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A story in every turning
Note – This post is from our newsletter archives. It was the President’s message by Pat McCart from the March, 2009 issue of Chips & Shavings.
I was recently explaining the markings on the bottom of a highly figured spalted maple bowl with stone inlay to a coworker who remarked that I had a story for each piece that he had seen me turn. That is when I had one of those wow moments to which I stated that I probably had at least a half a dozen for each piece that I had ever turned, some pieces have even more.
When you consider all the steps that go into turning an item worthy of display it should not be a surprise to me that many of lifeʼs little stories would become imbedded in that bowl.
Stories like, where did you get the wood? Buy it or get it free? Cut it green or starting to punk out? What shape. Where did it go? What tool to use? Is it sharp? What cut? How much? How thin? What shape now? What finish? Who is it for? What piece is next?
If you have a favorite story about a piece of wood, and your journey with it into a turned item and on, let me know.
What’s Happening at Other Chapters
The Northwest Woodturners in Beaverton, Oregon are meeting on June 5th. Danny Bartlett will be demonstrating Trembleurs. The monthly challenge is a natural edge bowl.
The Mid-Columbia Woodturners in Pasco, WA are meeting on June 14th. The presentation will be on Making a textured and dyed Moroccan style bowl from a piece of wood. Textured, dyed and waxed finish to appear like pottery.
The Willamette Valley Woodturners in Salem, Oregon will be meeting on June 12th. Members will be demonstrating Christmas Ornaments (it’s never too early).
The Southwest Washington Woodturners in Vancouver, WA are meeting on June 12th. Doug Wooden will be demonstrating embellishment by using wood dyes and making inlays.
The Fraser Valley Woodturners Guild are meeting on June 12h at the All Saint’s Anglican Church in Mission, BC. They will be showing a 30 minute video by Richard Raffin on “skew chisel basics”.
The Woodturners of Olympia are meeting on June 13th. Brad Stave will demonstrate turning a Tapered Square Box.
The Inland Northwest Woodturners will be meeting on June 14th. Professional presenter, Matt Monaco will be the demonstrator. Matt previously was a demonstrator for Craft USA, and has been featured in Fine Woodworking magazine.
The Olympic Peninsula Woodturners are meeting on June 16th. The program for the evening has not been announced.
The Seattle Woodturners are meeting on June 19th. Jamie Straw will demonstrate Sharpening.
The Northwest Washington Woodturners are meeting on June 19th. Dave Pettenski, Rod Parker and Tom Thorton will be demonstrating a variety of methods and equipment to safely and effectively hold wood on the lathe. These gentlemen did Part 1 of this presentation back in October of 2023, so they will do a recap of that presentation and then complete Part 2 for in our June meeting.
The Cascade Woodturners in Portland, OR will be meeting on June 19th. Kevin Jesequel will demonstrate “How Kevin Cuts Up”.
The Oregon Coast Woodturners are meeting on June 21st at Hastings Coastal Woodworks in Newport, Oregon. Dale Larson will be demonstrating turning a roughed out bowl from a log.
The Greater Vancouver Woodturners Guild are meeting at Sapperton Pensioners Hall on June 26th. Bruce Campbell & Alan Jones will be demonstrating turning Handles.
May Membership Meeting – Kevin Jesequel
South Puget Sound Woodturners are excited to host Kevin Jesequel as our May demonstrator. He will be demonstrating his approach to creating “Fingertip” Opening Hollow Forms.
“Do you have a desire to create hollow forms on the lathe? Are you already making them, but struggling with any part of the process? Do you want to give freehand hollowing a try? I will show you my process for creating hollow forms with clean lines and small openings. Through a combination of hands-on turning and discussion, this demonstration will include everything from selecting the wood to mounting it on the lathe and shaping the form to hollowing and finishing. I will also cover tool selection and use, ergonomics and body mechanics. Hollow forms do not need to be complicated or require expensive tooling to create.”
April Membership Meeting
Have you ever enjoyed the slightly confused look from someone examining one of your completed pieces and the follow-up questions around how you accomplished one or more aspects of that piece? Well, our April Demonstrator has on more than one occasion. Don’t miss this one! Forever club member, Dave Best will be sharing some of his Best Techniques developed over the years in creating his unique pieces.
Dave’s tenure with the SPSW club reaches back to the very first meeting in 1992 or 1993. At that time, He was working fulltime and had a young family, so he could not afford the time to drive up to Seattle to attend the only woodturning club meeting in the area. Then he heard through a friend, Tom Richards, that a meeting was to be held at the Fife Community Center to form a new local woodturning club and he should attend. Dave not only attended that first meeting along with 40 to 45 other men, he joined the club that night. Over the subsequent thirty plus years Dave was not always able to attend the meetings, but he stayed connected with the club. When his life allowed, he stepped up to a larger role and supported the club in the role of VP and Director of Programing. Something near and dear to me. Dave served in that capacity for seven years. These days, one can often find Dave busy taking quality photographs of club member pieces that are
brought to our monthly meetings. Many of these images are then shared in this monthly newsletter! Thanks Dave!
March 2025 Membership Meeting
This month is the first of two mini-symposiums for the year. The line up includes:
Devin Garlick will be manning the club wood sales table;
Justin Parson will be demonstrating bowl turning;
VP Ed White will be conducting a member engagement survey;
Doug Reynolds with Doug’s World of Chucks – discuss features, +’s and –‘s with club members;
Mike Poirier demonstrating sharpening;
John Howard will assist club members turning tool handles;
Jimmie Allen will be selling his D-Way and BoxMaster tools.
- Club staff running the tool store table
Where is your wood from?
Note – This post is from our newsletter archives. It was the President’s message by Pat McCart from the March, 2009 issue of Chips & Shavings.
I am in the midst of turning a piece of Myrtle burl purchased from a fellow clearing out his fatherʼs sawdust-filled workshop. While I foraged for pieces of turnable wood, he related stories of his father and showed me several items crafted there. Roy talked about how his Dad would take him to his shop to show him the latest special board and go into detail about how he had come
about it. The bounty of wood soon filling my truck bed consisted of pieces from 3 different continents and dated to 3 separate decades of harvest.
During the trip home I pondered the potential outcome of each piece and how to best utilize the different sizes and species of wood. Iʼm not sure if they have an official name for it yet so I will just call it “wonderitist”. It afflicts you when you hold a piece of wood in your hand and let your mind wander and wonder with that wood. Ask yourself, “Where is this wood from and how did it get here? What kind of wood is it and how best to turn it?” I will often count the rings and look for any big changes and try to imagine what may have caused it. I will sometimes get lost in trying to visualize what is hiding inside the piece waiting to get out. Wood garnered from the dispersion of an estate brings its own history and I encourage you to find it out. It will add to the overall story of the item that you eventually craft.
