Water Gap Woodturners

We are back with a vengeance!

2011-08-05T18:07:00.000-07:00

Missed last month's meeting, so I think there's going to be a lot to catch up on. Thanks to the guys at Water Gap Woodturners for the support during some tough days.

The meeting actually was preceded my an event. Not just any event, either, but a free wood event. One of the greatest benefits of being in the Water Gap Woodturners is our membership resources. Ed Brannon connected us with the Park, and Dick Plog volunteered to trailer his Woodmizer bandsaw mill to cut the free walnut logs dropped off by the Park.

Now that the log has been loaded on the mill, life gets easier! Dick is operating the mill with a tremendous amount of supervision...I think Peter is from OSHA?

Did I say free wood? They look like they are working pretty hard for it? This is when I showed up, and backed my truck under that slab...Thanks guys! (Kidding, sorta...)

After everyone grabbed their share of wood, we went inside to hold the normal meeting. Our first order of business was to have elections. Ed Brannon and Mike Gurodis were unanimously elected president and vice president. Jim Matthews retained the Treasurer role, and I am still blogger/secretary/Director of Programs. (I am Steven Antonucci, if you didn't know)

After the elections, which were hotly contested (nobody wanted to run...), we went to our first club challenge. The Grey Towers black locust pieces were due for the exhibit that Ed Brannon set up with Grey Towers. There were many good looking bowls, and only a few lathes broken during the process.

We also held our second drawing for tool donated by Doug Thompson. Harvey Fein was the winner of a 1/2 V shaped bowl gouge in 10V steel and Doug's custom shot filled handles. Doug is also making 15V steel tools now for just a few extra dollars. 15V steel has 2x the carbides compared to 10V, and it's effectiveness was proven out by turning partially dry black locust all night without sharpening. Doug had sent me a 1/2 15V bowl gouge to test drive, and it is rapidly becoming a go to tool. (www.thompsonlathetools.com)

Harvey Fein thinks "moving the meeting to Thursday worked out great for me!"

Ed and Mike- our new leadership

After the Grey Towers Show and Tell, we had a surprise hands on demo session. Mike Hunter had contacted me about connecting with Peters Valley, and we were asked to look at some of his carbide hollowing tools. Mike sent a small ornament set and a Hunter #5, and I found some time to make beefwood (I think) handles for the tools. They were donated to the Peters Valley/Water Gap Woodturners cause, and quickly checked out of the library by anxious members who wanted to try them out. (http://www.hunterwoodturningtool.com/)

The tools are somewhat unique in that they use a replacable carbide cutter and cannot be sharpened. The cutter is actually rotated to a fresh spot when it gets dull, and the cutter gets replaced when it is dull all around. Because they are nano-carbides, they get sharpened to a fine, polished edge that lasts for a very long time. No sharpening.

After a five minute demo by Steve, we asked for volunteers to step up and take a try. There is a short learning curve and then even a novice can pick up the tools pretty rapidly. We had some of the black locust that broke Gary's lathe to practice on, and we cut it without issues to a fine finish. Jim Matthews, Peter Thome, Don French, Izzy Padula, Harvey Fein, Ed Brannon all took turns making cuts, and with a few small corrections, were all doing well in a few minutes.

Jim gets a little adjustment from Steve

In the end, Jim and Don both checked out the tools from the library and will bring something that they made to the next meeting. We're going to be sending surprises to Mike Hunter for supporting Peters Valley and the Water Gap Woodturners as a way of saying thanks (I made him a couple of things...)

The meeting adjourned with a quick clean-up (Thanks Jim, Don, Izzy) around 9:30. Happy to take suggestions for next months topic?

An Impromptu Appearance by a Turning Celebrity

2011-06-14T15:09:00.000-07:00

Our June meeting had a surprise visitor: Graeme Priddle (tan shirt and flip flops) was in town to teach at Peters Valley over the weekend, and joined us a couple of days before his class began (as opposed to wild Peters Valley nightlife ;-)

Our group assembled on the second Wednesday of June. This is the final meeting that will occur outside the normal "first Wednesday" meeting rule. Our next meeting is going to be July 6th at 7PM and we will follow this schedule for the rest of the summer.

We welcomed Graeme to the meeting and he joined us at the Show and Tell, even displaying and passing around some of his work. Tony brought an interesting piece of pierced work that displayed great technical skills. Richard is seen here evaluating Tony's sphere.

Clearly, the wow factor was Mike's piece of big leaf maple that was turned and carved. Mike described a process of using the lathe to hollow and then refine the shape with power carving and power sanding techniques. It is as big as it appears.

During the meeting, Ed brought up an opportunity to work with Grey Towers in two ways. Firstly, in contributing work from the black locust that Ed brought. If you took a piece (we know who you are...), you should be ready to bring a finished piece to the August meeting. One piece will be donated to Grey Towers for fundraising in exchange for the opportunity to work with this historic wood. Please do your best work.

In addition, we will be looking at staffing a day at the Grey Towers Festival of Wood event. More as that evolves, but in short, it is an opportunity to work in the public eye and recruit new members to join the Water Gap Woodturners. It looks like it could be a lot of fun.

Ed also had a bowl in a chuck with some cracking. We're hoping he can save it by appealing to the turning gods.

Finally, the demo of the day was again given by Steve. Using a hook tool, Steve quickly cut a jamb chuck for a scoop and hollowed out the bowl with a gouge lent to him by Graeme. It was a team effort, and the scoop is an easy project that utilizes lots of different techniques. It would be fun to see how many scoops come from the demo, or if the techniques can be leveraged into other projects (hint, hint!)

In July, we will try to nominate a new Executive committee. Here is your chance to get a big fancy title. All of the roles are open for volunteers, and none of them pay particularly well, but you can put it on your resume and that's good for something. Step up and volunteer!

Until July- be safe and have fun!

A Day of Service

2011-05-16T14:49:00.000-07:00

Once again, our photographer didn't show up so we'll have no pictures for this entry. Please feel free to volunteer for the unofficial title...

The Water Gap Woodturners pitched in to help the Peters Valley Wood Studio reorganize and get ready for the 2011 season. I'd like to thank the folks that lifted and tugged all of that heavy equipment around and repositioned into a more turning friendly shop. When we left, there were still a few kinks to work out, but I am sure that Jim Whitman appreciates all of the man power we brought to bear.

In addition, you will also notice that the big Vega Lathe is no longer in the way! YEAH!

We will be getting together in June on the 8th (not the first, as I have a prior commitment and the only key to the shop :-) The topic is TBD.

