Serving Southeastern West Virginia
The West Virginia Woodturners Association provides woodturners in southeastern West Virginia and western Virginia with an opportunity to meet other turners, enhance their skills, and share their skills and interests in woodturning. Send an email to info@wvwoodturners.com to request additional information about the club and its activities.
Next Meeting: April 22
The next meeting will not be on April 22 at The Fort at Montwell Park from 9:30 AM until noon. Come by at 9:00 and enjoy coffee and donuts while you exchange ideas with other Club members. This will be the Club's semi-annual Wood and Tool Auction so check out your woodyard and tool crib and figure out what you need to add or what can be passed on to another Club member. After the auction, Cliff Baker and other Club members will show different ways a log section can be cut to yield turnings with different profiles and emphasize possible grain patterns and features. 75% of a turning's design is often determined by the first chainsaw cut.
March 25 Meeting
Twenty three Club members and two guests attended the meeting on March 25, and two new member joined that day. Everyone enjoyed coffee, donuts, and fellowship before the meeting and several won the drawings for the doorprize and raffle. A dozen members displayed some of their recent creations and are shown below. Charlie Myers taught us how to decorate our turnings with captive rings, make specialized tools from discarded planer blades, screwdrivers, and drill rod. He also gave pointers on how to turn handles with ferrules made from copper tubing for tools. Highlights of his demonstrations are shown in the Demonstration section of this page.
Show and Tell
Jerald Carter turned this small vase from olivewood with a purpleheart and maple rim.
This 8" walnut bowl is the first bowl Gary DeGraff has turned.
Charlie Myers turned this 9" white oak bowl.
Tim Greene has been busy turning a series of pens and crochet hooks.
Bruce Brenneman turned these two box elder bowls . . .
and Jeanne painted the flowers.
Gordon Gregory created these stoppers, pens, and baby rattles.
Paula Weikle turned these very attractive pens. Several incorporate clay canes for decoration.
She cut blanks apart and inlayed colored veneers to create this very unusual pattern.
Paula also turned another spring tulip.
Jerald Chandler turned this garden dibble from osage orange.
Ryan Cox turned this small vase.
Charlie Myers Demonstrations
Charlie Myers demonstrated how he turns captive rings, turns custom handles for lathe tools, and described how he makes specialized lathe tools from scrap tool steel.
Turning Captive Rings
Dogwood is one of Charlie's favorite wood to turn. The blank is mounted on a 4-jaw chuck and the tailstock provides extra stability and safety.
He uses a roughing gouge to prepare the blank.
Charlie uses a parting tool to cut away material on either side of the ring to provide clearance needed to form the ring.
The upper portion of the ring has been formed and is ready for sanding.
The ring has been undercut and released with a shop-made tool.
Charlie made this tool for for releasing captive rings from a piece of tool steel drill rod.
Once the ring has been released, he uses a small spindle gouge to form the "stem".
He uses the parting tool again to create clearance for the second ring.
The second ring is shaped with a detail gouge
and released. The section of the stem under the second ring is ready for shaping.
Charlie tapes and wraps a strip of sandpaper around the stem,
runs the lathe at a moderate speed, and sands the inner portion of the ring.
The captive rings are complete. If he were turning a goblet, the bowl is shaped first, then the stem with captive rings is turned.
Charlie made another captive-ring tool from a discarded 1/8" planer blade.
Turning A Tool Handle
A custom turned tool handle makes it easier to identify tools and provide a comfortable grip. It can be turned from any wood that is available.
A pilot hole allows accurately centering of the blank. The handle diameter is reduced to so a ferrule can be pressed on the handle.
Charlie often uses copper tubing or coupling to make the reinforcing ferrule for the handle.
A hole is drilled to mount a round tool or a slot cut in the handle to receive a tool made from flat stock. Epoxy or CA glue should be used when mounting steel.
General Club Information
For further information about any WVWA activity, call Bill Sproul at (304) 497-2319.
Supporting Companies
We would like to thank these companies for the support they have provided to the Club during the past year. Check out their websites when you are ready to purchase products that they stock.
Craft Supplies USA is a one-stop shopping site for everything a wood turner might need or want - lathes, tools, accessories, project supplies, materials, and more.
Woodcraft offers a 10% discount at the Roanoke store to WVWA members when they show a current membership card.
TurnTex supplies acrylic casting resin, solutions for stabilizing and hardening punky and spalted wood, and associated equipment.
by WVWA, a chapter of the American Association of Woodturners