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.
While perusing back issues of the SPSW newsletter, the Chips & Shavings, I came upon a great tutorial written by SPSW Vice-President Eric Lofstrom on the proper use of the Spear Point Scraper.
“Do your drool over fine curves? Are you sanding out ridges & transitions in your Turnings?
Many turners have difficulty blending curves together, so they resort to sandpaper to refine their form. Sanding takes care of the problem, but also creates some of its own….. When I need to finesse a curve, my spear-point scraper can help smooth the shape.”
You can read Eric’s tutorial in the January 2011 Chips & Shavings.
This is a friendly reminder for members of the AAW that your vote for the Board of Directors must be postmarked no later than October 21st, 2011. You can vote with the ballot included in the August American Woodturner magazine, or you can vote online. Candidate information is available at woodturner.org/BoardVote.
Looking for a warm, exotic location to go to for a woodturning symposium? The Honolulu Woodturners are holding their 3rd annual symposium on October 22nd and 23rd with featured demonstrators Kelly Dunn and Sharon Doughtie.
Kelly Dunn is a full time professional woodturner who lives on the Big Island of Hawaii and specializes in woods grown on the Big Island to create bowls, hollow vessels and art forms. You can see his work at his website http://www.kellydunnwoodturner.com/.
Sharon Doughtie is a full time professional woodturner whose current work incorporates designs based on freeform Celtic knots and explores how the curving, undulating patterns can cross cultures, look like something from nature or illustrate an emotion. Sharon has works in several public and private collections, has demonstrated in the U.S., New Zealand and Australia and has appeared in American Woodturner and Woodturning magazines. You can see more on her website http://www.sharondoughtie.com.
You can get more information on the 3rd Annual Honolulu Woodturners Symposium on their website or the symposium flyer.
The Inland Northwest Woodturners will be meeting on October 6th. The demonstrator will be Keith Gotschall, a professional turner and sculptor who operates a woodturning school in Colorado. He will also be conducting a hands-on turning class on October 7th.
The Seattle Woodturners meeting on October 13th will feature Martha Collins demonstrating techniques used to create wooden bracelets. Martha is currently on the faculty of the Port Townsend School of Woodworking.
The Cascade Woodturners in Portland, Oregon, meet on October 20th. This will be the annual club auction.
The Northwest Washington Woodturners are meeting on October 20th. No subject for the meeting was available yet.
The Island Woodturners Guild on Vancouver Island will be hosting Bonnie Klein at their next meeting on October 22nd. Bonnie will be demonstrating lidded boxes. Bonnie will also be holding two “hands on” workshops the 23rd and 24th.
The Greater Vancouver Woodturners Guild meeting on October 26th will feature John Nelson talking about wood. The club also holds an all-day Turning 101 session. October’s will be on the 29th and will cover turning a tool handle.
The Olympic Peninsula Woodturners are also meeting on October 26th. The demonstrator has not yet been announced.
10-3-2011 UPDATE: The Woodturners of Olympia have announced that their next meeting on October 27th will feature John Magill with a presentation on Rose Engine Lathes. You can find a previous post on how to build your own Rose Engine Lathe with plans created by John Magill.
I recently bought at nice big chunk of Maple burl and need to cut it down into blanks. Many woodturners get large chunks of wood and need to cut them down to manageable size which means the need for a chainsaw. Which made me wonder if there were any reliable chainsaw reviews. A quick check of Google shows many spammy sites, but there were a few from sources I would trust. Here are some that I found:
Popular Mechanics 7 New Chain Saws Reviewed: Comparison Test
The saws tested were all 35 to 38 cc engines and 16 to 18 inch bars. Their top rated were the Husqvarna 240e (5 stars), Stihl MS 210 C-BE (5 stars) and Echo CS-370 (4 ½ stars). Read the reviews here.
Popular Mechanics Chain Saw Comparison Field Test
These saws are larger, 55 to 60 cc and 18 to 20 inch bars. The top rated were the Echo CS-600P (4 ½ stars) and Jonsered CS2159 C (4 ½ stars). Read the reviews here.
First Chainsaw
About.com has a generic list of saws that would make a good first chainsaw purchase. There are no reviews of specific saws, just brands that they review based on company reliability, professional arborist popularity and one chainsaw shop expert’s opinion. Read the reviews here.
Amazon
Another place I like to look for reviews is on Amazon.com. If you search for chainsaw you will get a list of all chainsaws available on Amazon which shows the average rating with a link to the individual comments. You can look here.
