South Puget Sound Woodturners

Our demonstrator for the November meeting will be John Shrader, who will show us how to make his unusual Colorwood Christmas tree ornaments. An example is shown in the accompanying photograph. Several steps in this process are made with other shop tools, (table saw, band saw, etc.), so John will show a video of these steps. This project is a good introduction to several aspects of wood turning. The “icicle” is spindle turned, the bulb is segmented and turned using bowl turning techniques, and since one typical blank of Colorwood will yield 5 ornaments, there are elements of production turning involved. The ornament pictured just won a semi-finalist award in the Wood Central Christmas Ornament contest. Click on this web site, then click on “View the Winners.”

John is a retired engineer/manager who worked “gee whiz” technologies (electric cannons, death rays, hypervelocity impact, etc.) while he was working full time. He now spends about 20 hours a week on various aspects of woodturning. His muse leads him to designs that require high precision, which his engineering background helps him realize. He currently sells his work at 5 galleries in the Northwest and 2 on line galleries. He has shown in the Bellevue Artsfair for the last 4 years, and in 2011 won one of the Bellevue Arts Museum Carol Duke Awards for Excellence that included a check for $1,000.