In the May meeting, we began by discussing the topic of the upcoming David Ellsworth lecture. It was agreed that we would fund it in the amount of $100. Ed had suggested that we contact Kristen with regards to holding a raffle to recover some of the costs, but Kristen informed me that Peters Valley doesn't hold a gaming license. Instead, we will be silent auctioning off the bowl gouge donated by Doug Thompson of Thompson Lathe tools with a starting bid of $85. The retail cost of this gouge is $110 in the 16" handle, and if it doesn't get the minimum bid, we will take it back to the Water Gap Woodturners for another function.

On the topic of Doug's tools, we did raffle off a nice Thompson Spindle gouge and the winner was... ME! After a fine celebratory dance worthy of Youtube fame (thankfully, no pictures taken), we took advantage of the new layout to practice making tops. Got to get everyone ready for the December meeting, so practice, practice, practice!

Until June 8...Safe spinning!

P.S. If you happen to be ANYWHERE in the Peters Valley area, check yourself for ticks...they are everywhere this year!

P.P.S. The correct term for the item Peter brought was a molinillo (I think I said molinaro).

Better Late Than Never!

2011-03-19T16:39:00.000-07:00

The Water Gap Woodturners finally caught a break after the winter and got together in March at the Peters Valley Wood Studio. The road was "passible" and 8 hearty individuals came up for a deep dive on the ins and outs of hollow turning. After the discussion of business and the fact that there was an issue with the chimney and we couldn't run the heat, we did our usual Show and Tell. Of course, there weren't any pictures, so it never happened!

The topic for the day was hollowturning, lead by yours truly, Steven Antonucci. We defined the term hollowform as a vessel that the opening is less than 1/3 of the major diameter of the vessel, and then proceded to talk about how to make tools, measure, and the proper techniques for getting the insides out. The diagram at the right describes the cutting sequence and oddly resembles a set of Sorby Calipers?

With the shop heat only being provided by 2 small space heaters, we decided to make the day less hands on and more demonstrative. Unfortunately, the vessel didn't make it off the lathe in one piece, but the viewers agreed that it was valuable to watch how the insides were cut without that little hole at the top. Substantially easier to clear shavings too...

In the end, we parted with a mission for all of the attendees to try hollowing at least one time. I can't wait to see the next S&T.

In closing, we'll be getting together one last Saturday before the Peters Valley season begins in May. We are looking for members to step up and demonstrate at the next meeting. Any and all topics are welcome and appreciated. Turning experience not necessary.

Then, you can have your demo picture posted in the blog like this little beauty:

See you in April.

Safe spinning.

Holiday fun and a good cause!

2010-12-17T18:07:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays to and from the Water Gap Woodturners. On December 4th, a great group of people got together for a Holiday party and to make a bunch of toys for the Marine Corps Toys for Tots Program. Thanks to everyone that contributed and made the event the amazing success that it was!

I was going to write a lot of gushy stuff about how much I appreciate the folks that stepped up, but I decided that I'll just share some of the picture that Jim and I took (mostly Jim!)

Al works the spray booth.

Eyes and carrot noses pile up

Steve turns a cup...who is doing the assembly?

Dick makes some wheels for the trucks

It had better snow soon, cause we've got some snowman parts!

Our tops are tops, and our ball in cup toys are mesmerizing

Jim in the color finishing area...

Izzy busy? You know he is...

I never thought we'd get through all of this material...

And I never thought we'd get through all of this food!

Richard is focused, Joe is listening to Christmas songs, and Peter is ducking a photo op...

Tony is the final quality gate for assembly...

Wil and Harvey hard at work.

Santa's elves form a production line...

Our next meeting will be in a similar format. I still have to get an OK from Jim Whitman at Peters Valley, but assuming that is not going to be a problem. We will meet at the shop around 1 PM on January 22nd until we are through (no lunch this time, so be prepared or eat first) and we will be back to our normal SHOW AND TELL followed by a hands on program (TBD). If you have any suggestions, send them my way...

Happy Holidays and safe spinning-

October recap

2010-10-13T08:16:00.000-07:00

No pictures, so we can't prove anything...

We gathered to a growing crowd of turners, and interested bystanders. As mentioned, anyone coming to a meeting and thinking about joining, here is your chance! Join now for 2011, and we will grandfather you in for the rest of 2010! The best deal in town just got better...

We kept our business and our show and tell to a minimum. The S&T was about 12 objects made from the cherry that Dick Plog had brought in 2 meetings back. Ed Brannon mentioned that we might want to do a similar event with the wood from Grey Towers as a potential fundraiser. Kristin Muller also sent me the following note about Grey Towers locust auction:

Subject: Historic Locust Trees from Grey Towers to be Auctioned

Hi: The attached press release has details about the US Forest Service auctioning off historic Locust trees from the grounds of Grey Towers National Historic Site, home of conservationist and PA Governor Gifford Pinchot, Milford PA. Perhaps your organization might be interested in bidding for use as a fundraiser, or you may have some craftsmen who would appreciate working with this material.

Feel free to contact us with any questions you might have....

Lori Danuff McKean, Assistant Director
Programs, Partnerships and Communication
USDA Forest Service
Grey Towers National Historic Site
P.O. Box 188
Milford, PA 18337
(570)296-9672

Please direct any questions to Lori at lmckean@fs.fed.us .

In addition, Kristin also invites us to the Sussex County Fall Harvest Festival:

Subject: FW: Revised Harvest Festival Registration form

Calling all Agritourism, Ecotourism and Heritage Tourism entities out
there! Sussex County is having a Harvest Festival on Saturday, October
23, 2010 at the Sussex County Fairgrounds and we'd like you to
participate. See the attached registration form. There is no charge for
this event. The Fairgrounds is providing us the use of the livestock
barns, so everyone will be under cover. This event will help get out the
word out about all the good work you do. There will also be fun
activities for the whole family and demonstrations by Peters Valley
craftspeople. This is Peters Valley's 40th anniversary and they will be
celebrating with a separate dinner and auction (fee) that evening which
you can also register for. Feel free to pass this on to other relevant
organizations and individuals. Hope to see everyone there on October
23rd.

Donna Traylor
Sussex County Office of Farmland Preservation and Conservation
DTraylor@sussex.nj.us

Anyone interested in this event should contact Kristin (director@pvcrafts.org) and Donna about attending (I have a prior commitment.)

Our main topic of the evening was on how to build a lathe with matchsticks and ducktape. Since there were no pictures taken, you'll have to take my word for it. Seriously, we need someone to be the official photographer or this blog will be pretty sad (although much easier for me, since I don't have to edit pictures and layouts...).

