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.
Upcoming Events
Alabaster Demonstration The alabaster turning demonstration will be presented at the September 23 meeting. Members will be able to purchase 4-5 lb blocks for turning at the subsidized price of $5. The Club Challenge will be to turn an object from alabaster and display it at the November meeting. Fifteen larger pieces (15 lb) have been ordered and will be sold at cost.
Fairs and Shows August 25, 26, 27 - Appalachian Arts and Crafts fair at the Beckley Convention Center; September 24 - Cranberry Shindig at the Cranberry Mountain Visitor Center; October 13 - Edgewood Craft Fair at the WV State Fairgrounds.
Summer BBQ August 19
The annual summer barbecue will be held at Bill Sproul's house on Saturday, August 19. The Club will provide the main course and everyone is invited to bring a side dish or a dessert. It takes about 20 minutes to get to Bill's house from I-64 exit 169. Take US 219 north for 2.1 miles (from the I-64 bridge). Turn right on Benedict Lane and go 2.9 miles to the five corners at Chester's Garage. Cross the junction and take Keister Road which is marked "Dead End". After 0.4 miles, keep left on Keister Road (Brink Road bears right)and go down the hill 1.7 miles and turn right on River Lane by the Greenbrier River Trail parking spot. Bill's house is at the end of the road, beyond the gate and private property signs.
July 22 Meeting
Twenty five Club members and one guest attended the meeting on July 22. Everyone enjoyed coffee, donuts, and fellowship before the meeting and several won the drawings for the door prize and raffle. Seven members displayed some of their recent creations. Gray Craig offered a very interesting demonstration on casting polyester pen blanks. A variety of objects can be embedded, but he showed how he embeds special images such as family photos.
Show and Tell
Jerry Carter turned this chip and dip bowl from spalted maple.
Jerry also turned this 12" platter from elm and inlaid the rim with a band of turquoise.
Fidget spinners are very popular now and Jerry turned this pair and fitted them with ceramic bearings.
Gerald Chandler turned this 5" high ribbed vase from Russian Olive.
Bruce Brenneman turned this shallow bowl from a walnut log that was kept outdoors for over a year.
Gray Craig made a segmented blank for the pen on the left.
Paula Weikle turned this 5" dish from curly maple.
Charlie Myers designed this tool to accurately locate a faceplate on a workpiece.
Gray Craig: Creating a Photopen
Many different objects can be embedded in plastic to form blanks that are turned to create visually interesting turnings. Gray introduced us to a very special application - embedding a photo with a special meaning such as a family group, child, parent, event in plastic to form a pen blank, and turning it to create a pen with personal significance.
Gray Craig polishing a pen.
Basic supplies: resin, pen tubes, bushings, molds, blanks, finished pen.
Gray uses scrapers although skew chisels work well and eliminate some sanding.
Silicone rubber molds are available for all common tube diameters.
After the barrel has been turned, Gray dry sands to 600 grit, then wet sands to 12,000.
Gray prefers to turn between centers using a collet chuck ti grip the bushing.
Gray's tips and techniques for creating a photo pen are provided in this summary of his demonstration. Click here for his tips.
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