“all hosts for ‘comcast.net’ have been failing for a long time (and retry time not reached)”.

We also have issues with any email provided by Microsoft – hotmail, MSN, etc. as their spam filters are extremely tight.

If you are signed up for the newsletter with any of these providers you may want to try gmail as we seem to have the best delivery success there.

TURNINGS OF THE WEEK

ARTICLES OF THE WEEK

TIPS OF THE WEEK

]]> https://spswoodturners.org/whats-happening-at-other-chapters-47 Sun, 31 Jul 2016 20:22:10 +0000 http://www.spswoodturners.org/?p=6969 The Northwest Woodturners in Beaverton, OR are not holding a regular meeting in August. Instead they will be having their annual auction on Saturday, August 6th. In addition, the NWWT along with the Cascade Woodturners will be sponsoring Graeme Priddle and Melissa Engler for a hands-on class on the 12th and an all-day demo on the 13th.

The Mid Columbia Woodturners in Pasco, WA will be meeting on August 6th. Graeme Priddle and Melissa Enger will be giving an all-day demo involving design, turning, texture and color.

The Inland Northwest Woodturners in Spokane Valley are meeting on August 7th. Jim Christiansen, master turner and carver, will be the demonstrator.

The Seattle Woodturners are meeting on August 11th. The demonstrator for the evening has not been announced.

The Willamette Valley Woodturners in Salem, Oregon will be meeting on August 11th. Kathleen Duncan will be demonstrating piercing.

The Southwest Idaho Woodturners in Boise, ID will be holding their annual picnic on August 13th.

The Northwest Washington Woodturners in Mt. Vernon will not be holding a regular meeting in August, however, the club is having their annual picnic on the 13th.

The South Coast Woodturners in CoosBay, Oregon will be meeting on August 13th. The agenda includes spiral cuts with Steve Adams & CA finishing with Ron Newlander in the morning and making pens with Ron Newlander in the afternoon.

The Cascade Woodturners in Portland, OR will be meeting on August 18th. The meeting will feature coring demonstrations by Howard Borer (woodcut) and Dale Larson (McNaughton).

The Woodturners of Olympia are meeting next on August 25th. The program has not been announced.
The Southwest Washington Woodturners will be meeting on August 25th. The program for the evening has not been announced.

The Beaver State Woodturners in Eugene, Oregon are meeting on August 25th and will host Robert Fleck who will demonstrate pyrography.

The Olympic Peninsula Woodturners are meeting next on August 31st. Art Liestman will be the demonstrator.

The Fraser Valley Woodturners in Abbotsford, B.C. is taking a break for the summer.

The Island Woodturners Guild on Vancouver Island is taking a break for the summer. Their next meeting will be September 24th.

The Greater Vancouver Woodturners Guild in Vancouver, B.C. is taking a break for the summer. Their next meeting will be September 28th. BTW, as he mentioned during his demo at the last SPSW meeting, Bruce Campbell has an article on Fundamentals of Sanding in the current (June, 2106) newsletter.

]]> https://spswoodturners.org/august-membership-meeting-mini-symposium Mon, 18 Aug 2014 02:05:38 +0000 http://www.spswoodturners.org/?p=4615 This month’s program is a Mini Symposium. It will take place as usual on Thursday, Aug 21st at 7:00 pm. Plan on getting there by 6:30.

The demonstrators will be:

Stephany Lane – Woodburning

 

 

 

 

 

Stan Gardner – Inside out turning

 

 

 

 

 

Carol Zandell – Something fun

 

 

 

 

 

Ed Metcalf – Denim pen
(Don’t have a picture of Ed)

 

 

Jack Wayne – Quickie boxes

 

 

 

 

 

Tammie Bachmeier – Acrylic stoppers
(Don’t have a picture of Tammie)

 

 

David Best – surface changes off the lathe

 

 

 

 

 

]]> https://spswoodturners.org/whats-new-on-the-spsw-website-12 Fri, 27 Jun 2014 13:00:31 +0000 http://www.spswoodturners.org/?p=4523 May Membership Meeting

Larry Miller was our demonstrator at the May membership meeting. Photos from his demo are now posted to the gallery under Demonstrators.

The June Newsletter

If you missed this month’s Chips & Shavings, it has been added under Newsletters.

Show & Tell

Photos from our April show & tell have been posted to the gallery under Show & Tell.

Board Minutes

For SPSW members, the April 2014 Board of Directors meeting minutes are posted under the For Members link.