Our main topic was finishing. Joe volunteered to lead session about finishing, since he had taken a workshop earlier this year and works at a cabinet shop. He walked us through a vairety of topics, including burning and wirebrushing to create texture, aniline dyes, and using scotchbrite pads to level the finishes. He also brought a "reject" from his days at Tiffany, and suffice it to say that we'd all want to be able to produce this quality work!

Our next meeting will be on November 3. As a reminder, it will include a show and tell as usual, but we are also going to be having a swap meet/tool sale/surplus inventory reduction. Bring in that stuff that you don't use anymore and see if someone else might need it! Bartering, cash, trade- we're all adults, and the rules are simple: if both parties are happy, it's a deal.

Time permitting, there will be a short demo TBD on something... I reserve the right to make up something on the spot...

Safe spinning-

Steve

An apology to Joe Eid

2010-09-07T08:08:00.000-07:00

I'd like to begin this entry with an apology to Joe Eid. He had volunteered to lead a "hands on finishing" workshop for the September meeting, and I had no idea that we'd run so late with the usual stuff. In the October meeting, we will limit the new business discussion to the following two topics so that Joe has all of the time he needs for the workshop:

1.) Dick Plog's Cherry challenge (in place of the normal show and tell). Please remember to bring your item that you made and we will limit all Show and Tell to be completed by 7:45PM, so try to get to the meeting by 7PM promptly.

2.) Peters Valley Craft Fair recap and any other PV related requests. As we know, the use of the studio is greatly appreciated and it would be great if we could contribute our time and some work as fundraisers for the programs that PV runs.

With the holidays approaching, won't it be great to know that you can become a world class finisher if we can just give Joe about 90 minutes to get us through his program!

Steve Butler says hello. As you may have heard, he's started the Blackstone Craft School in Massachusetts (http://www.theblackstonevalleyschoolofcrafts.blogspot.com/). He also sent me a short commercial for a new public access program that he's doing called "The Garage". I'm playing with Blogger features, so I hope this will appear in the post!

As a recap of the September meeting, we had a lengthy show and tell and discussion of club business. Of note, Dan Moore will be moving to Virginia in a couple of weeks, and as such, resigned as President. Richard Wortman will be filling the vacancy until the next election. Thanks to Dan for his efforts and Richard for stepping in!

Lastly, there seemed to be a good deal of interest in making a cowboy hat as a topic for future meetings. Now that the summer workshops have ended, it may be possible to move the November meeting to a Saturday (I have to check). Would anyone be interested in an all day WGW meeting one Saturday for a "super demo" meeting? The idea would be to have two or three topics going on at any given point and a floating audience. If the idea of making hats or a holow vessel or a bowl is intimidating, we could have lots going on!

Until next time, happy trails, partner!

Lots to catch up on!

2010-08-06T06:55:00.000-07:00

Firstly, pardon me for missing July.

I wanted to start by welcoming our newest member, Rick Dorbney. He joined us at the August meeting, and we quickly converted him to membership for 2011. If you want to bring a friend along to the meeting like Ed Brannon did, please feel free to do so. We are running a 2010 membership special- anyone between now and the end of the year that joins (new) can pay for 2011, and we will grandfather them for the rest of 2010!

A quick round of thanks for the following people and reasons:

Dan Moore and Tony Whalen for helping me set up the Sussex County Arts and Heritage Council Show. If you haven't stopped by to see it, it is certainly worth a visit to Newton. If you go, you may find parking on Spring Street (free), but if you have to park in a municipal lot, find the parking machine because they do ticket!

We had a good turnout from membership presenting their work. From memory, the following people have items in the show: Dan Moore, Mike Gurodis, Rick Wortman, Tony Whalen, Ed Brannon, Wil Goldschmidt, Jim Matthews, Joe Eid, Bruce Gordon, and Steven Antonucci. (Sorry if I missed you, but it is from memory...)

Dick Plog handed me a front page article from the NJ Herald that ran a feature story on the SCAHC show. It mentioned the Water Gap Woodturners throughout the article, so I am expecting that we will all have to start wearing sunglasses and big hats to walk out in public soon.

I would also like to thank Dick Plog for setting up our second club challenge: the Cherry Challenge. I would like to continue to do these challenges, perhaps twice per year, so if you have any ideas for one, please bring them to the meetings. For 2011, I'd like to get some formal plans together around the calendar, rather than being so seat-of-the-pants all of the time.

Dick brought in a bunch of Cherry blanks with the theme 'Let's see what people do with this"... pretty wide open, huh? We agreed that the October meeting would be the Cherry Challenge Show and Tell, so you've got about 8 weeks to figure something out. Let's aim for 100% participation?

Ed Brannon mentioned a Swap Meet/Tool Sale meeting again, and we agreed that the December meeting would be the time for that. With the holidays just around the corner, who couldn't use a little extra cash and room in the shop for some new tools? The December meeting will be a Holiday Extravaganza-NOT TO BE MISSED! In addition to the Swap Meet, we will also be running a Secret Santa program and a "party". If you would like to Volunteer to be the December meeting coordinator, send me a note!

After the Show and Tell, our guest demonstrator (kudos to Mr. Brannon for arranging!) was Alan Gilburg from the Central New England Woodturners. Alan brought a very interesting project that he suggested sold very well to the high end culinary types- A salt vault!

The salt vault is a container for storing fancy salts that require "just a pinch". Alan made glue ups from a variety of hardwoods, but he doesn't recommend using walnut because of the end grain tearout ;-)

The process begins between centers and turning the blank to round. A small offset point is chosen to get an offset tenon on the now rounded blank, and the tenon is turned to fit a chuck jaw. The offest is necessary to offset the storage compartment in the vault so that there will be sufficient room to install the pin for the lid.

Alan turns a shallow recess/bowl in the top of the vault to hold the salt. He recommended that it wasn't too large, or the salt will be harder to reach and tends to cake with the humidity. The lid is kept in place by a small magnetic catch, and pivots freely around the pin which he turns from a contrasting hardwood. Design options are limitless!

With the holidays coming, this project might be a nice stocking stuffer for friends and family. Alan mentioned that they go together pretty quickly, don't require a lot of specialized tools or machining, and that everyone loves them. We really appreciate Alan coming out to Peters Valley to join us and want to thank him for demonstrating his very useful project!

Our next meeting will be in Early September. We do not have a topic yet, so if you know of a guest turner in the area, feel free to reach out to me to get them on the schedule like Ed did.

Until then, safe spinning...

One for the ages

2010-06-07T09:48:00.000-07:00

June's meeting was held on June 3rd at the Peters Valley Wood Studio. The meeting began outside, but not because we didn't have access to the studio. (I now have a key!) The meeting began with an announcement by our current President, Dan moore and a challenge to the club. Dan will be relocating to the Richmond, VA area in the next few months, and Richard will be assuming his duties as the Vice President (in a bloodless coup). As usual, the group would greatly appreciate someone stepping up to the nomination for President.

