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As promised, I have updated the survey results based on the new information that has come in. There have been a couple additions I have made to the data this time around, but many things have stayed the same. For those of you who made comments about possible changes, thank you but I have made no changes. To do so would require the release of a completely new survey and the resurveying of all who responded previously. Rather than continue to sample the same people, I have decided to leave it as is and sample elsewhere. Specifically, this has meant the sampling of people who are not involved in USENET. Where the percentage of people surveyed who frequented rec.woodworking was around 95% last time, the respondents added since do not monitor newsgroups, in large part. Thus you will notice that the percentage of respondents who frequent rec.ww has dropped substantially - something I was hoping for.
I have omitted some data, as explained below, for a variety of reasons. Although I have included the percentage of Galoot versus Normite respondents (a proportion which has not changed) I did not included the information about the top 10 tools for each. That information has remained largely unchanged and can be found in the original results.
As explained last year, the results were tallied in as scientific a way possible (yes, I was trained to do this professionally in University but it has been a long time). If you thought you answered a certain way and the data didn't turn up in the survey, that is probably because your response was deleted. Empty or mostly incomplete survey files and damaged files were deleted. Some answers, where it was obvious that it is a different way of saying the same thing (for example NYW and The New Yankee Workshop), were treated as the same answer. In cases where the variety in the answers was too great, the top, or most common, answers are presented. I tried to make the graphs as readable as possible but my graphing software is terrible. Lastly, I did not publish the number of respondents surveyed as, to retain the majority of the data, I had to delete botched results for some surveys but retained partial surveys where possible. This means that the total number of respondents changes sometimes from question to question. Overall, the total number is 50% higher than the original survey. And no, the results are not scientific, so please don't email me about statistical significance.
Here we go....
Who Responded to the Survey?
Using the same format as I did last time, the following graph shows a geographical comparison of the countries from which the respondents came. This information is grouped with the average age of the resondents from that country, their average woodworking experience and average size of shop. The legend is below and explains everything more clearly.
LEGEND
Each country has a series of four bars associated with it. By the way, the colors are courtesy of Bill Gates, not me. They represent:
- BLUE - percentage of the total number of respondants from that country
- MAROON - average age in years of the respondants from that country
- YELLOW - average years of experience in woodworking of the respondants from that country
- TEAL - average shop size in square feet of the respondants from that country as reduced by a factor of 10. This means that the number above the bar must be multiplied by 10 to get the actual average shop space in square feet.
Favorites
- Top 3 Woodworking Magazines Only three were included as they were the only ones with a significant number of responses. 12% of respondents did not answer.
- Fine Woodworking - 42%
- Wood - 15%
- TIE: WoodSmith and ShopNotes - 5% each
- Top 5 Woodworking Books A lot of variation here but these five were mentioned more than any others.
- Tage Frid Teaches Woodworking Vols 1, 2 and 3 - 13%
- The Workbench Book by Landis - 7%
- 3-Way Tie at 5% each
- Router Magic by Hylton et. el.
- Understanding Wood by Hoadley
- Cabinetmaking and Millwork by Feirer
- Understanding Wood Finishing by Flexner - 4%
- The Handplane Book by Hack - 3%
- Top 3 North American Woodworking Stores
- Woodcraft - 29%
- Lee Valley - 19%
- Rockler - 14%
- Top UK Woodworking Store
- Axminster - 55%
- The N. American Woodworking TV Showdown Since there aren't that many, I included everthing that was in the database. I removed TOH and Hometime because, after reflection, they aren't really woodworking related. You could probably call them carpentry or plumbing shows (or classify them in a thousand other ways) but they do not specifically have to do with woodworking. 23% of respondents did not answer.
- New Yankee Workshop - 62%
- The Woodwright's Shop - 6%
- Woodworks - 5%
- American Woodshop - 2%
- The Router Workshop - 1%
- In the Workshop - 1%
- Top Woodworking Websites I left this particular category out. Since the demise of Badger Pond in February of this year, a great many "Ponders" have been either treading water or frantically breast stroking to other woodworking habitats. I'll leave this alone until everything calms down.
USENET, or The Newsgroups
Here are the results on the five USENET newsgroups about which I asked. They were simple yes or no questions. It is important to note that the original survey was advertised on rec.ww but not on any of the others, which is why there is a high percentage of respondents who frequent rec.ww.
- Percentage of respondents who visit rec.woodworking - 81%
- Percentage of respondents who visit rec.turning - 18%
- Percentage of respondents who visit rec.carving - 4%
- Percentage of respondents who visit alt.binaries.pictures.woodworking - 46%
- Percentage of respondents who visit alt.binaries.pictures.furniture - 39%
Woodworking Chat on DALnet
Actually, although I have tried it, I think it moved from DALnet. Nevertheless, only 4% of respondents replied that they have at least tried it and several comments were received wondering what it is. The rec.woodworking crowd, or a faction of it, started this chat line to talk, in realtime, to fellow "wreckers". It is not very well advertised so many are unaware of its existance and many of those who do know about it don't like chatting (based on the comments).
Am I sorry I asked about plans!
Alright it was not the best question, in terms of wording ro the amount of thought put into it, but 66% of respondents did indicate that they design at least some of their own plans. This is significantly greater than the number who stick to other people's plans.
The Injury Question
Fortunately, only 10% of respondents indicated that they received a serious injury while woodworking. Specifically this means one that required at least some medical attention.
