Rick Rich is a meticulous woodturner with a passion for vintage woodturning lesson books and following the plans found inside these treasures. Some of his favorite books include: Elemental Turning by Frank Selden (Popular Woodworking had a reprint of that book); A Course in Wood Turning by Milton, Archie Seldon, 1887-; Wohlers, Otto K., 1893- joint author, Published, 1919; Art & Education in Woodturning, William W. Klenke and an older version titled, The Art of Wood Turning by William W. Klenke.
He appreciates the systematic approach in Elemental Turning and considers these books great resources for those who want or need to use a diagram. He self-confesses, “I am not an artist”. Thus, the detailed plans, illustrations and dimensions in these books provide the starting point for his woodturning passions.
Today Rick is a highly competent and thoughtful woodturner as well as a fantastic instructor. His primary passion is spindle turning. His clear, concise and easy- going teaching approach provides the learner with confidence from the very beginning and throughout the session. For those able to view the taped session from AAW 2024 Symposium, Rick’s session titled Three-Piece Dish clearly displays his teaching approach and mastery of the skew chisel.
Rick will be demonstrating Spindle Turning a Candle Stick Holder.
Summer is the season of working in the yard, tackling projects, traveling, and turning. Well, some of us find time to turn during these warm months. It seems the past few summers have been so
The May 2024 President’s Challenge Winner is Steve Miner. If you are not familiar with his work in the past, you will surely remember him now. Steve has a love for turning a natural edge bowl; they are a thing of beauty no matterwho you are. His President’s Challenge piece was pulled off the extra turned piece table because he didn’t knowthe details of May’s challenge. With that beautiful crotch with three sides, Steve decided to go out into nature to get some inspiration in his desire to try his hand at carving following Elizabeth Weber’s April Demonstration. He took several images of azalea leaves he liked, used a photo editor and printer to resize the images to fit on each side of the bowl, and then traced the leaves onto the bowl for a cutting guide. If you looked closely, there were three different types of impressions that were carved from three different leaf patterns.
Art has been integral to Roberto Ferrer from early childhood in Mexico where, ever-present art and craft infused into his life and soul. Early expression of art came through drawing and painting. Sometimes, schoolteachers would need to redirect his attention away from a sketch and back to the class assignment. His initial exposure to woodworking was in his cousin’s furniture shop where he had fun just being there and on occasion, he would have an opportunity to use a saw or a plane. His initial wood projects were a simple table and bookcase.
The President’s Challenge for April was adding resin to your turned piece. Although there were a few entries, they were all very stunning. There was one piece that stood out above the rest, it was a Black Walnut Platter with a resin rim with black walnut shell inlay. The shells are thinly sliced and in order for them to not float to the top of the resin, are glued into the groove and resin added. I have to tell you that the artist is none other than lifetime woodturner, Bob Sievers. I asked Bob how long he has been turning wood and he said ‘forever’; he started turning in high school and has turned every day up until late 2019, he still turns today, just not as often. If you have paid attention in our show-and-tell over the years you can see that Bob is a very talented artist.