]]> https://spswoodturners.org/writers-block https://spswoodturners.org/writers-block#comments Tue, 03 Jun 2014 12:56:52 +0000 http://www.spswoodturners.org/?p=4390

Note – This post is from our newsletter archives. It was the President’s message by Pat McCart from the June, 2009 issue of Chips & Shavings.

I know many of you will find this hard to believe, but at times I find myself at a loss for words. No, not things to talk about – I can always manage that. When Iʼm talking to someone, I talk and listen in turns. I only have to carry a part of the conversation, the person or people Iʼm talking with contribute as well. A conversation is not just dependent on me.

Writing, however, is different – itʼs just me and the blank page and unfortunately for me the blank page is a very good listener and a very bad talker. It contributes nothing to help me carry the narrative forward. So at times I struggle with “Writerʼs block”. Like today Iʼm stuck – I have no idea what Iʼm going to write for this monthʼs newsletter!

I donʼt have this problem when Iʼm turning wood. Even though wood turning is similar to writing in that itʼs just you and the blank piece of wood, I never get “Turnerʼs Block”. Wood has a language of its own to communicate with. A non-verbal one, but a language nonetheless. It contributes to the conversation I have with it as Iʼm turning it. Like speaking with another person, it helps carry the narrative forward.

Like all languages you have to learn the vocabulary to understand it. Wood communicates in many ways. The shape of the rough wood blank tells me what I can expect to make from it. The figure and coloring of the wood blank tells me what the finished piece may look like. If itʼs spalted it tells me its been on the ground and is in the initial stages of decay. If itʼs spalted and punky it tells me that the decaying process is well underway. That Iʼll need to use wood hardener if I am going to turn it and to go easy with the sandpaper as the softer punky wood will sand away quicker than the surrounding harder wood. If the lathe vibrates and moves it tells me Iʼm spinning it too fast and that I havenʼt trued and balanced the piece properly. If, when I stop my lathe to inspect my work, I find the surface ragged and rough it tells me that my tools are dull or that Iʼm not holding them correctly. Iʼm usually guilty of both. A smooth shiny surface tells me that my tools are sharp and Iʼm holding them correctly. These are just a few of the non-verbal ways wood communicates with us; there are many more and I still have a lot to learn, but then thatʼs part of the fun of wood turning.

I still donʼt know what Iʼm going to write for the newsletter this month. If only this blank sheet of paper would speak to me like a blank piece of wood does. Oh well, Iʼll think of something eventually, I suppose. In the meantime I think Iʼll go to the shop and work on my language skills. There is a special piece of wood Iʼve been saving and I think itʼs time we had a little talk.

]]> https://spswoodturners.org/writers-block/feed 2 https://spswoodturners.org/whats-new-on-the-spsw-website-11 Sat, 24 May 2014 15:59:51 +0000 http://www.spswoodturners.org/?p=4373 April Membership Meeting

April was our first mini-symposium of the year. There are now photos posted in the Gallery.

The May Newsletter

If you missed this month’s Chips & Shavings, it has been added under Newsletters.

Board Minutes

For SPSW members, the March 2014 Board of Directors meeting minutes are posted under the For Members link.

]]> https://spswoodturners.org/why-i-am-so-passionate-about-this-club https://spswoodturners.org/why-i-am-so-passionate-about-this-club#comments Wed, 10 Jul 2013 04:25:09 +0000 http://www.spswoodturners.org/?p=3725 This month I thought I would explain why I am so passionate about this club. Every month I look forward to our meetings with excitement. What a silly old guy I am. Why would a man feel this way?

When I was in junior high school my favorite class was shop. In seventh grade we did a variety of projects with many different materials. Metal, leather, plastic and wood were used. In eighth grade we were able to pick our projects and I made a coffee table of walnut that my folks used until they were gone. I also made a small chest of drawers which is in my home now. In ninth grade we were able to use the lathe for the first time since it was dangerous to use. I was so intrigued that I made many projects on the lathe. The first bowl sits under our phone in the kitchen. It sits on a board that I turned and carved to fit both the bowl and a letter opener and it was returned to me as well when my folks had no more need.

That summer we visited an uncle. He had a lathe he had never used and he gave it to me. My dad put it in the trunk and we took it home from Southern California. I bought lathe tools from Sears or Montgomery Ward with earnings from my paper route. I still have those tools on my tool cart for memory sake. With those basic tools my dad and I created all sorts of things over the years. Then I left home for college. Before college was over Gail and I were married just before our senior year began. My lathe stayed at my parents home until my father was gone.

