NEWS ARCHIVES
Next meeting: Thursday, May
1st
We’re going to try something a little
different for the DEMO this month:
It’s going to be a “round robin” demo
on embellishing.
We will have several lathes set
up.
Red Lay will demonstrate a “scorching”
technique on a bowl
I will use the Sorby
Texturing/Spiraling tool on several spindles and a bowl
We’ll have one lathe set up with a
finished bowl and some Spirit dyes.
Everyone will get a chance to try the
texturing tool and dyeing techniques for themselves.
I would love for someone familiar with
fluting techniques to give a 15 minute talk on that as well… any
takers?
FIELD TRIP TO THE FREE WOOD
STORE.
We’re going to make another trip to the
“Free Wood Store” on Saturday April 26th at 1:00pm. I need an RSVP if you are planning to
come. Same way we did it last
time; we will meet across the
street in the parking lot of the community pool, and drive in together in one or
two vehicles.
Details as we get closer, but please
RSVP as soon as possible.
Thanks to Tony Marsh for his great demonstration on
turning Bottle Stoppers. Lots of
really good tips and tricks in that demo.
For those of you interested in the stoppers that Tony
was using at his demo, you can find out about them here: http://www.torne-lignum.com/stoppers.html
GOOD
EGGS
It was great to see so many members participate in
last month’s turning challenge. We
saw a lot of well-made wooden eggs.
Even some of our newer members turned some pretty nice forms –
congratulations to them for a job well done. The Challenge winner was Paul Vedder,
who turned a segmented/hollowed egg.
Paul won a “spring bouquet” basked with six East Indian Rosewood pen
blanks. Congratulations,
Paul.
Next Month’s turning
challenge will be a candlestick. We will have a special prize for the
challenge winner again, so be sure to bring in your turned candlestick to the
May 1st meeting
This is a great opportunity to practice your spindle
turning and primary cutting techniques.
… and it fits in nicely with May’s Turning
101 session, which will be on the SKEW. Remember, TURNING 101 is a 15 minute
basic class given before the regular meeting and is designed for beginners. Anyone can participate either as a
student or teacher.
Still working on a topic for our “Brainstorming”
session. Suggestions would be
appreciated.
FEB 2008
Thanks to Ron
Browning for a
great demo! Ron presented his
method for turning a lidded box with finial, and included a handout showing how
to make a hook tool for end-grain hollowing.
As a special bonus, Ron has
donated the turning to our club, and it will be raffled off at our next
meeting!
We tried our new “Turning
101” pre-meeting class in the workshop at 6:00, and it seemed to go
pretty well. Turning 101 is geared
for new and novice turners, and deals with one specific aspect of
woodturning. Last meeting, we
focused on grain orientation, and used some visual aids to make it easily
understood. The entire thing lasted
less than 15 minutes. Next meeting,
our “Turning 101” session will be on Tool grinds and use – What works when, and
why, and will focus on the spindle gouge, bowl gouge, and the
scraper.
If you have a suggestion for a
Turning 101 class, email club VP, Lori Buck. Lori is handling
the agenda for our “Turning 101” and “brainstorming” sessions.
Speaking of “Brainstorming,” we also tried a new “everyone
participates” open discussion at the regular meeting called
“Brainstorming.” The feedback we
got from this was very positive.
Last meeting, we talked about where to find wood, and what local woods
were good to turn. From that
session, it was suggested the club put together a list of local brush dump sites
where you can find lumber for free.
Lori Buck has taken on that responsibility as well, and has provided a
list of five sites in St. Pete that you can visit. She is working on
finding more sites in Northern Pinellas andPasco, and we will list
them as soon as we can. The goal is
to eventually have a printout with addresses and maps to locations throughout
the general area. The beginning of
the list is at the bottom of this email.
Thanks Lori for a great start on
this project!
Next month’s
Brainstorming session
: Finishes and Finishing – what
turners prefer and why. Please
bring some examples of the finishes you use, and the pieces you used them on,
for this session.
The Meeting opened at 6:30 pm by
Pres. Steven Marlow. Pre-meeting activities included raffle tickets and signing
in by members and guests, and also renting of videos.
Guests tonight were Ken Brinker,
Franklin McKenzie, Bill Rollins and Frank Velarde and Mrs
Velarde.
