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: Wood and Tool Auction October 28
The Club's semi-annual Wood and Tool auction will take place at the next meeting on October 28. Check your tool crib and wood pile to see if you have any tools or wood that you will not be using and donate them for the auction so other Club members can add them to their own collections. After the auction, Bob Nickell will be demonstrating how he creates a variety of Christmas ornaments and give us ideas so we can create ornaments for our families and friends.
Upcoming Events
Alabaster Several small pieces of alabaster are still available for $5 each along with larger ones weighing 15-20 pounds. These are priced according to weight and are in the $25 range. These will be available at the Club meeting until all have been sold.
Pearl Buck Project: At the July meeting, Club members picked up sections of the mulberry tree that was planted at Pearl Buck's home on her birthday. So far, they have turned eleven bowls and platters plus 5 bottle stoppers that will be sold at the gift shop at the Pearl Buck home in Hillsboro. Additional turnings will undoubtedly be created over the next few months.
November Meeting The November meeting will be a week early, November 18, since the fourth Saturday is at the beginning of Thanksgiving week.
September 23 Meeting
Twenty one members and guests attended the September meeting. A new procedure was instituted: a panel of three judges evaluates each piece and they determine the pieces for first, second, third place recognition. They then announce the winners and explain why each was selected for recognition. It is hoped that by explaining the reasons why each piece had been selected, members will get ideas about what they might do to enhance their own skills and techniques.
Show and Tell
Nine members submitted several of their recent turnings for Show and Tell and the judges selected these three turnings for recognition:.
Gerald Chandler's 14" pear bowl was awarded first place honors by the judges since the bowl exhibits excellent turning technique with uniform curves and a matte finish to show off the unique grain and color of the wood.
Steve Butler received second place honors for turning this thin-walled hollow form vessel for the uniformly thin walls and excellent finish. He used Easy Wood Tool hollowers #1,2, and 3 and used CA glue for finishing
The design for this vase is based on an article in the AAW journal and incorporates turning on 2 axes and was turned on a screw chuck, between centers, a 4-jaw chuck, and a vacuum chuck.
Anna Stables turned this elegant pair of pens..
Bill Sproul turned this 10" bowl from an Amish blank that may be beech.
Gerald Chandler also turned this stopper and 9" bowl from spalted pear.
Bill Sproul turned this 10" bowl from cherry and finished it with polyurethane varnish.
This 17" maple bowl is another turning by Bill Sproul.
Bruce Brenneman turned this very nice deep, 10" walnut bowl.
Tim Greene turned this set of three bowls from rosewood, cherry, and oak.
This 8" bowl from the Pearl Buck mulberry tree was created by Dan Greene.
Charlie Hall turned this insulated tumbler holder from cherry.
Cliff Baker: Turning Alabaster
Alabaster is a soft mineral that occurs in two forms - calcite which is calcium carbonate and gypsum which is calcium sulfate. This alabaster is gypsum which came from a quarry in Ft. Collins Colorado. Since it is gypsum, it is non-toxic but somewhat soluble in water so it should be finished with a moisture-resistant material. It is soft enough so it can be cut with regular tools. Although it can be easily cut with a bandsaw, a hacksaw would be better since the alabaster sometimes contains quartz crystals which can dull a typical bandsaw blade. Tool steel or carbide scrapers are used for turning and a dust collector or shop vacuum easily removes the dust. Turning speeds should be below 1000 RPM until you become comfortable working with the material. If cracks are encountered, stop immediately and stabilize them with thin CA glue.
Club members are challenged to turn an object from alabaster and display it at the November 18 meeting.
This block weighs about 6 pounds and has an interesting texture on the top surface.
A circle was drawn on the block and waste material removed with a bandsaw.
A round, tapered waste block waste block has been epoxied to the base of the blank. A thicker block could be screwed to a faceplate.
It took about 30 minutes using a 3/8" round scraper to form the cylinder on the upper section of the blank.
After the blank was turned to a rough cylinder, layout lines for the vase were drawn.
The profile of the upper section of the vase has been formed but not the lower portion so the base will be as strong as possible during the hollowing process.
A pilot hole has been drilled using a chuck in the tailstock
Hollowing started with a 3/8" scraper to minimize chatter and vibration. An Eliminator tool was used to complete the hollowing.
The vase has been hollowed and sanded to 220 grit. The lip was sanded to 400 grit and polished with green, red, gray, and white 3M abrasive pads from Woodcraft
The lower portion of the profile has been turned, sanded, polished, and finished with a thin coat of polyurethane varnish and carnauba wax.
The vase is done! It was parted from the waste block and the base was sanded, polished, and finished.
Additional Tips and Comments
The Eliminator tool has a concave carbide disk set at a shearing angle. and it removed the waste material quickly and smoothly. I then used a narrow parting tool to separate the vase from the waste block. The vase fit inside one of my vacuum chucks so it was easy to trim and sand the base.
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