I brought my lathe home to Issaquah and our boys and I made a baseball bat. Then it sat as life went on busily. While visiting Port Townsend I saw wood pens in a store and I said to Gail I could make those and she giggled because I said that quite often about lots of wood things. A few years later I wondered into a woodworking store and spotted kits for pens and asked the owner what was needed to make a pen. He gave me a two minute lesson and a list of items needed for the lathe. I bought all the accessories and that is when my lathe interest reignited. I actually had to sit down and spread my legs in order to hold the lathe still since it was mounted on a rickety metal stand with casters by my father. I made quite a few pens in this way and finished them with wax.

Chatting with a customer about my lathe experience, he mentioned that he rebuilt old lathes and we worked out a deal that really benefited him and I had a larger lathe. It was less than wonderful, but I managed to use it to make all sorts of things and a multitude of pens. My friend Tom Bageant had a lathe and he bought a chuck that expanded to hold things and I borrowed it and made my first bowl since junior high. It was extremely poor at best, but inspirational. After much thought I decided to purchase a real lathe and bought a General lathe with a headstock that rotated and moved along the lathe bed. It was wonderful.

Tom and I were at Woodcraft in Seattle when Jack Wayne encouraged us to come to the South Puget Sound Woodturners Club meeting. We had heard of the woodturners club many times and thought it was probably a few old guys sitting around telling stories of the past. After Jack’s encouragement we decided to go to the meeting. We were stunned at what we encountered. There were over fifty wonderful turnings on display. There were over a hundred folks at the meeting, all ages and both men and women. My friend from the past, Lynn Olinger, was at the meeting and we had not seen each other in several years. We rekindled our friendship. Tom and I joined that night.

That was the beginning of a wonderful journey. One of the first meetings Dale Larson was there as a demonstrator and taught about turning wet wood and bowl turning in general. I took notes and tried to do this at home with limited success. I then went to a few sawdust sessions and learned from Eric Lofstrom, Jim Cotter and Bob Sweazey. Eric taught me how to sharpen tools by hand without a jig. Bob taught me about cutting the outer edge of a bowl to size and shape before going deeper into the bowl to maintain stability. Jim Cotter taught me all sorts of general turning information. He continues to be a wonderful source of help to me as president.

After spending an afternoon with Eric at his home I was inspired yet again. The next meeting at Show and Tell I displayed this little bowl that I had made using techniques that Eric had shown me. At the meeting Dave Schweitzer taped me on the shoulder and suggested that I spend some time with him. He thought he could teach me some things that I had not learned yet. Wow! What a great experience.

I spent an entire day with Dave listening and learning and turning. I was there for over eight hours. Dave jokes now about how he and Lu thought I would never leave. After returning home I was definitely inspired and turned around 250 wet wood bowls. That way I was able to practice the techniques that Dave had taught me. By the time some of the bowls had dried and were ready to be returned my skill level had improved. After turning another fifty or so bowls my techniques were far more refined.

I spent more time with Dave as he helped me refine my methods. Then Dave did an all day demonstration at Nancy Sweazey’s. I learned even more. The thing that stuck in my head was Dave saying that if it took more than twenty minutes to sand a bowl he figured he had not done a very good job of turning it to begin with. This was another challenge for me to improve my techniques to accomplish using less sand paper and less time to finish a bowl.

Now, after many demonstrations and learning so many things, it is always exciting to come to our meetings. No matter what is being taught one can always take something from the teaching and incorporate it into what you’re turning at home. Tom Bageant is a fine example of doing that with his turning. His light houses, and now his light house pepper mills, are a result of using the many techniques he has learned at club meetings over the years. I can hardly wait to see what he will come up with next.

Now that you know why I am excited about coming to our meetings I hope that you too are inspired to come and learn and use what you have learned in your turning.

See you at the next meeting.

Dan

]]> https://spswoodturners.org/why-i-am-so-passionate-about-this-club/feed 2 https://spswoodturners.org/whats-new-on-the-spsw-website-10 Fri, 26 Oct 2012 13:00:43 +0000 http://www.spswoodturners.org/?p=3138 September Membership Meeting

Photos from Tones Briggs ornament demonstration have been added to the gallery under Demonstrators.

The October Newsletter

If you missed this month’s Chips & Shavings, it has been added under Newsletters.

Board Minutes

For SPSW members, the September 2012 Board of Directors meeting minutes are posted under the For Members link.

Segmented Woodturners Symposium

SPSW Webmaster Tim Spaulding attended the Segmented Woodturners symposium last week in South Lake Tahoe and posted photos of some of the pieces in the instant gallery. You can find these under Galleries, Outside Events.

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