"Library Review of the Month"
 Project's Along the Woodturning Trail,
by
Alan Lacer
This new 2 set DVD by Alan
Lacer is an outstanding addition to our club library.
Alan takes
you through step by step 6 great projects for both the novice as well as
the more advanced turner. Also included is a terrific tool sharpening
lesson.
Rent this DVD in the upcoming months to learn how to do a
simple weed pot to the more advanced peppermill, as well as 4 other things
to turn. This DVD will be a learning lesson to all who view it.
I give it 5 stars out of 5.
From your librarian,
Lee Ketchum
From your librarian,
"IT'S MARCH MADNESS MONTH"
For every 2 DVD's, videos or books you rent - get 1 free!!!!
|
On a sad note, Club member Joe
Harn has passed away earlier in the month, and funeral information and a moment
of silence was observed.
A possible demo by Johannes
Michelsen was suggested and a show of hands on which date would be better for
the group was discussed. However, Steven will not be available for either
date.
We still have the possibility to
get the demo, as a couple of members have stepped up to help facilitate it. We should know definitively by the end
of the week.
Holly Albright and Paul Vedder
presented our club with a very generous check from the Florida Woodturning
Symposium. This check is grant for educational purposes only, and will be
used accordingly. Thank you to everyone who attended the Symposium, and to
Holly and Paul for all of the hard work you do for such a great program.
And lets no forget to say thanks to Bob Winter for his great job as Symposium
auctioneer. The money raised goes a long way to promote the advancement of
our craft.
The club challenge
was for a
lidded box with finial.
Lee Ketchum won this month’s
challenge with his “Seattle tower” box.
Here are some pictures from the February "Show-n-Tell"
Next
month’s challenge is an offset turning.
That’s anything offset or
multi-axis. Should be lots of
fun!
Virgil Hanneman presented a
segmented vessel that was selected by the AAW to be on display at the National
Headquarters. Congratulations,
Virgil!
George Hardy is looking for
anything that could be donated for the Florida Sheriffs Boys Ranch shop. You can contact George if you have
anything to donate.
Bob Winter won two awards at the
Florida State Fair. Bob took a
3rd place and an honorable mention for his turnings. Way to go, Bob!
The 50-50 drawing of $34 was won
by Tom Green, Bring Back of carved tulips was won by Red
Lay.
Between the raffles and the wood
auction, the club raised nearly $200 last month. Thank you
everyone!
We discussed putting together a
list of brush sites available to find free turning wood. The list is being managed by club VP,
Lori Buck. So far, there are five
sites listed. These are all in St.
Pete. We will update the list
whenever possible, and make a printout with a map as soon as we have a few more
stations listed.
1000 62nd ave
NE St Petersburg
View Larger Map
2500 26th ave
southSt
Petersburg
View Larger Map
7750 26th
Ave North St
Petersburg
View Larger Map
4015 DMLK Street
SouthSt
Petersburg
View Larger Map
2453 20th ave northSt
Petersburg
View Larger Map
Hours are M-F 9-5:30 Sat/Sun 8-5:30
Next Month’s turning
Challenge: Offset turning –
that’s anything
offset or multi-axis. Should be
lots of fun!
Next Month’s
Demo: TBD – Can I get a
volunteer?
I’ll be traveling a lot this
month, and will probably be out of town for much of it. Please email me or call me if you have
any needs, but do not be offended if I do not get back to you right
away.
JANUARY 2008
Don't miss the
ALL NEW photos from the Instant gallery
at this
year's AAW National Symposium in Portland,
courtesy of Janet and Bob Helms.
PRESIDENT'S
MESSAGE
Wow.
Yeah, that pretty much sums it
up.
Wow.
Of course, I’m talking about the Annual
Florida Woodturning symposium that just took place January 11th
through 13th.
This year’s group of instructors and demonstrators was
top-notch, and the beautifulLake Yale campus again proved to be the perfect
setting for this spectacular annual event.
The amazing “instant gallery” awed us with the expanse of incredible
talent our state has to offer from the woodturning community, and the tremendous
diversity of product from the myriad vendors had many a turner emptying their
wallets.
Some of the instructors at this year’s
event included nationally renowned turners Michael Hosaluk, Alan Lacer, Lyle
Jamieson, and Mark St. Leger. The
demonstrations ran the gamut from simple, to complex, and everyone learned
something… some of us learned a whole lot!
