2019 Turning to the Future

Turning to the Future is sponsored by the AAW. The competition is intended to encourage and support students and instructors in reaching for and attaining the highest levels of skill in the use of the lathe. The contest is open to students in North America.

Oregon Beauty by Charlie Hamilton
There are two divisions, High School and Post-Secondary, with three categories each: Functional, Small Turnings, and Open. Five finalists in each division category were chosen to have their work displayed at the 2019 AWFS®Fair in Las Vegas, Nevada. Work was evaluated on craftsmanship, aesthetic appeal, creativity and/or utility, and process documentation.



Ray of Light by Joyce Kunz
Judging was completed by professional and recognized wood turners Stuart Batty and Christian Brisepierre. Thanks to the contest sponsors, the two Best of Show winners received Jet 1221SP wood lathes (Woodworker’s Emporium), and category winners received cash prizes of $500 (First Place) and $100 (Second Place) and a tool set from Easy Wood Tools or Woodpeckers.


The 2019 Turning to the Future winners are:

High School – Grand Prize
Oregon Beauty by Charlie Hamilton, Mills E Godwin High School

High School – First Place
African Diamonds by Joel Gonnerman, St. Ansgar High School

High School – Second Place
Noah Robishek for Wooden Windows, Traverse City Central

Post-Secondary – Grand Prize
Joyce Kunz with Ray of Light, Brigham Young University

And Post-Secondary – First Place
Alec Ellis for Walnut Cathedral, Red Rocks Community College

Post-Secondary – Second Place:
Justin Fiaschetti for Tornado Bowl, Boston University

AAW / contest / woodturning events

Multi-Day Hands-On Event in Texas

So here is our SPSW sawdust session on steroids! Representatives from Dallas Area Woodturners, East Texas Woodturners, Golden Triangle Woodturners, Hunt County Woodturners, and Wood Turners of North Texas are working together to form the Trinity River Woodturners event which will host a multi-day seminar involving hands-on classes and demonstrations. The October event is to be hosted at the North Lake College West Campus and should be an exciting and educational event. Currently they will have Stations One thru Eight active thru out the day each day. Each station has four lathes for the attendees to turn the item presented for that session. Each session is a full two hours, 4 sessions each day, both days (eight in all).

In addition to the on-lathe classes they will have off-lathe classes to offer. Pen segmenting Introduction, instruction for the Rose Engine, carving and pyrography, finishes, piercing, airbrush 101, photography and more. There are also several vendors that will be at the event.

AAW / chapter profile / demonstrator / symposiums / techniques / woodturning events

What’s Happening at Other Chapters

This information is compiled from Northwest AAW chapter’s websites and newsletters. You should check with the specific chapter if you plan to attend one of their meetings.


The Inland Northwest Woodturners are meeting August 1st at the Riverview Wood Shop. Sam Frazier and Don Bradway will be presenting on woodturner’s safety.



The Northwest Woodturners in Beaverton, Oregon next meeting will be the annual club picnic and auction on August 3rd. Also, congratulations to the NWWT chapter and newsletter editor Bill Karrow for taking first place in the 2019 AAW Best Chapter Newsletter contest!


The Willamette Valley Woodturners in Salem, Oregon will be meeting on August 8th. Randal Dale will be demonstrating “Other than Round”. He will be demoing multi sided bowls, banana bowls, square turnings and other non-round items.




The Frasier Valley Woodturners Guild are on vacation until September.




The Seattle Woodturners are meeting August 8th. Don Jovag, author of two books on segmented turning will be demonstrating turning segmented wooden bangles.


The Mid-Columbia Woodturners are meeting on August 10th. Alan and Lauren Zenreich will be doing a remote demo on Eccentric Jewelry Turning- Making Pendents.



The Woodturners of Olympia will be meeting on August 13th. Larry Miller will demonstrate turning natural edge bowls.



The Northwest Washington Woodturners in Mt. Vernon are meeting on August 17th.This will be their annual potluck picnic and tool auction.

The Cascade Woodturners in Portland, OR are meeting on August 17th. This will be the club picnic.


The Beaver State Woodturners in Coburg, Oregon are meeting on August 22nd. This will be the chapter’s annual potluck picnic.


The Greater Vancouver Woodturners Guild in Vancouver, B.C. are on summer vacation until September.




The Island Woodturners Guild on Vancouver Island are also on summer vacation until September.




The Southwest Washington Woodturners will be meeting on August 28th at the Friends of the Carpenter. The demonstrator for the evening has not been announced.


The Olympic Peninsula Woodturners holding will be meeting on August 28th at the Kitsap Adventist School Gymnasium. Mike Mahoney will be providing a remote video demo.

AAW / chapter profile / demonstrator / Membership Meeting / woodturning events

Russell Neyman Links

If you attended the last meeting you heard Russell say he would put the links for items he used in the demo on Facebook. Those links are now on the Northwest Woodturners Lab Facebood group:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/247838715833058/permalink/408766603073601/

For those that do not have a Facebook account, here are the links:

demonstrator / Membership Meeting

July Demonstrator

Have you been looking for a way to make your projects something beyond just “round and brown”? This month, Russell Nyman, past president of the Olympic Peninsula Chapter, will present a program titled “The Devil is in the Details – Simple and easy embellishments to add “pizzazz” to your projects.” During this presentation, a great number of different methods for texturing, or adding simple inlays, beading, burring lines in a way that will accent your work and make it more interesting.

demonstrator / Membership Meeting / techniques / woodturner profile / woodturning events