Woodturners Newsletter, September 2025

West Bay Woodturners Newsletter is a monthly update on the club activities. This free resource is available to beginner and professional woodturners.

Next Meeting

Program

President’s challenge:

Upcoming Meetings and Demos

Mark will present his sculptures, vessels, texturing techniques, and stepped rims, drawing on his roots in Cincinnati and a formative class at Arrowmont in 1996. Reserve your spot via the RSVP form and learn more about Mark’s woodturning at Mark Gardner’s website.

President’s Message

The main event in August was the club picnic, which we hold with SVW every year. A good time was had by all! This year it was WBWs turn to host, so next year SVW will do this. My thanks to all club members who contributed to make this a great success. The competition for best piece was won by the maker of a Cocobolo “Bowl from a Board” – very nice! Maybe some day we should present on this at one of our meetings. Any volunteers?

Also, we will be looking for a new Secretary soon. Laura Rhodes will continue to record our club meetings for the newsletter. So it will largely consist of taking minutes at our board meetings which occur four times yearly. Let me know if you are interested.

Jon Bishop
WBW President

Last Meeting Review

Wednesday, August 20, 2025

Woodturners newsletter notes by Laura Rhodes, pictures by Roman Chernikov

SVW & WBW annual picnic in Cuesta Park, Mountain View:

Per tradition, we had a wonderful display of some of our members’ best works. A tally was made of the voting by the attendees of their favorite pieces. Congratulations to the winners:

• First Place – bowl from a Cocobolo board by Russell Mohr
• Second Place – pierced bowl by James Craig
• Third Place – bowl with inlay by Chip Krauskopf

Russell described fully the process of creating his winning piece. He started with a 2” thick Cocobolo board about 5.5 inches wide and 10 inches long. He resawed the board, jointed the edge and glued the edges together to make a book-matched panel. He then mounted the board on the lathe and cut angled rings using a parting tool. Russell made a custom jig for his tool rest to hold the parting tool at a precise location and angle. The rings are stacked to make the bowl and then turned to get the final shape. Russell finished the bowl with Yorkshire grit and “Shine Juice” (a mixture of shellac, boiled linseed oil and denatured alcohol). He documented the process on his YouTube channel, Russell’s Woodart.

https://youtu.be/SITWZb8U7Lw?si=rnjLV8Orf-JqPxsm

President’s Challenges:

• WBW: Turned Item with Inlay – Extra Credit for Stone
• SVW: Woodturning for the Kitchen

Participation Prizes

“As the Wood Turns” by David Vannier

Hollowing is a skill i have yet to master. I find freehand hollowing extremely tiring. My comfort level is near zero, and i tense up leaving me tired in a very short time. The captive systems have helped me relax, but I’m not happy with the quality of the interior surface. So, practice, practice, practice. One of the first professional demonstrators that i saw on a full day demo was Frank Sudol. I had only been turning a short time, so i didn’t feel qualified to waste a slot in his hands on class. His work I left an impression on me, and I’ve chased the path he put in front of us. Hence my piercing direction. So much to learn.

Thanks to Tom Gaston, i have had the recently had an opportunity to practice hollowing, and create canvases to practice piercing. End grain Birch pieces require fresh birch. If the tree was dead, hollowing will leave a very bad interior surface. So, while the outside may look good, it is impossible to get a quality cut on the inside.

I now have 5 hollow forms drying. Piercing is going to have to wait till i can settle the tremors down. I’ve got ideas for each of them, which might change. Lots of time to change my mind.

Keep practicing and learning.

Dave
www.daves-turned-art.com

Woodturners Newsletter Editing Notes

WBW members, please let the newsletter editors know if you have a personal website and would like it included in the President’s Challenge and Show & Tell sections of our Woodturning Newsletter. Email us at info@westbaywoodturners.com.

WBW board members and committee chairs