Why join a carving club

[Pracuss]

I discussed this thread at my local club meeting this evening. I found many different answers to the question. There are many benefits to joining a club for new members. We have a knife maker in ours and there are a few members that sell wood to members at a fair price. We have starter kits for new members that include a bench knife, glove, finger guard, strop and compound for $20.00. We also have project cut-outs w/patterns that are of simple design and designed for the novice. This is the key to gaining new members and keeping them interested in the craft. The six new members we have have been coming back every week and are likely to continue as a result.

[Doc Hamm]

I too joined a carving club a few months ago. I started woodworking with woodturning, a fun hobby but often challenging. I am not a bowl person, so it's easy for me to get a bit bored, so I started looking for more to do. Soon I added a scrollsaw to my wood hobby after attending a SAW Expo. Later I again felt compelled to do more and took a class on carving at a local wood store. I had only ever tried to carve once on my own and always thought it was out of my realm. Well the carving class quickly proved me wrong and within a month I had a few carving projects going as well as joining a local club. The club is fun, meeting once a month for business and once for carving. I have learned several things as well as helping out some turners in the group. It's nice to learn and contribute.