In Dan's departure, Dan and I discussed the disposal of some of his assets to be shared by the club. It was proposed that Dan and I would bring the wood in question to the club to be equally dispersed with the following challenge: you have to make something to bring to the July meeting. Unofficially, we're going to call this Moore's Wood Challenge (I tried to come up with something catchy, but failed...) You can make ANYTHING at all out of the wood you took, but you have to bring one item to the next Show and Tell. Prizes will be awarded for first, second, and third (Dan and Steve will judge)

Once the mosquitoes had their fill of us and the last bits of wood were out of our trucks, we went inside where we discussed the club business. Peters Valley had contacted us to let us know that they would allow us to exhibit at the Craft Fair in September with the jury process. Several members voiced their concern over tax issues and their was moderate interest in doing this individually. Upon further conversation, it was not viable to do this as a club.

From here, the conversation shifted to future demonstrations. Joe Eid, who felt left out because he hadn't seen an e-mail from me in months (because of a typo in the list I was given...sorry Joe!) suggested that he would be interested in doing a hand rubbed finishing demo based upon a recent workshop he took at Peters Valley. It was highly and enthusiastically approved by the group, and we'll make sure that we get Joe on the calendar in the next few months.

Show and Tell featured some recent work from the group. It's hard to move the meetings alone AND be the photographer, so I am looking for some more volunteers to bring cameras and capture the action. Here are a couple of pieces from the S&T:

Our main topic for the evening demo was the tool making. As a starting point, Steve started out by walking through the steps for making handles. As a reminder, using a chuck to grip the blank, drill a hole in the one end using a slow lathe speed. The hole will be automatically centered when the tailstock point is inserted. Next sneak up on sizing a tenon to fit the ferrule. A copper tubing nipple is a great ferule, and copper is soft enough to be turned on the lathe with conventional tools. Once the ferrule has been fitted, turn the handle to fit your hand.

We also covered the differences between tool steel and cold rolled. Tool steel can be sharpened and hardened for a cutting edge. Cold rolled is typically used to hold a piece of tool steel. Round rod can be sourced to make numerous tools (very inexpensively) as compared to catalog prices and they work equally as well. If you've never tried making your own tools, it is a great way to save a few hundred dollars.

Stay tuned for an announcement about the July meeting. It will most likely be moved to accomodate one of the Peters Valley wood studio instructors availability. Once I have confirmed the date, I will let you know

Safe spinning.

What's in your Wallet?

2010-05-12T06:54:00.000-07:00

With sales from the Peters Valley gallery fresh in many folks minds, the answer to the title question is: extra cash!

We began the May meeting by realizing that the shop door was locked, and had to improvise or hold our meeting "al fresco". Some quick thinking resolved our issues, and we will be getting proper access before the next meeting.

We began the meeting with member discussing the Open House and exhibition at the SDF Gallery. As it turns out, many members have sold work through the exhibit. There is certainly a rush when someone decides that they like your work enough to buy it, and we will hopefully have an opportunity to do this through Peters Valley again.

Our main topic of the evening was an extended "Show and Tell" with the added provision that we would also discuss influences on our current work. If the late hour we closed down was any indication of the success, I'd guess that it was well received! Members were instructed to bring their current projects and any influences, materials, or techniques that they have developed along the way to use in the new work.

Wil brought in a "story stick" of inlay materials that he uses to experiment with filling cracks and voids in some of his work. He describe the various materials and techniques necessary to achieve the results, and where he might use the different processes to fill in bark voids or losses.

In our typical roundtable style, we continued around the table with Fred showing a very old faceplate with some walnut crotch mounted on it for a candlestand table. Just a few more years, and that piece should be dry, Fred :-)

Not to be ignored, we also picked up a new member. His name is Pete Thome, and he is pictured in the middle between Wil and Ed. Someone will need to tell him that we all pose these pictures, and that he is not allowed to move when the camera is on him, but he has to look natural anyway :-)

In the foreground in front of Ed, you'll see his work. Ed mentioned that he leaves the tenon in the middle of his bowls for extra support and to help with remounting. A tip or two is always welcome during the meetings, guys!

As the meetings get more involved and conversational, I usually get too engrossed to keep taking pictures. If anyone wanted to bring a camera, this blog would benefit from other people's pictures and viewpoints as well. Please feel free to author content (I'll post it for now) or send me your images.

Ed Brannon and Don were deep in thought listening to something being said when I snapped this picture. Ed had brought a bowl with some tool marks and we quickly discussed the use of a gooseneck cabinet scraper and some elbow grease as a remedy for them. Ed spent a few minutes towards the end of the meeting scraping out those marks and I'm guessing is now the proud owner of his own set of cabinet scrapers.

Dan brought 2 items and discussed the possibility of carving a leaf motif on one. Steve brought a prototype hollowform turned from a laminated material and another hollowform which was turned, carved and painted. Patrick finished the night off by showing us a Windsor that was getting to the final stages of finishing (meaning he only had another 40 hours to go!) When we ran out of things, it was 10PM- so it is a good thing that we ran out of things!

The topic for the next meeting was announced: It will be a toolmaking session. Steve will be showing some tools that can be made in a shop with minimal metalworking skills. Many of these tools can be made for a fraction of the cost of commercial equivalents, so it will be an opportunity to save a few bucks. Don't miss it.

Until next time, keep the curlies flyin'

Peters Valley Gallery Opening Night

2010-04-25T04:58:00.001-07:00

The Water Gap Woodturners came out in full force to support the show at the Sally D. Francisco Gallery at Peters Valley. We would like to extend our thanks to Peters Valley for inviting us to exhibit our work showcasing our members talents, and the tireless effort of Brienne to put it all together!

The space was in utter chaos on april 7th when we met at the store before the April meeting. Brienne assured us that she would make us look good and that somehow it would all come together. She had called me a couple of times during the week to ask for help in getting some pieces displayed, since there were some unlevel floor issues and tiny bases on some of my vessels. I was completely blown away when I walked upstairs, as were the other members of the club. We never looked so good!

Pictured right are (L to R):

Bruce

Richard

Wil

Dan

Brienne

In addition to making us all look good, Brienne also managed to feed us! We were artists for a day, as we sipped wine and cheese. Ok, you caught me... at least half of us went across the street in our fancy clothes to look at the two walnut trees that the park service had just cut down, and Wil and I took a ride to look at some tiger maple covered in burls. Stay tuned for more on that topic.

