January Meeting

When:
Monday, January 13, 7 pm

Program
Presentation by Dave Vannier on the Andi Wolfe process he used to make his item for the Christmas gift exchange
... and a Presentation by Bob Bley on how he made a spherical hollow form with the bark on top.

President's challenge:
Finish one of Barry Udens turnings

Show and tell
include holiday party gifts received for those who want to bring them – people can sign up in “pairs” with the giver and recipient

Mini-Lathe:
The club is cleaning house. The 6" mini-lathe will be available at this meeting.

Elections:
Monday will be election night for club officers and board of directiors

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

December 2019 - Holiday Party and Gift Exchange

Appetizers, dinner and gift exchange makes this our special holiday event each year. It also gives everyone a chance to socialize. Special this year was wood; wood left from Barry and Laura's stash. And to top it off, some of us got turnings started by Barry which we will finish to show in January.

See the gift exchange photos.

"As the Wood Turns" - seeing 2020 by Dave Vannier

I like to start each year with a plan. What do I want to learn this year? A friend is helping me learn how to say "Goodbye." to some clutter and unrealistic plans. So, I'm getting rid of a lot of wood, with a goal of keeping only what I will turn in my lifetime. I'm also debating how many new kinds of projects I can take on. I love learning new things, but, lately, the things I've experimented with add time to complete projects, and have added several new directions I want to explore. Dixie Biggs is coming to demo this year, and I'm certain to spend time learning to carve. I've already bought the equipment and bits for the class! A latent compulsive buyer, I know, and you can only do so many things. So, this year, I'm going to focus on embellishment (carving and painting) and integrating the laser engraver into my turnings. That's it, no mission creep.

As part of this process, I've been cleaning out the shop. I'm getting rid of wood, admitting that all those lidded boxes I was going to make are never going to happen, and trying to make plans to use the exotics I've been collecting, rather than leaving it as Will Wood.

One of the benefits of a clean(er) shop, it is nice to be able to do things without having to move things. My table saw, bandsaw, and jointer can now all be used in a work flow. I can also see better now! I had some bulbs that were burned out, and the clean-up has given me the chance to change them. I broke down and changed one 2' bank of fluorescent bulbs with an 18,000 lum LED. Wow, is it bright! I can hardly tell the other lights are on. So, I am now thinking I should replace another bank with LEDs over the lathe. Problem is, like those HD cameras, I'm going to see every flaw. Ignorance may truly be bliss, so I'm not sure this is a good idea, but I digress.

The morals of this tale are:
1) Only collect and keep the wood you can use (raw wood in, some raw wood out - let's see if I can manage that!).
2) Just because a surface is flat, that doesn't mean it is a storage location (empty is beautiful too).
3) A bigger shop will lead to storing more stuff (clean what you have and be happy; you will be, I promise).

What will your focus be this year? Haven't thought about it yet? Poke, Poke.... If you have, thought about it, let our club program manager know so we can try to plan programs which will show you new ideas or techniques that you can really use.

On to 2020, hoping that hindsight will prove that your plan and vision were perfect when we get to the end of the year! Dave www.daves-turned-art.com

Dave
www.daves-turned-art.com

Editor's note: That is not Dave's shop, but it could be mine (or yours) if we don't take his advice.

2019 WBW board members and committee chairs

President:  Barry & Laura Uden
Vice President: Bob Bley
Treasurer:  Duncan MacMillan
Secretary:  Roman Chernikov
Member at Large: Gordon Peterson
Meeting Program Coordinator: Bob Hedges
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 & Newsletter:  Tom Haines

click here for contact information on the above

Any comments or suggestions are greatly appreciated.