindy,
All I can say is I'm :mad: (not really mad but a little sad) that I can't be there this year. I will definitely miss the fun, the demos, the rendezvous and visiting with pen friends and others. But, on the otherhand I will be leaving for Nassau on Friday with the family for several days of SCUBA diving and vacation.
See you next year or here in Texas in August. Have you ever attended our symposium? http://www.swaturners.org A little bit more than a two day drive.:biggrin:
Do a good turn daily!
Don
 

juteck

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Dec 10, 2008
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Charlotte, NC
WOW! What a great time! I'm back with more inspiration than I have time for.

Prior to the actual symposium, CSUSA held their Super Wednesday event -- even in the rain, there was a good crowd gathered at the doors well before 8am opening time for the clearance sale. When the doors opened, space was limited to elbow room only, and stuff all over the place. They purposely did not organize the areas, to give everyone a better chance at finding a bargain. Wood squares, bowl blanks, burls, laminated squares, tools, measuring tools, pen kits, pen blanks, faceplates, cabachons, inlay material, etc., etc. were spread on every table. I even picked up a couple of PSI kits that were there for some reason?! The clearance sale room was open all day, and prices were reduced to an additional 20% off by mid afternoon, and 50% off later in the afternoon for anything remaining.

The CSUSA retail store was also open for business and offered a 10% discount on catalog pricing. There were free demonstrations going on all day in various areas, showing bowls, boxes, hollow forms, pepper mills, finish jars, etc., all from well known and professional turners. At the end of the day, they held a door prize drawing where you had to be present to win – tools, gift certificates, and many other supplies. Staff were busy all day, but kept a friendly attitude with everyone I saw despite the crowds and rain. All in all, I'd equate this to "Black Friday" for woodturners, and a fantastic day sponsored by CSUSA.

Wednesday night was the Penturners Rendezvous. They kept the doors closed and public out until actual starting time. This was a separate registration from the Utah Symposium, but was held in the same venue. Registration for this event was an additional $10. The event was supposed to have several vendors related to pen turning, a couple of demos, then a door prize raffle. Vendor selection was limited, and included Anthony Turchetta with The Golden Nib, Kallenshaan Woods with their laser engraver set up at their table, and Ron Brown with Coolhammers.com, who also had several of the Lazerlinez blanks for sale. Time for the demonstrations, the room setup had not been completed yet, so Anthony Turchetta jumped in for an impromptu demonstration and turned a half of a pen blank out of trustone, and talked about some of his designs. Following that, we learned that a grinder was not available for the pen turning demonstrations, so they opted to skip the demonstrations and jump to the door prizes. Everyone in attendance received a door prize, ranging from gift certificates to DVDs to pen blanks – everyone received something. No demonstrations were completed after the door prize drawings, which I found to be a disappointment, as did others that I spoke with. The door prizes were nice, but the demonstrations were part of what I was interested in.

The actual symposium started Thursday morning, with opening ceremonies then demonstrations through Saturday. The demonstration rotation schedule was issued prior to the symposium, so I had a general idea on my own schedule for demonstrations I wanted to see and the time slots. A few last minute changes altered the schedule, but I learned that my schedule changed daily anyways, after hearing other turners talk about the demonstrators and demonstrations they saw. The schedule was full, and included demonstrations with boxes, bowls, hollow vessels, segmenting, decorating, texturing, pen turning, shaving accessories, spin tops, threading, educational discussions, and more. Local and world renowned turners were present. Every demo I attended was well prepared by the demonstrators who were all very familiar with timing their discussion and ready to teach and entertain the crowd. In addition to the demonstrations, the instant gallery was incredible. If you didn't come out of a demonstration with new inspirations, you had to come out of the instant gallery with some. Absolutely incredible work on display!

The symposium coordinators and demonstrators highly promoted woodturning education, and proceeds from raffle tickets and silent/live auctions went to the Dale Nish student/educational fund. They said 22 students and their sponsors attended the symposium as a result of previous years' fund raising efforts. Raffle tickets were sold for the chance to win one of two Jet minis. David Nittmann won one of the minis, and donated the mini back to be re-drawn for the attending students only. What a fantastic way to end the symposium, and give back to the education for young turners.

I've now been to several regional symposiums, one AAW Symposium, and now the Utah Symposium. Each type of symposium has been fun to attend, but each slightly different. Given the opportunity, I'd go back to any of the symposium venues I've been to, especially this one.
 

Val

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Idaho Falls, ID
I tink I stood right next to you in line at the warehouse sale after the 3:00 half off thing. We were trying to figure out if what you had was a texturing tool or a thread chaser.

Val
 

juteck

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I was beside the person who picked up this tool -- hit the concrete floor several times if I recall :eek:. Still not sure what it was -- difficult to use as a texturing tool with it's side configuration, but not labeled with a "tpi" for threading tools.
 

PenWorks

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Scottsdale, AZ
Yep, it was a great time dispite the weather. Sun finally came out on Saturday in time for folks to travel home safely. Bunch of friendly folks sharing information and stories I had a great time and can't wait till next year. :) May have to attend that SWAT show Virgel is talking about, never been to that one, I hear it is really good. We have an off year this next year for our Symposium in AZ.

Lots of good demos and demonstraters, was able to buy a couple of demo pieces from the silent auction and a couple of pieces in the live auction to add to my collection.

Picked up some new tools as is always the case for a tool junkie. I can't believe how useful the new tool caddy is. Comes in two sizes, This is the bigger version and I bought the smaller one for my lathe at home. Pretty cool. Also picked up the Sorby Pro Edge grinder. This really makes sharpening your tools a breeze. preset angles for all your tools with a flat grinding surface,for some of us who struggle with the wheel.
 

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nava1uni

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I was beside the person who picked up this tool -- hit the concrete floor several times if I recall :eek:. Still not sure what it was -- difficult to use as a texturing tool with it's side configuration, but not labeled with a "tpi" for threading tools.

Yep, it did hit the floor a few times, but then I decided that it was not a thread chaser and left it. Funny that we were next to each other in line. Sorry I didn't know who you were at the time.
It certainly was a good symposium. I have returned home with many new ideas and I learned a lot about new ways that look more efficient with better results.
My only negative comment about the symposium is that I had a difficult time choosing what to go see and my schedule also changed as I heard people talking about demonstrators and how good they were.
Don, I missed seeing you there this year. Maybe I will have to come to Texas, that might mean getting on a plane or taking more time off work to drive it.
It was wonderful meeting people and learning more about this great thing called woodturning.
 

Val

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Dec 20, 2009
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Idaho Falls, ID
I ink anytime we go to these get togethers we should all have IAP namebadges! I recognise names from here but can't remember all the faces I see online! :)

Val
 

juteck

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Dec 10, 2008
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Charlotte, NC
Anyone planning on going this year -- May 17-19?????

I'll print an IAP label to stick to my name tag this year --- so please come introduce yourself if you see me! There will only be two Uteck's that I'm aware of, and the other is my father..... easy to find us!

I only hope that the Penturners Rendezvous is better than last year's.

Hope to see you there!!
 

nava1uni

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San Francisco, CA, USA.
I will be there. I am driving from San Francisco on Monday. I am going to CSUSA's Wednesday event as it is always fun and interesting and I learn something new. See you there. I will look for you.
 
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