In our exhibit, we got to see some immediate results from recent meetings. Richard took our ball turning demo to a whole new level. Pictured on the left is a kicked-up version of the Mexican ball and cup game. It is a ball and peg game, and the idea is to get the ball to land on the peg in that little hole. I can attest that it is about as hard as it looks, although I did witness Richard do it at least once.

Brian's hookwork and Bruce's throw tops also grace the case, which is behind glass to protect the other work in the gallery :-) It's not hard to imagine people playing with them, as they are a FUNctional piece of art... (I write the blog, so deal with the bad puns...)

Picture (L to R):

Bruce (again, that guy is everywhere!)

Tony

Wil (travels with Bruce, I guess?)

Steve

Dan (travels with Wil, of course...)

I would also like to thank Jane for being smarter than me and remembering to bring a camera, or this would be a pretty boring entry. I "negotiated" exclusive rights to these pictures for the blog, but I thought it made sense to give a photo credit, since we'd be looking at fuzzy cell phone shots if it were up to me to remember things. A big thanks to Jane from the WGW membership.

If you have a few minutes to spare next weekend, please stop by the gallery during the Peters Valley Open Studio weekend. I think its a valuable exercise to be in the crowd incognito to hear what real people think of our work as woodturners. We are often too close to the work, and surrounded by other woodturners to get the every man perspective. If you want to stop by the wood studio, there will be a few WGW folks manning the lathes to demonstrate turning to the visitors.

See you in May.

Elections, gallery talk- in the end, we had a ball...

2010-03-11T14:59:00.000-08:00

In case you missed the meeting, here is a quick recap of events:

We had 11 members in attendance, and every one of them paid their 2010 dues and said they were AAW members! Got to love it when a plan comes into action.

We started the night with the business of electing the executive committee. Here are the results from the elections:

Dan was voted President (in absentia, not feeling well)
Richard suggested that we needed a VP, so I nominated him and he was given the job.
Steve will continue as Secretary and Director of Programs (since the blog is in my name...)
Jim was elected treasurer, and was last seen flying down Thunder Mountain Road with a Craft Supplies catalog in his hands and a big smile on his face (Just kidding!)

Thank you all for stepping up to the responsibilities.

Brienne Rosner from the Peters Valley Gallery Store also joined us to explain the show that we will ALL (right, Matt?) be putting work into as a club. We had a very open discussion about what kind, why and so forth. In the end, we decided that it was best for EVERYONE to contribute several pieces that they were proud of to be exhibited as Brienne saw fit. I personally want to thank her for spending the night with us to get to know the group better, and I am sure she will do her best to represent us as artists and artisans. In return, I know that we will also do our best to represent the spirit of the Peters Valley community in return.

Here is the schedule that we'd like to adhere to:

March 19th - submit images for online/print advertsing material (Steve)
April 7th - Drop off work at the STORE before coming up to the meeting. (ALL WGW members)
April 17th - Show opens, members are encouraged to come to the opening from 4-7PM
May 2 - Peters Valley Open House- it would be nice to have someone in the studio and the gallery to meet and greet... (more to come)
May 23rd - pick up any unsold work at the Gallery

In our discussion, it seems that we can potentially all contribute up to four items, with Brienne picking at least one from each member to represent the entireity of WGW. If you missed the meeting, you are still welcome to bring work to the gallery for the show. Open topic.

After a very nice show and tell (70% participation!), we had a short turning demo on how to make a sphere on the lathe. While it was far from the best sphere I have ever turned, it should give everyone the required steps they need to try it themselves.

Our next meeting will be on April 7th. Everyone will bring their work to the gallery prior to the ride up Thunder Mountain Road for Brienne's convenience. I'd like to make this meetings topic a mentoring session for the new turners, so I'm going to suggest that we break into small groups after the S&T, and work 1 on 1 with some of the more experience members of the group.

Now get out to the shop and get that piece finished before April 7.

Safe spinning.

P.S. I need someone to volunteer to be the photographer for the club. E-mail me and consider yourself elected.

Reminder: Tonight's meeting moved to next Wednesday

2010-03-03T06:56:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note to remind folks that we've moved out the meeting date by a week to let some of the snow melt and give Peters Valley a chance to get Thunder Mountain Road cleared up to the shop. Unless you own a snow cat, you can't get to the shop.

See you 3/10 @7PM.

Let's Get Down to Business!

2010-02-07T05:50:00.000-08:00

10 Members of the Water Gap Woodturners braved the cold, icy darkness that is Peters Valley in February. If you remember the 2009 meeting, frozen ground is much easier to drive on than thawed ground, and no one needed their car washed on Thursday.

Our meeting had a very different tone this time, as we realign for 2010. Elections were discussed, and it was communicated to the chapter that every elected official needs to be an AAW member to have the insurance protection at meetings and other WGW Events. Half of the members present at the meeting are AAW members, and the other half committed to signing up before March. We encourage all members to join the AAW, as it is an excellent resource for turners to learn from and grow.

As it stands right now, elections for the executive committee are open for nominations. At this writing, we have

Dan volunteering to act as President
Jim as Treasurer
Steve as Secretary and Program Coordinator.
Vice President (if someone would like to step up to be nominated)

Whether you have a title or not, all members are expected to contribute in some way to the vitality of the chapter. As a small group, it will not require an exhorbitant amount of your time in any role, but likely an hour or two per month.

As an example, and a very good segue into the next topic, the Water Gap Woodturners has been invited to exhibit in the Peters Valley store gallery. The is a tremendous opportunity to put your work out in a public setting, and learn more about "the professional side" of woodturning. Whether you have desires to be the next David Ellsworth or not, it is very good for your development as a woodturner to get feedback from someone who is not a woodturner! We all know too much about the process, the wood, the tools, and such to provide objectivity in evaluating others work. As one turner I know quips, "Besides, woodturner will never buy anything from you."

Everyone at every level is encouraged to bring work to the next meeting for the Show and Tell. I have invited Brienne from the gallery store to come by and start forming the direction for the show. Whether you bring one piece or twenty pieces, I would love to see EVERY MEMBER represented in the exhibit. We will discuss this in some detail in March, but the short version is to be prepared to leave your work for the gallery at the April meeting to minimize the number of people consuming Brienne's time.

Following the lengthy businees meeting (we promise to have it down to 10 minutes next month), we walked through Show and Tell. The good news is that we are starting to see almost everyone bring something to S&T, and discussions around techniques are lively. We had planned to spend some time turning after the business meeting, but we ran out of time because of the participation of the group. Way to go guys!

