West Bay Woodturners Newsletter is a monthly update on the club activities. This free resource is available to beginner and professional woodturners.
Next Meeting
Wednesday January 15,
7 pm at Bridges Church,
625 Magdalena Ave,
Los Altos 94024
Program
January: Bob Bley will give a 30-minute presentation on natural edge bowl turning at this upcoming meeting. Come prepared with questions for Bob!
President’s challenge:
January: Gift I made for the Holidays. If you received a gift at our Holiday party please remember to bring it for the demo.
Upcoming Meetings and Demos
- February 2025: Skew Demo by Jon Bishop
- March 2025: TBD
President’s Message
I am looking forward to serving as president this year. Not something I usually do, but Claude was very persuasive so I decided to do my duty for the club which has given me so much.
This will be a new challenge for me, but actually, it seems like it will be fun! Please bear with me if I sometimes misstep – as I say I’ve never been president before!
I would like to extend my appreciation to our previous president, Claude Godcharles, for the excellent job he did the past three years. I hope I can do as well.
In addition, many thanks to Jim Koren for assuming the role of treasurer for our club. Having done this for the last six years I am thankful for Jim taking this off my plate.
Also thanks to our secretary Laura Rhodes for the excellent job she has done this past year. Her detailed descriptions of our club meetings have made a very nice addition to our newsletter. I am looking forward to her continued contributions.
Our vice president, Tom Gaston, will be my backup for those times I am not able to be present at our club meetings.
Roman Chernikov is our webmaster and has done an amazing job organizing our website and newsletter. Everyone should take a look at westbaywoodturners.com to see the nice job he has done.
I joined WBW in 2018 and have enjoyed the friendship and fellowship of our club members for the past six years. It is hard to overestimate the value of having experienced woodturners advising and assisting in learning this wonderful craft. I am always surprised and delighted by the work of my fellow club members.
It is interesting to see the range of experience we have in our club. While we have a number of very experienced and skilled members, I find that the newer woodturners, those with less than one or two years experience, are often the most interesting contributors to our club. I think this may be due to the intense energy and interest they bring. It is the new turners who have the most fun!
Looking ahead to this year’s meetings I would like to encourage everyone to consider giving demos on a topic or skill they find interesting. It is not required that you be an expert at what you demonstrate – you can think of it as more of a discussion than a definitive explanation. Please let me know if you would like to do this.
For instance, I am learning how to use the skew and would be happy to show what I have learned recently, although I am nowhere near proficient. Maybe someone else would like to also show what they know about using the skew. Perhaps I will combine that with how to make a whistle with the skew. So perhaps this will the February demo.
Another nice way to support the club is to bring prizes for the president challenge and show and tell. Often a piece of wood you are not planning to turn, or a shop tool you never plan to use, make nice prizes.
Hope everyone had a good Holiday Season.
Jon Bishop
Last Meeting Review
Wednesday December 18, 2024
Pictures by Angela Gunn and Roman Chernikov
Announcements
- 2025 dues are due, $35/year. Checks/payments to WBW Treasurer, Jim Koren.
- 5 people paid their dues at the holiday party. We now have dues from 45 people.
- Jim Koren is coordinating a club bandsaw purchase with 16 members participating for a total of about 60 blades, total cost around $1600. The bulk purchase results in a significant reduction of shipping costs.
December Holiday Potluck Party
Our annual holiday party was well received by all. The club provided the turkey, stuffing, and gravy and an amazing variety of side dishes and desserts were provided by club members.
Thank you to everyone who brought a dish! Everything was absolutely delicious, and it was wonderful to share food and laughter with our fellow woodturners.
A special thank you to Edgar Whipple, our kitchen chief for the day, for expertly carving the turkey and other dishes, as well as for all his efforts in organizing the potluck.
Presidents Challenge: Turn an ornament!
After the usual confusion about the logistics of our holiday gift exchange, many lovely gifts were bestowed by their creators to fellow club members.
Tom Mandle gave Kelly Smith a bowl.
Kelly Smith gave Tom Gaston an apricot bird’s mouth vase.
Tom Gaston presented Tom Mandle with a handled bowl made of walnut.
At this point there was some mix-up with the sequence of gift exchange tickets being picked from the raffle bowl. But we recovered.
Claude Godcharles gave a dish of quilted mahogany to Jon Bishop.
