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.
Are You Safe?
All turners are concerned about safety in the shop, but how safe are you? Take this assessment and it will probably include several topics you may not have considered. Additional articles about woodturner safety are included in the new Safety page.
***June 27 Meeting Canceled***
The May 16 meeting has been canceled because of the corona virus restrictions. In place of his live demonstration, Jerald Carter has prepared a video showing how he designs, lays out, and assembles a segmented bowl. Here's a link to the demonstration.
Next Meeting: July 25
Ron Manning will demonstrate how he designs and creates an inside-out turning. Club challenge: Create an inside-out turning and display it at the September 26 meeting.
Natural Edge Bowl Challenge
Four Club members submitted a total of five bowls for consideration. They were all very attractive and well done and I judged them according to these criteria: Design, uniform rim thickness, smooth transitions between curves, absence of tearout and tool marks, sanding with no visible scratches or swirls, and uniform finish appearance regardless of whether the finish were a gloss polyurethane or satin oil finish. Bill Sproul was awarded the top recognition followed by Bruce Brenneman and an unidentified turner, perhaps Dan Greene.
Bill Sproul: 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" cherry finished with polyurethane. Attractive design, excellent workmanship, and uniform finish.
Bruce Brenneman: 9" x 5" peach bowl, polyurethane finish. Very attractive grain and color, very nice finish.
Unsigned: 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" cherry burl, polyurethane finish. Attractive design, good display of bark on the rim.
Gary DeGraff: 8" x 4" peach bowl with an oil finish. Effective inclusion of "negative space" in the design.
Bruce Brenneman: 7" x 3 1/2" figured maple, polyurethane finish.
The shallow center and tall ends lead result in a very attractive design.
June Show and Tell
Many Club members are spending time in their shops to create new turnings and are sharing images by email. Images shared through May 9 have been compiled and are displayed here. Show and Tell will be updated as new images are shared.
Gary DeGraff: 12" sugar maple showing the grain coloring that old maple trees often develop.
Mike Cope: 7 1/2" calabash style walnut bowl.
Gary DeGraff: 8 3/4" cherry. The wide rim helps stabilize some internal checks.
Gary DeGraff: 8" maple bowl with outstanding grain patterns and colors.
Gary DeGraff: 10" spalted maple bowl. The wood was very punky and a lot was lost while getting to a smooth surface.
Dana Hazlewood: 3 1/2" natural edge walnut bowl finished with wipe-on polyurethane..
Gary DeGraff: 9" locust bowl finished with pure tung oil diluted with mineral spirits.
George Boxwell: 5" English walnut bowl finished with Mike Mahoney's walnut oil.
George Boxwell: 6" black walnut bowl finished with Mike Mahoney's walnut oil and Renaissance wax.
George Boxwell: 7" red gum bowl finished with Mike Mahoney's walnut oil.
Bruce Brenneman: 15" figured yellow birch finished with.
Rocky Partington joined the Club this week and turned this very nice walnut bowl on Tuesday.
Video Demonstrations
The March meeting was to include a demonstration by Cliff Baker on turning a natural edge bowl from green wood but since the meeting was canceled, he has made a 30 minute video of the process. He discusses many aspects of the project starting with a fresh log and proceeding to a finished bowl. Here's a link to the demonstration.
The May 16 meeting was canceled and in place of his live demonstration Jerald Carter has prepared a video showing how he designs, lays out, and assembles a segmented bowl. Here's a link to his demonstration.
If any Club members would like to produce a woodturning video, Jerry has offered to organize a video session with his videographer at the Harmony Wood arts in Beckley. Send him an email to start the process.
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