Here is your call to action for March:

1.) If you are not an AAW member, please join. It will make everything much easier on us. www.woodturner.org

2.) Dues ($20) will be due next month for 2010. Please bring a check or cash to the March meeting.

3.) Bring something for the Show and Tell. (a standing order!) Brienne probably doesn't know about the variety of woodturned object that are even possible, and it will help us organize the Exhibition if we know what you like to make.

4.) Be prepared to cast your ballot for the elections. I would love to see all members ratify our executive committee, not half. Half of winning is just showing up.

5.) Start thinking about any questions you might have for the Exhibition and other business topic. It will be an open forum, but we will try to limit discussions to the first 30 minutes. Show and Tell will follow, and then I promise that we will have a demonstration of one of two topics:

A) Build your own supported hollowing system ( a full dissection of the expensive systems out there and how you can build one for under $20)
B) Turn a sphere

(I will bring stuff for either and we will take a show of hands)

Safe spinning.

Steven

2010: A New Beginning

2010-01-08T18:39:00.000-08:00

As you all well know, Steve Butler will be leaving the Water Gap Woodturners and returning to Massachussetts to get back to studio work. While things are settling down at Peters Valley, we are greatful to still have the best facility of any AAW Chapter in the US. We want to thank Steve for his tireless enthusiasm in getting our group off the ground, but now we must continue his efforts to keep the group viable and strong.

Steve had contacted us about his departure, so a few of us got together and decided to make our January meeting more of a party than a turning demo. A few of us kicked around a few ideas and brought in the case, soda, coffee, chips and a party was born. Tony made a great plaque for Steve to show our thanks, and I had suggested that we all sign it for Steve to take away. Wil was in charge of the cake, and I think he did a fine job decorating it, even if I couldn't read it (wink, wink, Wil!)

We discussed the future of the club, and Steve Butler reiterated that Peters Valley wants to continue to host our club, as well as encourage the use of its fine facility. Since Steve is going to be stepping down, we began discussing what positions the club will nominate for the Board and it appears that we will have a President, Secretary, and Treasurer as formal titles with Program Director being an informal title. As an AAW Chapter, all Board members need to also be AAW members. we discussed (at length) the benefits of being an AAW member, and highly encourage joining the AAW if you want to advance you knowledge and skills as a woodturner. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO NOMINATE YOURSELF FOR ANY OF THE ROLES.

During the business meeting, Steve B. also mentioned that he had gotten us an Exhibition at the Peters Valley Store Gallery. I am working on the details, but all members are encouraged to create work to be displayed as part of the exhibition. A seperate e-mail will be going out to the club and we will likely have Brienne from the Gallery at our March meeting to talk to the group.

Of course, we had a Show and Tell, with a twist this time. Prior to the meeting I had sent out a note to the membership that encouraged folks to present Steve Butler with something they made. Most everyone that brought items for the show and tell left empty handed. steve Butler did not, and I believe that he is still looking for boxes to pack everything out. I know he had an ornament, a mallet, a hollow vessel, a natural edge bowl, and probably a few more that I didn't even see in his possession at the end of the day.

By far our best attended meeting in a long time. We shouldn't have to lose a member to get this kind of turn out. I'd like to see everyone again in February, and please do remember to bring something to the Show and Tell! I'll be announcing the session topic later this month, but expect to make some shavings...

The Other Steve

Happy Accidents

2009-10-09T12:30:00.001-07:00

The Water Gap Woodturners met On October 7th in the Peters Valley woodshop. The prior month's demo had been provided by Steven Antonucci, who had turned a long stem goblet from the world's worst piece of punky maple. The meeting went immediately into redemption, as Steve showed another long stem goblet he turned the following day without snapping the head off of it!

During the Show and Tell, the meeting attendees began discussing "pricing work" and how some pieces might be affected by the market they were exhibited. While it was not a planned discussion, the topic did take on a life of it's own and carry throughout the meeting. People carried on for almost an hour trying to find the magic formula of inches x species x time spend and in the end, I think we agreed that there was no such formula that fit every situation.

Our presentation for the night was lead by Dan Moore, who had planned on turning a burl cap, but prior topics continued to come into play instead. Dan brought his crates filled with burls and such, and the topic became more focused around "what would you do with this piece" and "how much should someone charge for this type of object?" Dan admitted that he somehow felt like he had cheated us out of actually turning one, but in the end, I believe that it was our best meeting ever.

Next up on deck, we are looking for someone to volunteer for November's meeting before I have to nominate you...

Safe spinning.

Why Is Everyone Standing Around?

2009-07-04T19:01:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, July 1, that was the question? The Water Gap Woodturners welcomed back Peter Galbert, as our guest presenter for the evening. The meeting was attended by our usual quorum of 12 or so members, as many folks had scheduled vacations for the long holiday weekend. Steve Butler was sidelined with a bad case of Lyme's, reminding us all to check for ticks after you get back home. We wish for his speedy recovery.

The business portion of the meeting was quick with one major announcement. Wil invited members to a "cutting party" in Hamburg, NJ on Friday AM and several of us went there to load our trucks with free cherry, cedar and mulberry. There were lots of prizes that we hope to see at future show and tells.

The Show and Tell had some very interesting work from the membership, and unfortunately, some pretty poor photography to go with it. There were Wil's natural edge pieces, and some pyrography pieces by Tony. Ed brought a hollow vessel that had been made in two pieces, and defied anyone to find a glue line. There was also a Longworth chuck which was made by a member who's name I can't recall (note, will edit it in when someone tells me!) Keep bringing your work to the meetings- as you can see, it's great for getting ideas and giving them too!

Our main topic for the night was Peter Galbert, a well know chair maker from NY State. Peter began his presentation by talking a little bit about the history of the Windsor and what attracted him to making them. Much of the work is done without the use of electrons with very simple hand tools. Peter opened up his tool box to show us some tapered reamers and "tools of the trade".

The presentation went from being somewhat theoretical to practical pretty quickly. Peter's got about 200 chairs to his credit, so he's worked out a bunch of the kinks and how-to's to be able to figure out how to get things done.

One of the things that needs to be done on every chair is you need to turn 4 legs. I suppose that's a good thing when you are talking to a woodturning group, since it peaks everyone's interest to watch the shavings fly!

Peter spent some time discussing layouts and his methods for "getting it right". When you need 4 legs to looks basically the same, it's important to do the same things well over and over, so Peter always works with the same process doing the steps in the same order. It's very interesting to watch a spindle turner who has probably worked on 800 of the "same parts" to see how effiiciently they work, and before we knew it, Peter has made a pretty sweet leg from a billet of maple.

