Whether you are a novice, or have been turning for a while, you are going to run up against a situation where you could use some help in figuring out how to do something.  Of course, you can work at it on your own until you do figure it out.  But you should know that there is a whole slew of sources of help out there.  It took me a while to learn about all of these, so maybe there will be some things here that you are unaware of.

In no particular order, here are my sources of information:

1. Other turners.  These may be ones that you know about, or ones  that you meet.  
2. A great place to meet other turners is through clubs, so join clubs near you (or even far from you). I belong to two clubs, one of which is about 45 minutes away, and the other is over an hour away from my home.  I have met so many great people at these meetings, plus they are a terrific resource for books, videos and magazines.  If you belong to a large enough club, you will also see professional turners who come in to demonstrate, plus many clubs have members who give classes for nominal fees.
3. Take classes.  I have yet to take a class or attend a demonstration where I have not learned anything.
4. The Internet (how did we ever live without it!)
   • Bulletin Boards are a great place to congregate.  When I need information from turning boards, my first step is to use their Search engines, and I often copy the results of pertinent threads I find into my word-processing program or text editor, and save it and print it.  That way I have it available for the next time I have the problem!  (At my age, you learn to put as little strain as possible on your memory--it can't take it!)  If I can't get an answer, then I post the question on the board.  I have learned that there really is no such thing as a dumb question, but there are people who are more comfortable with being ignorant than showing their ignorance (I hope I have outgrown that, myself).  My favorite boards are:
     1. www.woodcentral.com  (navigate your way to the turning board).  There are also chat sessions that are excellent, as well as a classified section.
        
     2. www.thewows.com.  In order to control trolls, you have to be invited to join this board, but any person who is a member can invite you.  In addition to the usual postings, this board, which was the vision of Herman deVries (affectionately referred to as Papa Herm) is a place for turners to "exhibit" their work, and get feedback, if they desire.  Over a relatively short period of time, it has become a huge picture album where you can see objects ranging from the first turnings of novices to the output of professional turners.  A truly great source of inspiration.  Plus there are many photo-essays, where turners have documented how they created various objects.
        
     3. If your ISP subscribes to it, there is a newsgroup called rec.crafts.woodturning.  While I, personally, will not post to it because of the trolls, the archives are an amazing treasure of information.  The archives are located under google.com as a group, and you can get there by clicking here.  When you conduct a search, make sure you click the Search in rec.crafts.woodturning button to restrict your search to this group
   • The sites of woodturning clubs.  These can easily be located at the site of the AAW (http://www.woodturner.org/).  Join this organization!  It does good work, and it will also pay off in the form of discounts that you will get at various demonstrations and symposiums.  It also has a forum, but I haven't spent much time there, so I cannot comment on it.
   • The sites of various woodturners.  While these are way too many to be listed, some of the ones that I have found to be particularly useful in that they are full of tips and how-tos are:
     • http://www.a1studio.freeserve.co.uk/ (Brian Clifford's site)
     • http://www.aroundthewoods.com/ (Darrell Feltmate's site)
     • http://www.bowlturner.com / (Dave Peeble's site)
     • http://www.ellsworthstudios.com/david/gallery.html (David Ellsworth's site---not much information, but beautiful photos showing the development of a great turner and teacher---so, I'm biased, sue me!)
     • http://www.enter.net/~ultradad/ (Bill Grumbine's site)
     • http://www.hdv.net/ (Herman deVries site)
     • http://www.kestrelcreek.com/
     • http://www.laymar-crafts.co.uk/
       
     • WOODTURNING by Marshall Gorrow (In addition to his work, he has an incredible collection of links to other turners, sources, clubs, etc.)
     • http://www.fholder.com/Woodturning/woodturn.htm (Fred Holder's site, where, among other things, he has generously made available many of the reviews of tools by Lyn J. Mangiameli.
     and this is barely scratching the surface.
   • In addition, the sites of manufacturers such as:
     • Robert Sorby (http://www.robert-sorby.co.uk/)
     • Arbortech (http://www.arbortech.com.au/woodmain.html), etc.,
       as well as those of some of the major (and minor) retailers, such as:
     • Woodcraft ( http://shop.woodcraft.com/)
     • Craft Supplies (http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/online_shop.html), etc..
       These provide tips for their tools, how to use them, offers of free CDs, instructions that you can download, etc.
5. Attend symposiums, both local, as well as the national one held annually by the AAW.
6. Books, videos and magazines (which you can buy, rent or borrow from your club)

Of course it is difficult for most of us to do all of the above, but there is one thing that we all can do, perhaps the best source of information, which is to blow up pieces!  If you are not blowing up pieces, you are not pushing yourself---I wish I had come up with that line, but it was someone like Richard Raffan or David Ellsworth or one of those giants.

If I have left out a source or a site you think is particularly useful, please email me and let me know, and I'll add it.