Jon Bishop presented a lignum vitae whistle to Chip Krauskopf.
Angela Gunn received a camphor bowl with brass inlay from Chip Krauskopf.
Angela Gunn gave a carpenter’s pencil and a bearded gnome with a hackberry hat to Gordon Peterson.
Gordon Peterson presented a red heart vase to Jim Koren.
Jim Koren gave a madrone bowl with gold paint to Jon Sauer.
Jon Sauer presented a spinning top to Dan Boehmke. The top featured a betel nut and a blackwood holder, all embellished on a rose engine lathe.
Bob Bley received a black acacia bowl from Dan Boehmke. The bowl was finished with General Finishes bowl finish.
Bob Bley gave a live edge juniper vase to Tom Kenyon.
Tom Kenyon made a segmented vase using birds eye maple, bloodwood, and sycamore. He gave it to Harvey Klein.
Harvey Klein gave Claude Godcharles a bell with handle.
Holiday Ornament Raffle
Several club members made ornaments for the raffle, including Laura Rhodes, Harvey Klein, and Tina. Congratulations to the raffle winners, including: Angela Gunn, Jim Koren, and Claude Godcharles. The ornament lottery brought in $115 for the club.
Kelly Smith brought in a large assortment of small bowls that will be given to his wife’s cousin for displaying items at a food fair.
Lost & Found
Remember the tripod with a phone-holding clamp we used to take the group picture? It was forgotten at the facility. If you find it, please let Roman know. Thanks!
“As the Wood Turns” by David Vannier
I’m looking forward to another year of learning and friendship. I never know the direction that my interest will turn, but I know I will be challenging myself to try something new. I’ve not done any segmented work for a number of years, but have had a few ideas rattling around. Maybe I’ll get back to trying them. I’ve got a number of basket illusion pieces waiting to finish. Hollowing has always been a very tiring experience. I just wasn’t comfortable, so really tense through the process. So, again a number of hollow forms that i roughed out, are ready to go. You’ve seen my piercing exploration, and I have about 20 pieces ready to pierce. I turned a couple dozen functional bowls at the end of the year, as I’m trying to work down the inventory a little. But I’ve been distracted. Seems like it is easy to do! After taking the 3 day class this year, new frontiers, embellishments and painting, have completely controlled my time. After you start this, you have to wonder how much i really like to turn. I do, but ,,,,,,
So what have i been up to you ask. I decided to try to create a dragon egg. Well it came out ok. The good news is my daughter knew what it was with no explanation.
I then made a second, trying to fix the things i didn’t like about the first one. Didn’t paint it yet, but generically i agreed with my daughter, a chicken size egg is too small for a dragon. Now the chicken size egg took 5 minutes to turn, 8 to 12 hrs burning, 4 hours carving, and a couple hrs painting. Bigger wasn’t going to change the ratio’s much, but i thought bigger needed to be hollow. I know a couple club members have done the egg box. I happened to be talking with Dennis, and proposed a collaboration. He turns the box, and i would texture and paint. He proposed we do two, so we could each end up with one. What a great idea. Off we go! I know it took more than 5 minutes to make a hollow egg, but not sure exactly how long. I then spent 10 hrs burning/carving/painting. I’m getting faster as i practice more.
This is before painting.
But after painting was done, it needed a nest, imho. So, i spent about 30 minutes, turning a “bowl/plate”, and then 8 hrs burning a twig pattern. I’ve decided not to paint it.
Now, on to the next one, and yes there are things i will try to do different.
Woodturners Newsletter Editing Notes
WBW members, if you have a personal website and would like it included in the President’s Challenge and Show & Tell sections of our Woodturning Newsletter, please let the newsletter editors know. Email us at info@westbaywoodturners.com.
WBW board members and committee chairs
President: Jon Bishop
Vice President: Tom Gaston
Treasurer: Jim Koren
Secretary: Laura Rhodes
Member at Large: Dean Caudle
Meeting Program Coordinator: Claude G acting
Visiting artist Coordinator: Dean Caudle acting
Anchor seal: Dennis Lillis
Craft Supply: Tina
Librarian: Kelly Smith
Audio Visual: Curtis Vose, Edgar Whipple
Website: Roman Chernikov
Woodturners Newsletter: Angela, Claude, David, Laura, and Roman
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