From there, we shifted gears to assembling a complex arm without measuring and without any complex math. It looked like smke and mirrors, and if you were present, you know that's at least half true :-)

Peter's method for assembly was largely based upon his experience in 200+ chairs and knowing how they fit together. His use of tapered tenons and stepped tenons is very simple to comprehend, and he made it look very easy to replicate. If you've ever tried building something, you know that the truth is it's somewhere between voodoo and a Rubik's Cube, with a touch of juggling thrown in to boot! The arm assembly demonstration was very interesting to watch how each operation dictated the layout for the next operation. In about 30 minutes, Peter had mocked up the entire arm assembly used in his rocking chair below.

In the end, Peter displayed a couple of the techniques he uses in his workshops on building a Windsor chair. The techniques, like so many other things in woodturning, were shared openly and freely with the membership. It is probably our greatest resource- knowledge, and the willingness to share it- that keeps woodturning moving forward at the

breakneck pace it is!

Until the next time, keep the pointy side of the gouge in the wood and the round part in your hands...

Better Late than Never

2009-06-18T17:44:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay in posting, but with the May meeting being canceled and June already 2 weeks back, I guess it's kind of important to get back in the habit.

The June meeting was attended at the Peters Valley woodshop by about a dozen WGW members (before monsoon season...but I digress). There was an announcement that PV scholarships are still available to anyone wanting to take advantage of the discount, and lots of great sessions are still available. Show and Tell was brief, and unfortunately, I forgot my camera. About half of the members in attendance brought something for the S&T, which means we just need to get the other half going now...

The topic for the day was a methods of work talk by Harvey Fein. Harvey is well known in the woodturning world for his router wizardry and machine work. Harevy brought some of his gadgets that he designed and showed us all how they interact with the lathe and create a variety of patterns in the platters he is known for.

Harvey's work is exceptionally detailed, and he shared his methods openly. I would dare say that he is one of a kind, and it would be difficult if not impossible to produce the work he does, even if he was to lend you his shop and tell you how! Harvey is a one-off original... and the Water Gap Woodturners appreciate his participation in our program.

Next meeting is July 1 if I read my calendar right. There will be a reminder for folks to BRING SOMETHING TO THE SHOW AND TELL! The group only gets stronger if we all particpate. Our guest lecturer will be Peter Galbert, who is a chairmaker and a spindle turner by default. Peter presented his new caliper last year, and I am told he will be offering to club members for purchase at the meeting again in July.

See you in July.

(Apologies for the substandard photography, but it was 1MP cell phone or nothing...)

Oh, Chef of the future-can it core a bowl?

2009-04-04T19:34:00.000-07:00

The Water Gap Woodturners met on April 1 at the Peters Valley woodshop. Business was quickly covered and there was a mention of working in the Man Tent at the NJ state fair, formerly know as the Sussex County Fair for those of us locals. We will be informed about the requirements for this event at a future meeting.

From the business meeting, we dove into the Show and Tell. Unfortunately, no one took any pictures of the items, so you'll have to recall the 2500 piece segmented chinese ball from memory. How it was every turned on 512 axises is beyond me, especially since it was done on a foot powered treadle lathe using tools made from old Altoid tins.

April Fools. (The Altoid tins were new.)

The main topic for the evening was coring bowls to preserve wood and make more than one bowl per blank. Members got to try out the McNaughton system an the Steussy BowlSaw. There was an ornery block of dry cherry that refused to be cored, and a few tense moments when the big Oneway wouldn't power up, but eventually, the chips started flying. Steven Antonucci demonstrated the McNaughton, and then encouraged others to try it for themselves. Maurice Cohen from the NJ Woodturners was one of the intrepid souls who found out that coring isn't very difficult with a little bit of knowledge.

Also demonstrated was the BowlSaw from Richard Steussy. Dick sent the Water Gap Woodturners both the small and large version for us to review at no cost. While not as versatile as the McNaughton, it sells about 1/8th the cost of the McNaughton and has almost no learning curve. You can contact Dick at http://www.bowlsaw.com/ for more info.

Overall, we had 3-4 members core 3-4 bowl blanks and see two systems in action. At the end of the meeting, the clean-up was contained to one small shovelful of shavings because of the use of the coring systems. If you are a bowl turner and want to up your production while decreasing the waste, coring is an excellent way to achieve both goals.

Our next meeting date is in early May, and the topic is TOP SECRET. It will be announced in the next blog entry after all of the details have been planned out, but I can assure you that if you only go to one meeting this year, make it the May meeting. It will be a once in a lifetime event...

April 1 Meeting- not a Joke!

2009-03-22T06:35:00.000-07:00

With the April meeting coming in a couple of weeks, I wanted to send out a reminder that the topic will be using bowl coring tools. We will have a Kelton coring unit and two of the Steussy Bowlsaws available for club members to try out. If any other members own coring tools and would like to bring them to the meeting, please contact me at santonucci@aol.com .

In addition, in the interest of making the meeting more "hands on", it would also be beneficial if members brought some wood to turn and core. With access to enough "stock", we should be able to have everyone cut a core to create a nested set of bowls to take home and finish turn at their leisure! Please remember that the Oneway 1224's can turn up to 12" and your home lathe will need to accomodate the cores at some later point (mini lathe owners)!

If nobody brings wood, it will be a short meeting. Coring a bowl takes about 2 minutes. Please remember to BYOW!

March 7th Dennis Fuge Empties his Pockets

2009-03-07T17:38:00.000-08:00

Dennis Fuge joined the Water Gap Woodturners today to deliver a two part all day demo in celebration of the WGW's 1st anniversary. The meeting was well attended, drawing nearly the entire membership in a tremendous show of growth from 12 months ago.

Club business was quickly contained to the first minutes of the meeting to allow Dennis to deliver the first part of the program: From Road Kill to Lathe. Dennis discussed the breadth of his life experience before settling into NJ, which he described as "hardwood heaven". We went through a very interesting exercise in identifying local hardwoods. Dennis asked how many of the 14 common NJ trees could we identify on the bench, and as a group we got 13 of them with little trouble. Pear was the "prickly" one (groan, yes that was a pun...)

The main program was about decorative techniques for platters, however, many of Dennis' demonstrated techniques could be applied to any woodturning. Dennis credited the influences in his work from his teacher, as he has now become the teacher. As Dennis pointed out, we take a lifetime to "fill our pockets" with the techniques that make our work our own. From the looks of Dennis' pockets, I'd say he should be wearing some pretty big pants.