And let’s not forget the annual auction,
overseen by our own Bob Winter. Bob
always keeps the crowd glued to their seats and whipped up into a bidding frenzy
with his auctioneering prowess. I
haven’t heard the final tally from this year’s bidding, but it sure was fun to
watch and to participate!
WOODWORKING SHOWS
I received an email from Al Hockenberry,
which I will paraphrase below.
“The Woodworking
shows are under new management and the 2008 show will be at the State
fairgrounds in Tampa March
20,21,22.
We will have a
multi-club woodturning booth as in past years. 30 x 10 space for demos and club
displays. New for this year is the opportunity to have a seated demonstration
area.
We need to supply
a program of demonstrators, a lathe, the shows would provide a seating area
of 50-80
seats.
This would be an
excellent opportunity to promote woodturning, our clubs, and our members who
demonstrate.
We need to have
high quality demonstrations like those given at the Florida Symposium. I view it as a micro symposium
event. The demo focus should be at
the novice, beginner, with a few advanced tips thrown in for our members who may
attend the sessions.
I’m open to
suggestions. My initial thoughts
are a series of 90 minute and 45 minute demos that attract potential
Woodturners.
I had planned my schedule on the
earlier announcement of this show being in Lakeland a week later, we have house guests and
my personal participation will be limited to one day.
I have
arranged for a booth 10 x 30. I
expect participation form the Tri-County woodturners, Woodturners of Polk
county, and the Central Florida Woodturners. Each club get 8 passes a day. Based on last year this number would
work fine. we can include clubs such as Sarasota, West coast,
Spacecoat too.
Dates and
times
Thursday, March
20, 2008 12-6
Friday, March 21, 2008 12 -
6
Saturday, March 22, 2008 10 –
6
If anyone is interested to do some demos
or just work the booth for a few hours any of those days, please let me know as
soon as possible. You will get a
free pass to the show in return for your time.
Thanks
to everyone for participating in the Tips, jigs, tools, and
techniques demo at our last meeting. I hope everyone walked
away with a new idea or two to implement into their own skill set.
I'm still looking for a demonstrator for the February meeting. If
you want to do a demo, please contact me. Who knows, maybe you got some
inspiration at the Symposium and want to share it with the rest of us!
NEXT
MEETING:
Thursday, February 7th,
6:30pm
DEMO:
Guest Turner, RON BROWNING
We are priveledged to have a guest turner this month. Ron is a former
FWCWT club president and recently demoed at the Annual Florida Woodturning
Symposium. In keeping with our turning turning challenge this month, Ron will be
making a lidded end-gain box.
As a special bonus, Ron's demo piece will then be raffled off at the March
meeting!
TURNING
CHALLENGE:
LIDDED
BOX WITH FINIAL
This is your chance to
show off your spindle and end-grain hollowing skills. Turn a lidded box -
any size - and add a finial.
SOME PICTURES FROM THE 2008
FLORIDA WOODTURNING
SYMPOSIUM
OCTOBER 2007
First, thanks
to Vic Johnson for a great demo. Vic was well organized and well prepared,
and that made his demo a pleasure to watch and very easy to get something out
of.
As future demonstrators, we can all
learn something from the way Vic put together his lecture. Great job
Vic!
The club held our monthly board of
directors meeting on Tuesday, September 11th. Thank you to those who
emailed me or called me to volunteer your time for the craft shows or the
Holiday Party. We can still use a couple of hands for the craft shows,
especially set up on the Saturday mornings of the events (Oct 20th and Oct
27th).
Don't forget,
this month's turning
challenge is a piece that you want the club to try to sell at the craft shows. All funds for
these donated pieces will go directly into the club coffers for things like new
videos, outside demonstrators, holiday party door prizes, and other club
improvements.
Speaking of
Door Prizes...
We will be doing things
a little different for theHoliday party this year. After a long discussion at
the board meeting, and based on feedback from a number of members, we will
not be having the long and drawn-out raffle of cheap take-homes that we
have had the last several years. There will be no stacks of
three-dollar gifts from Harbor Freight.
Instead, all of our
door prizes this year will be comprised entirely of fairly large ticket
items.
