February Meetings

Three meetings are planned for February, all virtual via Zoom.
Co-hosted by West Bay Woodturners & Silicon Valley Woodturners.

Wednesday February 3, 7pm
Cindy Drozda
Cindy's website

Monday February 8, 7 pm
Show & Tell and
President's Challenge: treen

Wednesday February 17, 7 pm
Sawdust session

Wednesday March 10, 7pm
Segmenters meeting
Show & Tell - inspiration piece

Check your email for Zoom log-on instructions.

All January meetings were virtual via Zoom
hosted by Bob Bley, Greg Peck and Mike Lanahan

Wednesday January 6 - Show & Tell

Photos of the show.

Wednesday, January 11
Program: Don Pettit from Wine Country Woodturners
Quickly dry green wood with various materials

Don Pettit from Wine Country Woodturners presented results of his research on how to dry green wood. Drying agents include salt, silica gel and cat litter among others. Interesting and informative. Thank you, Don.
See Don's presentation

Wednesday January 20 - Sawdust Session

Photos of the sawdust session.

President's Letter - Tom Gaston

Greetings. All is well and you are able to get into the shop to turn. With the rainy weather, turning is a good activity. Also the storms are bring down a lot of trees- more wood to turn!

With this new year, make it a point to try a new technique. With the excellent zoom presentations that we had last year, there are lots of new material to try. It is fun and challenging to add new skills to your turning repertoire.

Another good activity is to make a plan for a shop improvement, and then follow through. I try to make one or two changes in the shop every year. This year, a shelf system for drill bits next to the drill press is in the works. Also, a rack of shallow drawers for files and carving tools is next as a club member gave me a lot of drawer glides. I'll try to have a picture of these in a saw dust session when I'm finished.

Tip of the month: When you first get into the shop, pick up 5 loose items and put them where they belong. It can be any item such as a tool, piece of sand paper, can of finish, scrap of wood, or used coffee cup. The item may belong in a drawer, shelf, or garbage can. By doing this every time you are in the shop, slowly it becomes more organized and less cluttered and gives you a mental warmup to working in the shop.

Happy turning and be safe.
Tom

"As the Wood Turns" Motivation - by Dave Vannier

Another month, another zoom. Things just are zooming along. I had a little shoulder surgery this last month, so haven’t been able to turn. It went very well and I should be back out much sooner than I had feared. In the mean time, I’ve spent time watching YouTube, attending ird’s and zoom meetings. All in all, getting time to be inspired! Always look on the bright side of life. Problem is I now and full of things I want to try. I’m going to have to get them documented some how, or I’ll forget. Texturing, forms, painting, burning, epoxy, .... WOW, so much to explore! I love learning, it is the thing that keeps me going. Not all experiments are successful. Some are flaming conceptual disasters. Others I failed to execute. Sadly some of the later have shown me my tremors will prevent me from ever being able to do them. Others are just learning experiences.

So, while Covid has been a royal pain, we all need to keep doing what we can to help limit the spread and the damage it is doing to the physical, mental, and economic health of so many. Keep yourself healthy. Challenge yourself to learn new things. Reach out to others who might not be struggling. We will get to the other side and regain some form of normal life.

Dave
www.daves-turned-art.com

Wood Education - Burl

A burl (American English) or bur or burr (UK English) is a tree growth in which the grain has grown in a deformed manner. It is commonly found in the form of a rounded outgrowth on a tree trunk, branch or root that is filled with small knots from dormant buds.

A burl is the result of hyperplasia, a greatly abnormal proliferation of xylem production by the vascular cambium. That abnormal growth is mediated by changes in plant growth hormones. The proliferation is highly localized and not only are the cambial cells dividing more rapidly and for a longer period of time in the growing season, the orientation of the divisions is irregular. That is what helps to produce the visually interesting and dense figure in the wood and to enhance the value for crafts. Both the hyperplasia and the disordered orientation are attributed to a number of factors (infection by bacteria, virus, fungi, maybe some insect infestation), but there is not yet a good way to induce burl formation.

2021 WBW board members and committee chairs

President: Tom Gaston
Vice President: Bob Bley
Treasurer:  Jon Bishop
Secretary:  Roman Chernikov
Member at Large: Claude Godcharles
Meeting Program Coordinator: TBD
Visiting artist Coordinator:  Bob Bley
Anchor seal:  Dennis Lillis
CA Glue:  Tom Kenyon
Craft Supply:  William Akey
Coffee & Cookies:  Phil Feiner
Librarian: Kelly Smith
Audio Visual: Curtis Vose
Website & Newsletter:  Tom Haines

click here for contact information on the above

Any comments or suggestions are greatly appreciated.