April Meeting

When:
Tuesday, April 10, 7 pm

Program
Finish bottom hollow form by Claude Godcharles

President's Challenge
A green wood thin wall bowl

Location:
Bridges Community Church
625 Magdalena Ave, Los Altos
Directions

Upcoming Events

Wednesday, April 18, 7 pm
Sawdust session
Bob Bley's shop
158 Hillside Ave
Menlo Park, CA 94025

Tuesday May 8
WBW Meeting
Coloring projects by Harvey Klein

May 10th, 11th & 12th, 2018
Utah Woodturning Symposium
Click here for more info

Saturday May 19 2018
Trent Bosch
Wood Sculptor/Turner
See his website here
See the demonstration here flyer

June 14-17 2018 Portland OR
AAW's 32nd Annual International Symposium
Click here for info

March 2018 meeting: Turning Green Wood Thin Wall Bowls by Dennis Lillis

Dennis can turn them thin. Really thin! It takes green wood, a sharp tool and a steady hand. Not to mention experience in having done it before.
Start at the rim, go down an inch or so. Make multiple cuts until that part is thin. Then continue toward the bottom in steps until finished. But don't go back because the part toward the rim will distort. Go back and there's trouble.

See the president's challenge and show and tell here

Demonstration - Rudy Lopez - Saturday March 10 2018

Rudy did three turnings. He turned a crotch with wings. The outside of the log became the inside of a bowl with natural edge. The three branches of the crotch remained turned thin He turned a tall goblet with long thin stem. Starting with a branch he finished with natural edge rim and base. He turned a large goblet also with natural edge rim.
See demonstration photos here

Words of encouragement from Dave Vannier

The other day, I turned a piece, looked at it and thought it was nice, but nothing special or unique. I decided it really needed some embellishment. So, my two hour piece turned into several days of work. My wife would say that was a good thing, slowing me down.

But as I stepped back, I realized I had taken a nice piece and hacked it up. It now looked like something I should throw away. The first pass at applying the stone didn’t help. But after sanding, it started looking somewhat like I had hoped. Saratoga is a music city, and this was a note piece. In the end, I think it is close to what I had hoped for. The purple stone doesn’t look very purple, but I still like the piece.

So, why the long story? All the symposiums and all the demonstrations and programs that I’ve attended gave me the courage and inspiration to try this. Our programs are your cheapest opportunity to learn. But our all day demos are a steal! If you don’t take advantage of them you are really missing out. The annual AAW symposium is coming up in Portland this year. Will cost more than San Jose as you have to add hotel and transportation, but it is as close as we are likely to see it get.

I would encourage everyone to at least start with the all day demos. Trent Bosch is coming up. I’ve seen him a couple of times. Good demonstrator. Even if you don’t think you want to do his kind of work, you will walk away inspired and with ideas you want to try.

As an engineer, everything was analytical, which led to me making pieces to prove I could. Letting the other side of the brain take over can be so rewarding. Don't miss the opportunity! See all of you in April!

Dave

AAW American Association of Woodturners has resources

The AAW Has information to share. You are going to like this.

First there is an article "Kiln for Drying Wood," by Larry Zubke, which originally appeared in the June 2013 issue of American Woodturner. In this article, Larry explains how he built a drying kiln to speed up the drying process and improve the odds of successfully preserving wood blanks using a small chest freezer. Click here for a readable PDF.

About the Website

You may notice that the website main page header no longer has changing images. In their place is a static header calling out our mission and our association with The American association of Woodturners. I miss the evolving images but the new header arguably better fits who we are. Let me know how you feel about the new look.

We have a very fine library ably managed by Bob Hedges. There is now a new web page which better displays the information on each of the large number of availble DVD videos. Check it out by clicking 'Club' and 'Library' or click here. Many of the DVD's have an image and description of the video contents. Also visit Bob at the next meeting.

2018 WBW board members and committee chairs.

President:  Bud Trapp
Vice President: Bob Bley
Treasurer:  Duncan MacMillan
Secretary:  Roman Chernikov
Member at Large: David Vannier
Meeting Program Coordinator team:
- Harvey Klein, Dave Plemons, Richard Winslow, Claude Godcharles
Visiting artist Coordinator:  Bob Bley
Anchor seal:  Dennis Lillis
CA Glue:  Tom Kenyon
Craft Supply:  Richard Winslow
Coffee & Cookies:  Phil Feiner
Librarian: Bob Hedges
Audio Visual: Curtis Vose
Website:  Tom Haines

click here for contact information on the above