Dennis started with the basics of roughing out and drying platters, however the main focus was on surface enhancement. He laid out the concept of a Saturn platter, and the various layers that would be added. Some of the techniques covered were poured pewter inserts, carving, burning, ostrich skin texture (Note for Dennis: one of my three!), eggshell, gesso, and a few more to that I have probably forgotten! For the next four hours, Dennis' passion for wood flowed as he disclosed his techniques freely and openly. The Water Gap Woodturners thanks Dennis for his time and energy and we would welcome him back any time.

The meeting adjourned with the announcement that the next meeting will be about bowl coring systems. Please check back before April 1 for the formal announcement of the meetings schedule.

Water Gap Woodturners hosts Dennis Fuge, Saturday March 7th

2009-03-02T13:22:00.000-08:00

Just a friendly reminder that the Water Gap Woodturners will be hosting an all day workshop with Dennis Fuge this weekend at the Peters Valley woodshop. Dennis will be covering decorative techniques for platters. The event starts at 10AM and finishes up around 4PM. Even if you can't stay for the whole day, don't pass up the opportunity to meet Dennis and learn some new techniques!

I know Dennis from NJ Woodturners and I asked him for a syllabus. Here's what he's proposing:

Here is what we are going to do this Saturday.

A) A 15 minute slide show on some of my work.
B) A 30 minute session on log identification called "From Road Kill to Lathe" This covers the identification of the most popular trees in the North East and some very creative ideas as to what to do with them.
C) A 4 to 5 hour demo on "Decorative Platters" – Design, turning, carving, ebonizing, painting, burning, metal inlays, egg shell, branding, ostrich skin, mud matting

About the Artist:

Dennis Fuge has been wood turning for about 38 years. He turned his first item is South Africa when he was 15 years old during the compulsory school wood working class. It received a failing grade, but for him that was not at all important as it started him on my love affair with wood and the beauty which can be created on the lathe. He continued with my wood turning while living in Hong Kong, but for the 10 year he lived there he did not meet a single wood turner. In fact the first 30 years in woodturning we very lonely as he only met 2 other turners during that period, both of those were during his travels to Zimbabwe.

It was only when he came to live in the USA in 1998 that his contact with other turners and artist absolutely exploded. He now lives in Mendham, New Jersey and is a well know demonstrator in the Northeast and is a active contributor to the New Jersey Woodturners Chapter.

And now a word from our sponsors...

2009-02-14T17:40:00.000-08:00

More often than not, a new group struggles to find its identity. With our one year anniversary rapidly approaching, the Water Gap Woodturners is final starting to find its own identity. I firmly believe that we are one of the most "hands-on" clubs in the AAW, with an unofficial charter of a hands-on skills session at least once per quarter. This is somewhat uniquely possible because of the generosity of our host, Peters Valley Craft Center.

Our origins are also somewhat unique. The club was charter by Steve Butler, who heads up the woodworking program at Peters Valley. The funny thing is that Steve is not a woodturner. I keep telling him that it's somewhat disturbing to have our president not know how to use a lathe, and we kid about having to get him some lessons.

But that's what makes this club so special. Folks from all walks of life can get together around a common topic, woodturning, and socialize in a GREAT facility. I think that our willingness to learn from each other coupled with our access to great equipment (9 Oneways- are you jealous? :-)) is a winning combination. And we are not afraid to make shavings...

Peters Valley recently instituted a woodturning program that has had Michael Mocho, Beth Ireland, Graeme Priddle, and Mark Sfirri just to name a few. Many of the instructors in the woodturning program make time to demonstrate to our group, and there's always something going on during the warmer months at Peters Valley woodshop.

If you are looking to take a great class in a quiet corner of NJ, you can find Peters Valley on the internet @ http://www.pvcrafts.org/. This year's line-up includes Harvey Fein, Craig Nutt, Beth Ireland, and Lee Alexander. Peters Valley also has photography, fine metals, blacksmithing, fibers, ceramics, and woodworking programs.

If you get a chance to take the ride up to Peters Valley this summer, stop by the woodshop and we'll show you around.

February 2009 Meeting minutes

2009-02-12T13:33:00.001-08:00

The WGW meeting was held on February 11, 2009 at the Peters Valley Craft Center Woodshop in Layton, NJ. Roughly a dozen members were in attendance and braved the mud on Thunder Mountain Road. Only one car got stuck, and was quickly extricated thanks to a downhill lie...

The meeting kicked off with a short discussion of club business. With our one year anniversary just around the corner, it seems like the synergies are starting to take place. People are getting more involved, and the club is growing. 2009 promises to be a great year.

A couple of events that are upcoming were discussed.

http://www.totallyturning.com/

http://www.gnhw.org/happening/2009_turnSymposium/about.html

http://cms.thewoodworkingshows.com/cms/Shows/SomersetNJFeb27Mar1/tabid/92/Default.aspx

The show and tell had several wall hanging by Dan Moore who discussed his method of work for mounting the slabs to the lathe. If we had brought a camera, we could have posted some pictures :-) I encourage the membership to nominate a Club photographer...

During the main discussion, the topic was "Jig, Tips, and Fixtures". Sevral member brought in some of their favorite hints for holding work on the lathe. We saw several versions of the Straka Chuck (aka Donut chuck), cone centers for reversing hollowforms, and how to turn your lathe into a variable speed buffing system. (you'll never throw away a bedsheet again!)

Towards the end of the meeting, a member showed his McNaughton bowl coring unit. It was discovered that several members had an interest in seeing the unit in action, and decide on the spot that it would make a great topic for the April meeting. If you own a McNaughton, please bring it to the April meeting and we'll core some bowls together and let some folks try it out before spending the big $$$.

Next meeting will be on Saturday, March 7th and is an all day session with Dennis Fuge on decorative platters.

Safe spinning.

The Official Water Gap Woodturners Blog Is Here!

2009-02-12T05:23:00.001-08:00

With the one year anniversary of Water Gap Woodturners coming next month, we finally have achieved critical mass-we are on the Web!

The Water Gap Woodturners meets at the Peters Valley woodshop in Layton, NJ on the first Wednesday of every month (weather permitting). As a new chapter of the AAW, our club is fortunate enough to have access to a great facility with 8 Oneway 1224 lathes, 1 Oneway 1640 and an 8' Vega! Once per quarter, Water Gap Woodturners has a hands on meeting- meaning we use the equipment and tooling to hone our skills!

This Blog will serve as an announcement board, tips and tricks, and your online newsletter for the WGW. It will be published periodically (when I get to it, when someone sends me something to publish (hint, hint), or shortly after our meetings) to inform members of what's going on, what's coming, and hopefully, as a means of directing new members to what we are all about.

If you need to forward a link to someone, we should be reachable at:

http://watergapwoodturners.blogspot.com/

Look forward to seeing everyone in March.

Steve
Secretary, WGW