May Meeting

When:
Tuesday May 14 7 pm

Program
Embellishments
Overview of Techniques
by Jim Rodgers

President's challenge:
Pens or Treen
(what is treen?? click here to see)

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

Upcoming Events

Tuesday June 11
Program:
Embellishments - doing it - Jim Rodgers

July 11-14
AAW International Symposium
Location: Raleigh, North Carolina
Click here for information

September 8
Demonstration: Graeme Priddle and Melissa Engler

October 19
Demonstration: David Elsworth

April Meeting: Turning a pen by Gordon Patnude

Gordon made a very comprehensive presentation of how to create a pen with a turned barrel. He started by listing the toools needed: saw, lathe, mandrels and bushings. He described the turning tools needed. Next came the pen blanks...wood or other material. Then the machining, tubes, more machining and turning. Sanding and finishing is the next step. Finally, the pen parts and blanks are assembled.
See his presentation here - downloadable PDF
See meeting photos here

A Message from Laura Uden

The focus for this month's program is embellishment, and we're excited to see what kinds of methods will be included in the demonstration. There is a world of options for ways to embellish work, so we may all learn something.

As a reminder, don't forget to bring your Beads of Courage bowls if you've finished them, and thanks to all who completed them or are in progress on them.

The President's Challenge this month is treen: as we discussed at last month's meeting, treen is any small item turned by hand that performs some useful function. Examples include bottle stoppers, rolling pins, candlesticks, egg cups, spoons, pepper mills, corkscrews, darning mushrooms, needle cases, honey dippers, etc.

Dave Vannier has provided some useful safety tips below. This is something we all need to be aware of and not let our guard down, as even the pros have problems from time to time.

Laura

Important words about safety from Dave Vannier

Safety is something we should all take seriously. Everything in life has some risks, and it is in our best interests to try minimize them. I've succeeded in hurting myself through hubris, thinking I could pull it off, trying to do something when I didn't have the right tool, or just plain ignorance. My most serious injury was from ignorance.

Recently I saw a reminder of how a role model can demonstrate bad safety habits that end up resulting in someone else being injured. I don't like to disparage people or specific product, so I'll try to stay general. A professional turner has demonstrated a method of mounting wood on a screw chuck using the lathe at speed to thread the wood. IMHO, this is very dangerous. But he told me he has always done this and never been hurt. One of our local club members broke his hand using this technique. Many of us move the tool rest while the wood is spinning. We get lazy. We think it is safe. Just remember, if you close your eyes and walk across the street outside your home, most of the time you would make it without injury. But I think most of us would agree it is a pretty dangerous thing to do.

I'm a firm believer in the concept that it is impossible to prove the absence of bugs. We are only able to identify bugs we find. As turners this means we can't give you a set of rules that if followed guarantee your safety. We can only tell you that if you do certain things your chances of getting hurt are higher. So, when you see someone doing something that just doesn't feel right, don't assume they know what they are doing. Think. Ask questions. Above all remember your safety is your responsibility. If you are uncertain, stop, think about it, don't rush it. Recovering from an injury will take longer than the few minutes of preventive action to clear your head and think about what could go wrong.

Dave
www.daves-turned-art.com

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.