Granted, there will be
far fewer prizes, and not everyone will win something, but everyone will have a
chance at some really nice stuff.
Tickets to this year's
Holiday Party for dues-paying members and their guest will be $7.00 per
person if paid in advance by November 15th.
After November 15th and
at the door, tickets will be $8.00 per person.
Tickets for non members
(individuals who have not paid their 2007 club dues) will be $12.00 per
person.
With each
purchased dinner, everyone will get one raffle ticket. Our door prizes will be lined
up for display, each with a box in front if it. You will choose
the prize you wish to be eligible to win, and place your ticket in that
box.
Additional raffle
tickets may be purchased for $2.00 a piece. You can play multiple boxes,
or put multiple tickets in the same box. If you pay your 2008 membership
dues at the October or November club meeting, it will earn you an extra raffle
ticket at the Holiday banquet. Dues must be received by the November
club meeting to qualify.
I'm not going to
mention any of the prizes just yet, but rest assured there will be some
pretty nice goodies to take home.
We will decide on the
menu at the November meeting.
Most everyone thought last year's
meal was pretty good, so we will likely go with something similar, but we'll
open it up for discussion at the meeting so that we can let the caterer know on
time.
ELECTION OF 2008
OFFICERS
We will be nominating our officers
for next year at the October meeting - for elections in November. There
will be some board vacancies, and I am hoping that we can get some "new blood"
to fill these positions. This is REALLY easy work (I hate to even call it
"work"), so please think about helping out. Specifically, Tony Marsh will
not be able to continue as our club Treasurer, and Wayne Dawson has indicated
that he would like to see someone else take the reigns as Vice President next
year. Both have done an awesome job, and we owe both of them a debt of
gratitude for their service. Please don't be shy. Let someone know
if you are interested and have them nominate you at the October
meeting. ALL positions are
open for nomination.
SAWDUST
SESSIONS
I had to change the dates of
one of the upcoming sawdust sessions. These sawdust sessions
are specifically for building displays for the upcoming craft shows.
We will now be holding them on Saturday September 29th and Saturday October
6th. 10:00am to 4:00pm. Lunch will be
provided.
The Sawdust Sessions will be held at
my house. If you will be coming, please let me know so that I can plan
accordingly. You can email me by hitting "Reply" to this message, or by
calling me at 727-421-4063.
I will provide you with the address
and directions at that time.
Also, if you have ideas for
displays, please let me know what materials you will need. We have a small
but adequate budget for these displays, and plan to be able to use them over the
next several years. If we need to purchase any supplies, I would like
to be able to do that well in advance.
SORBY
DEMO
Wayne Dawson said that the date for
the Robert Sorby Tool Company Demo at Woodcraft will be Wednesday, October
10th. This year, Nigel
Maddocks will be representing the Sorby Company.
There will be two sessions; one from
2:00pm to 5:00pm and the other from 6:00pm to 9:00pm. Space is limited and you need to reserve
your spot by calling 727-532-6888 as soon as
possible.
This month’s demo will be a reverse stacked-ring bowl. It’s a great way to turn flat scrap
from cutoffs and old “rainy-day” boards into something beautiful. No fancy angle measuring, no
calculating, and no worrying about perfect miter joints! The demo will be in the shop, and
include some turning along with visual aids and handouts. You don’t want to miss it!
Our November demo will
be a lesson on STAVE turning by Red Lay.
It will include the jigs and fixtures you need to make long hollow form
glue-ups easy. Many of us have a
difficult time with this specialty, and Red is going to show us how to take the
mystery and guesswork out of it.
PAY YOUR DUES EARLY;
INCREASE YOUR CHANCE TO WIN!
We are starting our 2008 membership
dues drive at the October meeting.
If you pay your 2008 membership dues at the October or November club
meeting, it will earn you an extra raffle ticket at the Holiday banquet.
Dues must be received by the November club meeting to
qualify.
See you all on Thursday, October
4th~
-Steven Marlow
--------------------------------------------
HIGHLIGHTS from Previous Monthly
Updates
Now, it's time to teach.
After our brief summer break, the club started back in swing with a
weeklong series of exciting events:
On
Thursday, August 2nd, we set up the shop with five lathes, and held
an all-day pen turning class for the middle-school age youngsters attending St.
