VideoWoodworkers – Skiatook Adventure with Shawn Graham

By Shawn Graham - wortheffort woodworking

Posted July 5, 2017

We may receive a commission when you use our affiliate links. However, this does not impact our recommendations.

On June 23-24, 2017, a bunch of YouTubers converged on a field in Oklahoma to abandon technology and go old school. The “Skiatook Adventure” differentiated itself from other events via its complete lack of agenda. There were no tool vendors, no pitchmen, no schedule. Visitors weren’t coming to buy, learn or try new things. The event was all about getting past the information highway and socializing “IRL.”
The event was the brainchild of Ted Alexander, who upon acquiring a band saw mill thought it’d be a fun weekend to mill up material with his fellow content creators. Enter Nick Ferry and an invite to any maker on YouTube, and the adventure was on its way.

The makers who came all brought something to demonstrate, but these demos were just ice breakers with the public. You had Moy Perez helping people turn pens, Shawn Stone building tool totes with kids and Jay Bates inviting every passersby to whitewash a fence (err… build a workbench).

There were also some demonstrations that had visitors enthralled, such as the several variations of log milling, chainsaw carving, metal flake embellishments, spray paint art, CNC dice making and bowl turning.

After the gates closed, the event kept going for the YouTubers as the focus turned from the audience to each other. Most of us had never met in person so camping opened up time to talk shop, eat good food and relax. Several of the makers continued working thru the night, offering up group entertainment. I can say that Braxton Wirthlin was throwing shavings to the wee hours and a whole crew finished up a workbench build around 2 a.m. at Jay Bate’s booth. He shared a short on his second channel (Jay Bates 2) that perfectly illustrated the after-hours vibe.

My time there was spent losing my voice, practicing and refining some short lectures and doing one-on-one lessons in turning and joinery.

The finale was a big giveaway where most of the demonstration builds were raffled off along with some tool donations from manufacturers, including a new portable cordless shop.

But the takeaway from the event was that woodworking, DIY and making was the least important aspect of the event. The shaking of hands, small talk, joking and debate morphed the pixels that viewers have on a screen into real people. And it was absorbing the nuances of individuals and seeing the influence wielded that’s translated the number of views on YouTube into something of real meaning for the ‘tubers.

The “Skiatook Adventure” was about the people.

Below are links to the those who worked the event. You can also search “Skiatook VideoWoodworkers” on YouTube to see other participant’s experiences.

Product Recommendations

Here are some supplies and tools we find essential in our everyday work around the shop. We may receive a commission from sales referred by our links; however, we have carefully selected these products for their usefulness and quality.

Shawn Graham - wortheffort woodworking

Shawn Graham spent the better part of a decade in the public school sector teaching high school technology classes. Now he's using content creation via articles, books and video's to scratch that teachers itch. See more of his content and work at wortheffort.com or search wortheffort on YouTube.