Oh that infernal question - Normite or neanderthal:
Regardless of the responses to the contrary, and yes I WAS already aware that no-one can be totally in one camp or the other as we are all somewhere in between, everyone must admit that if you sit down and think about it, you have to lean one way or the other. What I found didn't leave much room for doubt. Here are the results, still unchanged from last year:
Dust Collection
The following graph shows the proportion of respondents whose dust collection falls into one of the five general categories listed. Please note that the none category means exactly that - the respondent does not employ any particular method of dust collection at all (beyond maybe a shovel and broom). The vac category is for people who rely on shop vacs, the lid category represents woodworkers who rely on those dust separation lids for trash cans, dc is short for dust collector which includes the bag and blower collectors, and cyc represents those woodworkers who employ cyclone systems of all kinds.
Professional Woodworkers
Of the people surveyed, only 9% indicated that thery were professional woodworkers. The respondents were given the opportunity to indicate what area of professional woodworking they were in and a variety of responses were received. I found these results inconclusive as many of the answers I received were from people I would not consider professional woodworkers. Although their job may be related to working wood, they didn't actually work wood for money. However, the three most prevalent answers, most common first, were custom furniture making, toys and crafts, and architectural millwork.
Retired Woodworkers
17% of the people surveyed indicated they were retired from their chosen, or main, profession.
Internet Usage
The average number of hours per week spent on the internet, of the people who answered the survey, was 15.9 hours.
A Question of Occupation
As alluded to previously, this information has been left out. I did not contact the gentleman who helped me sort this out before because, to be quite frank, I didn't want to get back into this data. After the stir it caused last time, I opted to "stay out of the kitchen". The woodshop is a better place for me anyway.
Sharpening
The following graph shows the proportion of respondents whose sharpening system falls into one of the five general categories listed. Please note that the none category means that no response was given. It would have been interesting to add a category for things like the Tormek sharpener. When I wrote the survey I was not aware that so many were using them and it would be interesting to find out what the proportion is. I guess I thought because I was doing allright without a Tormek, and not willing to spend the money on one, that most people were like me. Oops. The diam category is for people who rely on diamond stones, the oil category represents woodworkers who rely on oil stones, water is short for water stones, and scary represents those woodworkers who employ the Scary Sharp system of using abrasive paper on a glass plate. This is a very popular method amongst the people on rec.woodworking.
For you North Americans - Some Data on PBS
PBS, or Public Broadcasting System (a noncommercial TV system in the United States) is a real hobbyhorse for me. I loved (past tense) PBS. However, my local stations carry no shows that appeal to me except The New Yankee Workshop (sorry, I don't watch This Old House anymore - Steve Thomas gives me the creeps). They don't even carry my favorite painting shows any more. As you can see from the above, there are at least 6 woodworking TV shows that exist (although Woodworks is strictly an HGTV offering). I never heard of In The Workshop before, so I guess I'll have to see it I can find it. I don't know where it originates from but that doesn't necessarily mean that PBS couldn't sponsor it. There are other shows about carving and boatbuilding etc., that didn't even make it to the list that PBS DOES sponsor in many areas. The problem is that my PBS only carries NYW, and preempts it with pledge breaks over 50% of the time. (That means they are begging for money.) I haven't seen a whole season in years. I can watch Teletubbies three times a fricken day if I want to!
So I wondered how many other people were as unhappy with the PBS system as I am. The results show that in Canada, 24% of respondents are happy with the woodworking offerings on PBS. In the United States, 23% are happy. Overall, the North American satisfaction rate is 23%. This means they are losing a lot of viewers I suspect.
The membership numbers are even lower and quite interesting I find. In Canada, 0%, that's right - no respondents, were members of their local PBS affiliate. In the US, only 11% said they were members. The overall rate for North America was 10%. Thus they are certainly losing money. The most interesting fact is that, although PBS is an American institution, the border states with PBS channels broadcast into Canada on cable and, historically, Canadian viewers are more likely to become members. Most border PBS affiliates count Canadian members as a very high percentage of their overall membership. My old station was KSPS in Spokane, WA, and their membership had a substantial number of Canadians. The fact that this survey finds no Canadian members at all is interersting to me and would be worth looking into further - especially for the bigwigs at PBS.
Also surprising to me was the number of unsatisfied people, who watched enough PBS to know their local call sign, who were still paying members - especially in the worst rated (by this survey) markets. Look out PBS, you may soon lose some more members if you keep this up. I should have asked how many people would have started to pay for membership if they increased the number of woodworking offerings on the air. In any event, out of the people who knew their call sign, the two stations with the highest number of negative votes were KCET in Los Angeles and KERA in Dallas - followed fairly closely by NJN here in New Jersey among others. This isn't really a telling statistic as it probably just shows that there are more people in Dallas and LA that are on the internet (or just more people in Dallas and LA). The best rated station was OPB, which I think is Oregon Public Broadcasting. I'll be moving there soon!
I'm not anti-PBS, I am for it. My concern is that they take the only show I like on TV (that I can get on TV), preempt it, then try to spend all weekend making me feel guilty for not giving them money to put shows on the air I won't even watch. They don't even show PBS specials like The Civil War. They do have a love fest with that Orman woman who tries to tell you what to do with your money. And what is all that crap about men being from Jupiter or some other planet? the point is, if you are reading this PBS, I'll pay if you stop ignoring me and others like me. Look at the numbers! I'm not alone! Rant off.
Epilogue:
I still think that doing this was a lot of fun. I am not sure I will bother doing it again, but I found out a lot of interesting stuff. Thank you for participating, taking the time to look over this pile of stuff, and putting up with my PBS rant. Happy woodworking!
Howard Ruttan
April 14, 2003
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