Paul United Methodist Church Summer Camp.
A
dozen young men and women between the ages of 12 and 14 had an opportunity – a
few at a time – to learn the basics of lathe safety, tool use, and spindle
turning. Club members Bob Winter
and Steven Marlow provided the coaching, as each student selected their pen
blanks and kits, and turned their own slimline design. Some decorative accents (the kids really
liked the wire-burning effect) were added after sanding, all pens were finished
with polish and wax, and then pressed together.
We
even had group counselor Eric join in the last group after seeing the awesome
results of his camper’s endeavors.
Thanks
to Bob Winter for not only spending the day with the kids, but for providing the
wood for all of the blanks we used.
The
kits, sanding supplies, and pen-turning tools were all purchased with AAW
Educational Opportunity Grant funds.
It was
a great – but exhausting – day of turning.
In April, we held a bowl-turning class for the boy's youth group
at St. Paul's United Methodist Church. Bob Winter, Wayne Dawson, and I had the
opportunity to teach a few young men (plus club member and youth group leader
Grant Corrigan) some bowl-making skills on our club's lathes.
By the end of the night, the students had each turned their own
bowl, and we had the pleasure of knowing that some of our woodturning knowledge
had been passed on to the next generation.
We have plans to hold a pen-making class at the Church for their
middle-school age kids this summer during the summer camp. If you are interested
in taking a day to help tutor pen-turning, please let me know.
This autumn, our club will be
sponsoring weekend hands-on workshops at the Dunedin Art Center. Tony and Karen
Marsh are heading-up the effort, and are in the process of writing a syllabus
and class plan. Tentatively, we are talking about one weekend per month, for
four or five months, starting in September. Once the details are worked out, we
will post a volunteer sign-up sheet for instructors and
classroom-helpers.
Craft Shows/Art Festivals
Our club will be taking booths at two craft fairs in the
2nd half of this year. We will again be purchasing space at the St. Paul's
Church craft fair, and at the Heritage Village Jubilee. Both are in October. The
booths will be open to any club member who wishes to sell or display their work.
As we did last year, the club would also appreciate a small percentage of any
sales as a "commission" to help cover the cost of the booth. If you would like
to donate turnings for the club to sell, that would be appreciated as well. We
don't want to set any "rules" as to what percentage of your sales should be
contributed to the club, but a 10% to 15% cut is usually considered
appropriate.
Roster Update:
The latest
club roster is available on line. If you do not have access, please let me know.
The roster is only available to folks who have paid their annual dues. We have
been asked by Woodcraft and by Klingspor to provide the current roster so that
they can verify names for their respective 10% discounts against our list. If
you have not paid your dues, please do so by the June meeting. You will not be
able to get your Club discount without your name on the roster.
-Steven Marlow
Bill Grumbine Bowl Turning Demo
Those who attended the Bill Grumbine
demonstration on Saturday, March 24th, got a real treat! Bill was not only a
great demonstrator, but he had everyone truly entertained. I sure would have
liked to have seen more participation from our club members, but those that went
certainly got their money's worth.
Bill taught techniques and turned three different bowls; a standard rimmed
bowl, a natural-edged bowl, and a winged bowl. 
In each demonstration
we were provided with explanations of technique, and the planning (thought)
process that goes into turning one of these projects. 
Plus, after lunch Bill had a sharpening clinic where he sharpened a bowl
gouge for anyone interested and let them try their new grind on the lathe.
The big screen and projector ensured that everyone had a good seat, and we
even got entertained by the "GougeCam" - a camera mounted to the handle of a
bowl gouge - to let us see the cutting from a unique point of view.
Thank you to everyone who stayed and helped clean up after the demonstration.
I really appreciate the help. You made getting everything cleaned up and put
away so much easier.
After the demo, many of us headed back to Steven Marlow's house for some
burgers, brew, and barbecue. Everyone must have been pretty hungry, because
there was only one hamburger and NONE of the spare ribs left over! 
On Sunday, six lucky students spent the day with Bill at the Woodcraft in
Clearwater, and received hands-on teaching. Each of the students was given
personal attention and was able to ask questions about technique and approach
that was as in-depth as each person needed. 
----
2007
Florida Woodturning Symposium Instant Gallery
2006 Holiday Party - December 5th
Holiday Party
Pictures
