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.
Turning Center at Lee Street Studios
Public Classes
Classes are scheduled each month at the Turning Center at Lee Street. Each course is open to the public and the cost is $25 for members and $50 for non-members. Call Bob Nickell at 304.646.8147 to register.
Turning Center
All members can work in the Turning Center any time, any day of the week and use any of the Club lathes, tools, or specialized equipment such as the deep hollowing system and the coring system. Members will pay $2.00 per hour to use the Center. They will sign in and sign out, leave the area neat and clean, take their trash and shavings with them, and pay for their time at the next Club meeting.
The Turning Center will be open to the general public on First Fridays and Second Saturdays when the Lee Street Studio complex is open. A small gallery will be set up where Club members will be able to display and sell their turnings with the Club retaining a 10% commission.
Next Meeting: October 27
The annual summer barbecue will be at Montwell Commons on Saturday, October 27. This will be the Club's annual Wood and Tool auction. If you have wood or tools you no longer need, bring them to the auction. If you need more tools or wood, come to the Auction and build up your collection.
John Gregor will demonstrate a pyrography system that he assembled and Cliff Baker will show how he corrected the mistake he made while demonstrating how to turn a faceted vase.
September 29 Meeting Highlights
Twenty members and two guests attended the October meeting and participated in the door prize and raffle drawings. Members displayed fifteen recent turnings for Show and Tell pieces. After a discussion of upcoming shows and fairs, Cliff Baker began to demonstrate how to turn a faceted vase. The demonstration ended prematurely by showing that experienced turners create 'designer firewood' when they make mistakes designing and laying out a project.
Lidded Box Challenge
After Harry Newman showed how to turn a lidded box at the July meeting, he challenged everyone to design and turn a lidded box and display it at the September meeting. The challenge was accepted by two members and these entries were judged First and Second:
Mike Cope received top honors for creating this winged "pagoda box" from a block of cherry. The turning and finish are flawless and the design incorporates very pleasing elements.
Charlie Hall's maple box was awarded second place. The piece combines excellent workmanship with very effective decorative banding
Show and Tell
The Show and Tell judges selected three turnings for recognition:.
This 10" red cedar bowl was ranked #1 because it utilizes the contrast between the heart and sap wood, the finish is excellent and did not discolor the wood, and the curves were smooth.
Bruce Brenneman received second place recognition for designing this 10" bowl that emphasizes the curly maple grain pattern. The workmanship and finish are also excellent.
Dan Greene's red cedar bowl is unusual because it is turned from solid heartwood. The curves are very smooth and the finish is flawless.
Additional Show and Tell Entries
Gerald Chandler turned this 14" cherry platter.
Mike Cope began to turn a walnut lidded box and decided to add a center section.
Mike also turned two cherry discs to form a lens shaped lidded box.
This 7" high vase was turned from chestnut by Gerald Chandler. He used a taut wire to burn the decorative rings.
Gerald also created this cherry rolling pin.
After watching Mike Cope's demonstration, Gary DeGraff turned this thin-walled 12" cherry bowl.
Gary also turned a pair of 8" bowls, this one from black gum . . .
and this one from spalted maple..
Ryan Cox turned these 8 bottle stoppers using a variety of woods and profiles.
He also turned this small, natural edge bowl.
Stephen Gillian turned these three pens.
Anne Turner created this attractive 8" bowl from what appears to be sunburst locust..
New Demonstrations Page
The Demonstrations page has been completely redesigned so individual demonstration topics can be easily found in the categories of Tools, Basic Techniques, and Projects.
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