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The AAW and Board value your chapter’s continued collaboration and support.

In the spirit of sharing, this Chapter Bulletin is intended to notify you and your chapter about two important AAW policy initiatives: a) a policy on fractal burning (also known as “Lichtenberg Burning”), which advocates safety and helps to protect lives, and, b) a revised AAW Privacy Policy to clarify sharing AAW membership information with chapter officers is authorized for AAW business purposes. We also request your support to recruit reviewers for Video Source and are happy to announce the city for the 2019 Symposium.

POLICY ON FRACTAL BURNING
The AAW has always been a faithful advocate for woodturning safety. Recently, the subject of fractal burning has been in the news because of another tragic death.

The AAW Safety Committee has studied the issue and concluded there may be a distinct influencing benefit in adopting a policy against the use of Fractal Burning and publicizing it immediately to chapters and members. As a result, it was recommended that the AAW Board adopt a new policy against the practice, which was unanimously approved on May 17, 2017. The new policy is as follows:

It is the policy of the American Association of Woodturners (AAW) that the process known as Fractal Burning is prohibited from being used in any AAW-sponsored events, including regional and national symposia, and that AAW-chartered chapters are strongly urged to refrain from demonstrating or featuring the process in chapter events. Further, the process of Fractal Burning shall not be featured in any written or online AAW publication, except for within articles that warn against its use. AAW publications will not accept advertisements for any products or supplies directly related to the process.

Additionally, the Safety Committee recommended that an article be published in the August 2017 issue of American Woodturner to highlight the dangers of the practice and publicize the new AAW policy.

BTW, SPSW member and woodturning demonstrator/teacher Eric Lofstrom contributed to the Discover Woodturning Portal.

Important – This message is from AAW Safety Committee Chair Rob Wallace

As chair of the AAW’s Safety Committee, I continue to receive reports of woodturning-related accidents and injuries, which are of major concern to me. As we all know, most accidents are preventable. I hope that members and chapters will take on the task of aggressively promoting safe woodturning practices each and every time they work at the wood lathe. To that end, I encourage all chapter officers, along with their members, to support the appointment or election of a Safety Officer in their chapter whose responsibility it is to evaluate and identify safe (or more importantly, UNsafe) woodturning operations at their chapter meetings, as well as leading efforts for safety training and safety awareness in all members.

Finally, I hope that all AAW members will continue to support woodturning by welcoming potential new turners through personal mentoring. As the popularity of woodturning continues to grow, chapters and individual members should take an active, positive role in assisting newcomers through teaching, providing guidance and support as they get started, and inviting them to join your local chapters and the AAW. I can personally tell you that it is very gratifying to see the smile of success on the face of a new turner you have helped with woodturning!! You can make a huge difference in a new woodturner’s experience by helping develop skills while passing on the passion!!

Turn Safely,
Rob Wallace
Member of the Board of Directors
American Association of Woodturners

I had the opportunity to use a lathe with reverse during a woodturning class I took from SPSW member Ed Quesnell at Ted Bartholomew’s shop. I have a Jet 1014VSI mini-lathe which does not have reverse. However, there are some instructions on the web for installing a reverse switch on this lathe. The Front Range Woodturners has a file written by Brandon Mackie based on instructions written by Bruce Perry. The Gulf Coast Woodturners has one written by Mack DeBose. There may be others, but these are the most common.

One thing I noticed on these instructions is that they appear to bypass the breaker switch. I’m not sure if this would potentially cause damage, but I know from experience that that breaker does go off when there is strain on the motor. So I decided to look for an alternative.

As it happens, the American Woodturner issue in December 2011 had an article titled “Add Reverse to a Mini Lathe”. The directions here do not get into the controller box to add the switch, but cuts into the line from the controller box to the motor and adds a switch. This appeared to be more straight forward to me and I could always rebuild, or replace, the motor cable.

So off I went in pursuit of the materials and will say that I have experienced success. My mini lathe now rotates in both directions!

Now for the disclaimers, or more accurately, the AAW disclaimers. In the February 2012 issue of American Woodturner there was a follow on article: “Warning On: ‘Add Reverse to a Mini Lathe’”. These include

1. A warning NOT to change the reversing switch while the lathe is running. Use the main power switch to turn off the motor before changing the direction.
2. Use precautions to secure the chuck or faceplate to the spindle before using the lathe in reverse.
3. Make sure that the handwheel grub screw is tight or the handwheel could come loose and potentially cause damage to the bearings.

If you are wanting to try reversing your mini lathe and are somewhat adventurous, check out these resources and you too can go backwards.

The March issue was just emailed out and it contains several interesting articles. Included this month are:

• A great follow up question for Dr. Robert Wallace on food safe finishes for wine goblets
• A Q&A about the safety and serviceability of hand-me-down turning tools
• An article by Joe Herrmann on how to properly store your growing wood supply
• A tutorial on turning a two-part goblet written by Bob Rosand
• Two video tips from professional turner Beth Ireland on how to select the right lathe for architectural items or for bowls and large items
• An article by Kurt Hertzog about “How Fast Should I Run My Lathe?”

And also included is this safety tip from the Mid-South Woodturners Guild on how to determine the correct height for your lathe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3LbLiFzp1g

You can sign up for Woodturning Fundamentals here.

Please don’t forget that at every Mini-Symposium Andy Firpo has a safety exhibit. As woodturners we do not only use lathes. Band saws and chainsaws are also basic tools of the woodturner. If you are a segmented turner you also use table saws, miter saws, jointers and planers. Safety should always be your number one concern, so stop by and see Andy.

This month’s demonstrators are:

Roy Lane – Large hollowing on the club’s Powermatic 3520b lathe

Dave Schweitzer – Sharpening with a diamond wheel

Jeff Schultz & Brad Husby – Segmented Turning Sleds and Jigs

Stephany Lane – Pyrography Embellishments

Bob Sievers – Ornamental Turning on his Rose Engine lathe

Jeff Marsden – Turning Pens & Working w/ Alternative Materials/Cast Resin

Bill Bender – Turning Peppermills

Andy Firpo – SAFETY

If you have tools you would like sharpened, bring them with you. Dave enjoys demonstrating sharpening with dull tools and he would much rather take metal off your dull tools than to continue taking metal off his already sharp tools.

School is back in Session

Don’t forget that the Board of Directors elections are under way. If you haven’t voted yet, please get to it as the deadline for ballots is October 21. You can find links here to the candidates information and balloting.

Welcome back!

Kurt Hertzog, AAW Board Member