Our website Learning Center has been inaugurated with two videos from SPSW member Dave Schweitzer covering how to use the D-Way beading tools. Just look under the “Learning Center” in the menu.
February Membership Meeting
[note]This month we have Larry Miller coming to demonstrate. Larry is the president of the Olympia club and is a member of our club. This should be a superior demo and we are excited to have him joining us.[/note]
I started turning wood in high school, and still have the very first salad bowl I turned that my mother used for nearly 40 years (it’s ugly, but functional). I had about a 35 year layoff while finishing college, getting married, working as a computing manager in higher education, oil, and aerospace, and raising our two sons. When my wife bought me a small lathe in 1995, I slowly picked up the craft again. I didn’t get “serious” about turning until we moved to Olympia in 2003. I now have 5 lathes in my well equipped shop, and not only make what I like to call “Functional Art”, but also teach woodturning to all ages and skill levels, including home schooled kids. I am actively involved in the American Association of Woodturners (AAW) youth program and will be in St. Paul again this summer working with the Kids. I don’t specialize in any one art form, but enjoy a challenge and have done a number of projects including hats, hollow forms, deep vessels, piercing and other embellishments.
The demonstration I’m going to perform for the SPSW in February is titled, “how to turn a specialty box with minimal to no sanding”. Although I’ll have several different boxes on display, the one I’ll demonstrate was written up in the Summer 2010 Woodturning Design magazine and was inspired by the capitol dome in
Olympia. This is just an example of a specialty box, as my demonstration will focus on methods and tips that apply to all box types. I’ll cover design, layout, chucking techniques, shortcuts for quickly producing multiple copies of the same design, use of some specialty tools, and tips that will allow you to reduce or eliminate sanding.
Setup starts at 6:00 with social time starting at 6:30.
SPSW in the Top10
The South Puget Sound Woodturners is in the top 10 clubs in the American Association of Woodturners (AAW). Why is that? Because we have a large and diverse membership.
Our members range from beginner to internationally acclaimed professionals. Our interests range from penmaking to bowls, turned ornaments to hollow vessels, spindles to platters.
Attend our monthly membership meetings and you will find a varied program. Many moths you will find a renowned expert in their field demonstrating material selection, tool usage, segmenting, wood coloring, ebonizing, and lots of turning techniques. Three times a year we have a mini-symposium where members demonstrate anything you could imagine.
Another great benefit for our members is our “Sawdust Sessions”. These occur the Saturday following most membership meetings. This is a hands on session with mentors from the club. Bring your safety glasses, tools and wood and get help with any questions you may have. This is an amazing one-on-one opportunity to improve your turning skills.
There are so many more benefits and learning opportunities to membership in the South Puget Sound Woodturners. Come and visit our next meeting and see what turning is all about!
Practical Finishes By Jeff Conti
practical-finishes-22-july-07-jeff-conti
By Jeff Conti
22 July 2007
Topics: Shellac, Behlen’s Woodturner Finish, Wax (Renaissance and Liberon), Penetrating oils (Danish oil, Boiled Linseed oil and Teak oil) Butcher Block OIL, Walnut Oil, Hard Cellulose Nitrate Lacquer (Deft)
Shellac comes from the excretions of the lac insect Kerria lacca, found in the forests of Assam and Thailand (Wikipedia).
Shellac can be purchased in two basic forms, commercially mixed in a can with other chemicals and natural flakes that you dilute into denatured alcohol. Both of these forms have variations you can buy for effects you are looking for.
I suggest blond (no wax) Shellac flakes for the following reasons… You can read the rest of the article here – practical-finishes-22-july-07-jeff-conti
A Story in Every Turning
I was recently explaining the markings on the bottom of a highly figured spalted maple bowl with stone inlay to a coworker who remarked that I had a story for each piece that he had seen me turn. That is when I had one of those wow moments to which I stated that I probably had at least a half a dozen for each piece that I had ever turned, some pieces have even more.
When you consider all the steps that go into turning an item worthy of display it should not be a surprise to me that many of lifeʼs little stories would become imbedded in that bowl. Stories like, where did you get the wood? Buy it or get it free? Cut it green or starting to punk out? What shape. Where did it go? What tool to use? Is it sharp? What cut? How much? How thin? What shape now? What finish? Who is it for? What piece is next?
If you have a favorite story about a piece of wood, and your journey with it into a turned item and on, let me know.
*you can read more in the June 2008 Newsletter