GVWG

greater vancouver woodturners guildOur friends in the AAW chapter North of the border have a great newsletter. The Greater Vancouver Woodturning Guild (GVWG) June newsletter has several interesting items in it:

  • Listing of upcoming demonstrators including bios of Art Liestman and Avelino Samuel
  • Story of a near fatal lathe accident involving a B.C. turner leading to a simple lathe modification to prevent a similar incident in the future
  • Tech talk with tips on expansion chucks, bowl finishing and power vs. manual sanding
  • A tutorial on end grain hollow forms
  • A nice write up on skews – types, bevels, sharpening, use
  • A Woodturning 101 article on turning a candle holder
  • Lots of pictures of items turned by members

As of this writing the June newsletter was linked to the Latest Newsletter link.

Take a look, I think you will enjoy reading their newsletter and will probably come away with a few new ideas.

Annual Picnic and Wood Auction

picnicSPSW members, its that time of year for the annual picnic and wood auction. This year the Swiss park is not available to us for the wood auction/picnic and as a result we have found a new place.

This year we will be holding the picnic on Sunday, July 17th at 2:00 p.m. at the Northlake Improvement Club. Chris Johnson is a member and has made it available for our use. This facility is very large with a large kitchen, indoor and outdoor areas for meeting, and restrooms. The club house is located on the corner of 38th Ave South and South 334th at 33228 38th Ave South, and is located on an acre of grounds. Take the Weyerhaeuser off ramp.

We are hoping that having the picnic on a Sunday will allow more members to participate. If you have questions regarding this space or need directions feel free to call Chris Johnson at (425) 228-3200.

SPSW Member Profile – Bill Wood

bill woodUpon graduation from Boeing, it only took 40 years to achieve graduation, I took up a life of golf and marshalling at our golf course. After a couple of years of this, golf became a not totally fulfilling life experience and being a course marshal reminded me too much of being a manager at Boeing, too many people conflicts. I really don’t need that anymore. I did some research on the internet, I am really good at researching on the internet, and then I saw a demonstration of the RBI Hawk at the Puyallup Fair. This looked like fun, so I headed down to Sumner Woodworker and talked to John about buying a scroll saw. John said, “Bill you are a retired Boeing manager and I don’t think you really have the patience to do scroll work. What you really need is a lathe.” Now I knew absolutely nothing about lathes. I decided to take a class from Michael Dresdner on bowl turning. I was hooked. I went back to Sumner and bought a Jet Mini and a couple of tools. This wasn’t too bad, only about $300. Six months later and another $500 and I realized that John was a much better businessman than I was. Scroll saw initial outlay about $300 and then $6 for blades every once in awhile. Lathe initial outlay about $300 and then get out your Master Card. My Jet Mini has turned into a Oneway 10″, a Jet 16″, two or three grinders, a drill press, a captured hollowing system, Oneway chucks, a Nova chuck, Sweazey gouges, Schweitzer tools, and various other tools and jigs. These would have bought several lifetimes of scroll saw blades.

Let’s not forget learning to turn. Instruction is the best thing out there. I was fortunate enough to learn from two of the best. I used to accompany Bob Sweazey on his trips to Dave Schweitzer’s to discuss making bowl gouges. Dave would set me up with a piece of wood and set me off to turning. (I really think this was to keep me out of his and Bob’s hair.) From across the room I would hear, “You’re off the bevel again.” Pretty soon he would get tired of yelling at me and come over and make a minute adjustment to my hand and say, “This is the way it is supposed to sound.” It is unbelievable how small a change it takes to go from chips to long curls. My other instructor was Eric Lofstrom. Eric taught me that, with a little practice, even I could make very thin turnings. All of you should take advantage of the excellent turners we have in our club. No matter what kind of turning you’re interested in there is someone available to help and guide you.

That pretty much sums up my turning experience. I now dabble in a little bit of every type of turning with the exception of segmented, that is yet to come. Oh yes, I finally got a part-time job at Sumner Woodworker Store to help offset my costs.

Chapter Profile: New Mexico Woodturners

new mexico woodturnersSeems like the are many well known artists from the Southwest. There are many types of art – paintings, sculpture, pottery, weavings and wood – that have a Southwest style.

The AAW chapter in Albuquerque also has some great artists. The New Mexico Woodturners was formed in 1992 and now has over 100 members from the Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and around central New Mexico. They meet on the first Saturday of the month. Recent demonstrators include Molly Winton who is a professional woodturner from the Northwest, Dave Stein who demonstrated turning parts and articulated joints for operable wooden “machines”, and coming up in July is Ralph Watts on how to layout, turn and carve legs for your vessel or bowl.

The members of the NMW participate each year in a woodturning exhibition at the New Mexico State Fair. The exhibition includes woodturning competitions, live demonstratons, and videos on a range of turning topics.

The NMW website has several galleries of work produced by the members as well as several tutorials on Long Stemmed Goblets, Metal Spinning, Advanced Laminations, Happy Face Pens, Laminate a Zia and more. They also have a fun quiz to test your wood eye – Think You Know Your Wood?

So for some of that Southwest feel, check out the New Mexico Woodturners.

AAW Symposium Planning Guide

The AAW Symposium being held this month in St. Paul, Minnesota, looks to be an amazing event. If you are planning on attending you may want to download the Symposium Planning Guide. And if you are unable to attend, the planning guide looks like a great overview of what is planned.

A quick look at the guide shows that there are 78 demonstrators and panelists, including some who have demonstrated at SPSW meetings. There are four exhibits including a retrospective on David Ellsworth’s turning career and items from the AAW Permanent Collection. There will be eight galleries, including an instant gallery, the Chapter Collaborative Challenge, and emerging artists. There is a banquet Saturday night and a trade show throughout the weekend.

There are also gatherings of the virtual chapters – Ornamental Turners International, Segmented Woodturners and Principally Pens.

You can download either a low-res version or a high-res version from the AAW Website.

May Board Minutes Posted

For those SPSW members who like to keep up with what is happening at the board meetings, the minutes of the May 31st meeting have been posted. Look under “For Members\Board Minutes\2011\May”