Question on instructing

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Woodnknots

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Feb 5, 2005
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Carrollton, VA, USA.
Out of the blue yesterday, I got a text, that led to a phone call, that led to a meeting today to teach woodturning for the city of Hampton, VA. It will begin with penturning, hopefully leading to more later on. I will be allowed to charge what I want, teach the number of students that I want, when I want, and keep 60% of what is brought in.
My question is, what should I charge? The local woodcraft charges $60, and they teach pretty much jack and squat, so I am sure I can improve on that, but I want to make sure this program is successful, and that will mean bringing in the students.

Thoughts?
 
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Is this at a high school? Either way I would make sure that you start right out by sending these folks off with a beautiful pen and I mean a really beautiful pen. These will get shown around and more people will take the class just to come out with the pen. I would make sure that you have a really nice selection of exotic blanks and maybe a few really nice acrylics. Make sure the pens are very special when they leave the class room. Is it more than a one day class? It almost needs to be or you may need to pre-glue the tubes.
If this is an adult class you could find people taking it just to make gifts and it could be a very lucrative venture for you!
 
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I agree this could be an opportunity, but there may be a few bumps.
Liability insurance?
Equipment? Is your lathe portable? Will you provide a lathe for each student?
 
The way you compared this to Woodcraft it made me think it's a very very short class, a few hrs at best. This means you must be very very organized, have a tight agenda, simple format, clearly explained goals, and materials prepared way before hand. You need to figure out what you time is worth, add up the hours of work, teaching, administrative, prep, so on. The divide that by number of students to get your cost per student.

I teach CPR, first aid, and violent trauma, I have about 20 students per class, 5 hrs per class, 2 hrs for prep/cleanup and 1 hr admin cost per class. I charge $55 per student =$1100 per class minus $100 per assistant x 3 = net of $800per class. That's $100 per hour, way more than what I'm worth but the price is right for the market.
 
I taught Wood Turning and Woodshop at an adult high school for years. It wasn't until one of my guys sliced his finger with a chisel and had to get stitches when I looked into how I was covered. NOTHING. Please, PLEASE make sure you are covered by the town. Nothing happened with me, but I told the school system that I would not return unless I had proof of coverage. First they called me on it and told me that I was an "agent" of the school and that I was covered. NOT. But when the people in the class got on them, they provided me with some serious insurance.
 
First off Grats on the gig!

As said above, definitely make sure you are covered. Once that has been established, you may want to consider having 2 sets of each blank (or sets of 2 if they will all be the same type of blank). My thought is have 1 almost ready to go on the lathe and the other still in 'blank' form. Show them how to measure for the tubes, drill, glue the tubes in....then with the ready-to-go ones show how to mill, turn and finish. That will give them the whole run down in a short amount of time and hey, maybe they can book a follow-up session to finish off that other blank they started :)

Good luck!
 
Some really great ideas! I am definitely going to look into the insurance thing. It would be a contract gig for the city at a community center. The director has only purchased safety goggles so far, the equipment needs to be bought. It would be one lathe per person, most likely, so I am thinking 6 students at the most. I like the idea of blanks ready to go, would definitely cut down on prep time for each student. I have not looked at the facility yet, that should be this afternoon. Adults, most likely, and I am leaning toward undercutting WC by about $5-$10, with the $10 being mostly a military price. I have taught pen turning and other turning before in my shop, and I never spent more than a couple of hours, and they left with a nice pen and much more knowledge than they did at WC. I am still an active duty Navy Chief, so I am hoping that this might set me up for some opportunities after I retire.
 
Look into the AAW membership on demonstrating and insurance. I know local AAW chapter require you to be an AAW member to demonstrate.
 
You hope they have some prior turning. If not, it is difficult (BTDT). If you have some who are "streaking ahead" and others still trying to negotiate the bandsaw, it becomes a bit "disheveled".

You CAN make a pen from start to finish. Take a 15 minute coffee break, right after gluing in the tubes (with med or thick CA). Then, when you come back, hit both ends of the blank with Accelerator. If you teach them to rotate the tube in the blank (with the CA on it) and get really good CA coverage, the blank will hold for turning.

All the questions above (insurance, lathes) and one more: what tool(s) will you use and who will provide them. Will you have safety goggles for each turner, or do they need to bring their own. What about the people who FORGET to bring whatever you expected? Will your "tuition" include supplies? Who provides the supplies? Will this service be subject to your local sales tax? Who will collect the money (if the town, just make sure they have answers to these questions.

That's all that occurs to me instantly,
Ed
 
Everyone above has talked around the subject of safety, but hasn't mentioned a SAFETY BRIEFING. Make sure you do one, discussing everything from "sharp chisels", long hair, eye protection, tool rest position, body stance, location of first aid kit (they do have one I hope), what the spinning parts are, where NOT to put fingers, and I'm sure there is plenty more. :eek:
Having done one will make the insurance folks much happier and maybe save an accident!
Have a safe class. :smile:
gordon
 
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I am a qualified Master Training Specialist for the Navy, believe me, there will be a safety brief. I will brief the different parts of the lathe, basic turning techniques (ie. bevel of tool, safely approaching workpiece with tool, etc...) as well as drilling and glueing blanks, squaring the ends, etc... The tools will all be provided by the city, as well as safety equipment. When I talked to the director yesterday, she wanted them to provide their own wood, but I am not a fan of that idea. I would much rather have everything on hand to streamline the process, give the student a better experience, and also give them an idea of what they would need minimally to build their own shop.
Again, these are all GREAT points. I am sorry I have been away from the forum for so long.
 
Hi Dave,

Your specific question was about what to charge. This may be comparing apples to oranges, but here is a list of courses from Lee Valley in Canada. You can click the individual sessions for course details and prices. I took one a couple of years ago, and was impressed (a refresher on turning boxes). I worried that it might be a 1/2 day advertisement for Lee Valley products. Not so. While the instructor used some Lee Valley tools, it was all about the process.

Here's a specific one -- Fundamentals of Turning -- a 7 hour course, for $80. Everyone gets to make something.

Seems to me, their prices might translate approximately to prices in your area? Good luck with it... Please let us know how it goes....
 
Well, the meeting went well, and big topic of discussion was insurance. I need to carry $1m of liability. Looking for quotes now. The workaround is to become a city employee at $10.55/hr which would be a pretty big (possible) pay cut from what I could be making taking the 60% split. I will look up the the lee valley courses, thanks! Anyone have any advice on insurance companies and what I should be looking for?
 
Check with your homeowner's insurer. They may be able to put a million dollar umbrella on you---but be clear what you will be doing, so the coverage does extend to "off-premises" liability.
 
You should also have everyone sign a release of liability form to protect yourself. When taking classes at Woodcraft and other places everyone is asked to sign one in order to participate in the class.
 
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