Recently added to our website:
The July Board of Directors minutes and the August Board of Director minutes.
Pictures from the outstanding demonstration by Tones Briggs on rice bowls at the September membership meeting.
The October Newsletter.
Segmented Turners October Chapter Summary
The first chapter challenge is coming to an end. There are over 25 entries. The first challenge forced members to really focus on “form;” only one wood species was allowed. The entries are in the gallery and members can vote for their favorite before October 31st. There are several amazing pieces that encourage consideration of other segmenting options than just contrasting colored wood.
- Discussion about leaving comments. Many submissions to the gallery request feedback. But several people commented that they forgot to post that request with their photo. In the end, there is a new message at the top of the forum for members to add constructive and respectful critiques to photos that are posted and to say so if no comment is desired. Agreement was that nearly all of the members are looking for input to help them improve their craft.
- There was a discussion about sharpening band saw blades with vinegar! This is one you will want to check out.
- Discussion of whether to turn the inside or outside first in an open segment project.
- A very interesting discussion on the use of rub joints vs. some kind of clamps.
- A handy, and for some, timely discussion on how to get Titebond out of your clothes.
- Malcolm Tibbetts shared this video on Golden Ratio and Fibonacci Numbers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkGeOWYOFoA
Nov. 2-3, Dec. 7-8, 2011
Segmented Bowl Turning
Instructor: Jon Ross
The Sawdust Shop, Sunnyvale, CA
Chapter web stats:
The chapter website received 4,817 unique visitors in September and 252,018 page views.
Port Townsend School of Woodworking Foundation Course
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Tim Lawson, Director
Port Townsend School of Woodworking and Preservation Trades
200 Battery Way, Fort Worden
Port Townsend WA 98368
Phone: (360-344-4455)5
Email press@ptwoodschool.com
Web: www.ptwoodschool.com
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Woodworking Foundation Course Announced by Woodworking School
Port Townsend, WA. August 25th, 2011.
The Port Townsend School of Woodworking and Preservation Trades is pleased to announce the Foundation Course with a focus on hand tool use to be taught from January 9th, 2012 through March 30th, 2012 at the non-profit school on Fort Worden in Port Townsend WA.
The Foundation Course is an intensive twelve week class that will provide any novice woodworker a solid grounding in the basic array of skills they’ll need to develop as a furniture maker, skills that will provide the foundation to all further work an individual takes on the rest of their life.
The School suggests that students have some basic woodworking experience before taking this class, but will accept students with no woodworking experience provided they can produce evidence of strong practical skills and problem solving ability. Attitude and motivation are key to woodworking success.
Traditionally woodworkers learned their craft working as apprentices in a master craftsman’s shop. The apprentice did the “grunt work” and picked up skills by assimilation.
“The School’s approach is a little different”, said Tim Lawson, the School’s Founder and Executive Director. “Our approach is based on the assumption that the student is developing or already has a passion for woodworking, learns quickly, and can devote three months to an intensive class on hand tool-based skills development.” Continuing, Tim said “This training will show students that many of the more advanced techniques in woodworking are relatively straightforward and build on the basic techniques that will be learned in the Foundation class”.
In the Foundation course, students will focus on developing their hand tool skills. “They’ll learn to work wood, instead of machining it”, said author and instructor Jim Tolpin. “And, they’ll find that while it may be somewhat slower, it is certainly much more enjoyable making furniture rather than manufacturing things”. While it is important that students develop an understanding and appreciation for the standards that make woodworking great, perfection is not the goal. The School teaches and encourages the continuous development of useful and pragmatic hand tool skills as a basis for the development of furniture-making expertise.
Students do not need to bring any tools along with them and may elect to use the School’s tools. Doing so will allow students to base tool purchases on their experience. The School’s hand tools were generously donated to the school by Robin Lee of Lee Valley / Veritas.
Students who have already started to acquire tools should feel free to bring them along. Instructors at the School will teach each student how to sharpen and tune them so that students can use them in the class. While each student bench has storage space for personal items and project parts, students should bring their tools in a tool bag or box for convenience. The School’s website provides a detailed list of required tools.
The Foundation course is divided into three basic units, each respectively three, four and five weeks long.
During the first three weeks of class, the School’s goal is to develop the student’s basic competence with hand tools, train the student in woodworking machine safety, and to educate them in the basic principles of woodworking. Students will learn the basics of shop safety, hand tool use, sharpening, design, wood selection, lumber preparation, hand joinery and project execution.
While the emphasis will be on hand joinery skills, students will get a good grounding in the safe use of woodworking machines for lumber preparation and dimensioning.
During the fourth through seventh weeks of class, the School’s goal is to further build student proficiency with hand tools and to help students deepen their understanding of the basic principles of woodworking. Students will focus on the design and construction of a small solid wood frame and panel cabinet with doors, drawers, and moldings.
The class will also look at the traditional techniques for adding detail and interest to design through beading and chamfering to create shadow lines. Students will learn how to make tools to create these essential details.
During the advanced project work portion of the course, the School’s goal is to build student confidence with hand tools and to deepen their understanding of the basic principles of woodworking. Students will construct a project of their choice that will build upon the basic skills they’ve learned during the first seven weeks, one that will require them to learn and employ even more advanced hand tool techniques.
The School and shop are situated in the Old Power House at Fort Worden. The School presently has two teaching spaces – a bench room and machine room. The bench room is equipped with a large, professional quality workbench for each student and is the focus of student work during the class. Each work bench is stocked with a set of high quality handtools. Classes at the School run from 9:00am sharp through 5:00pm, Monday through Friday, with an hour’s break for lunch at noon, and 15 minutes breaks mid-morning and mid-afternoon.
Information about scholarship and work trade opportunities will be available in early October.
This is an intensive course, one that will repay student focus and concentration with skills for a lifetime. For more details, see the School’s website at www.ptwoodschool.com .
October Membership Meeting
This month is the last of this year’s Mini-Symposiums. These have proven to be extremely popular events. This is the time to learn some of the techniques which you have been wondering about. As always, we will have several demonstrations set up around the room. You are welcome to attend one or all. Now is your chance to get up close and question the demonstrator.
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:
Jack Wayne – Goblets
Roy Lane – Large hollowing
Warren Swift – Yo-yo’s
Jeff Schultz – Small hollowing
Stephanie Lane – Woodburning
Eric Lofstrom – Turning beads with the skew
Dave Schweitzer – Sharpening with a diamond wheel
Andy Firpo – SAFETY
Craig Chatterton – Pen and pen design
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.
Bottle Stoppers
The Northeast Florida Woodturners Association (Jaxturners) have posted videos of their latest meeting demonstration. In this demonstration from the September meeting, Scott Layman and Chuck Molnar demonstrate turning bottle stoppers.
Here is the first of the four videos. You can see them all on the Jaxturners YouTube Channel.
Symposium Highlights
If you were unable to attend this year’s AAW Symposium you can still see some of the highlights. The AAW has a webpage that you will want to visit at http://woodturner.org/highlights/.
SPSW members, I want to encourage you to check out the AAW Chapter Collaborative Winners link. The SPSW Board of Directors would like our club to submit an entry into the 2012 Chapter Collaborative. Board Member Wally Haugan is coordinating this effort for us. You can read more on this prior post.
