Next Meeting
Wednesday June 21,
7 pm at Bridges Church,
625 Magdalena Ave,
Los Altos 94024
Program
Don Bonnett will demonstrate his techniques for turning finials.
President’s challenge:
A staved goblet, regular goblet or any staved turning.
Upcoming Meetings
July: Tina Chou on bowl turning techniques
August: picnic at Cuesta Park in Mountain View
Notes from the Last Meeting
Wednesday May 17, 2023
Last month we had a great demo and presentation by Eric McCrystal on how he produces staved goblets, uses resin fills to get interesting accents, and uses epoxy as a water resistant coating. We got a lot of interesting tips and techniques about his general process using custom jigs, both on the table saw and the lathe.
We need a note taker at the next meeting so we can publish a better summary of the demo.
President’s Message
How do you organize your shop and woodwork space? As much as I try to keep mine functional, over the years and the accumulation of new tools, wood and unfinished projects, it has slowly become a cluttered hell where I have to “crab-walk” to get to anything. Then I have to move a whole pile of stuff to get to what I need. I’m OK moving one thing to get to another, but when it gets to be a whole pile that needs to be moved and then put back in place, something feels broken.
The obvious solution if to get rid of stuff right? Well, I went a different direction and decided to add more shop space instead. Heck, I love my tools and stuff! Which brings me to a recent revelation or discovery as I slowly migrate into my expanded space. In order to reorganize, I am moving similar materials together, which made me realize that there could have been better ways to keep my things in order all along. I am finding similar things in various locations, which, once consolidated, take much less space and are easier to find when needed. How come that wasn’t possible all along? Well, things tend to show up over a number of years, and take the easiest space available at the time. Which means certain items that belong together are scattered, due to having showed up years apart.
So here’s an easy improvement I now realize I could have done a while back: once in a while, get everything out of the shop or work space, and consolidate, rearrange, regroup, trim duplicates as needed. I found out that was much easier than it sounds, and very satisfying to boot. After only a few hours, I rediscovered items I had not seen in a while, got rid of stuff now useless to me, and feel like I have better access to my work tools. What do you think?
Claude Godcharles
“As the Wood Turns” by Dave Vannier
We will miss Tom Haines. He was a good friend and was active in making WBW a better organization. He had maintained our website and published the newsletters for more years than we should have expected. Add to that he showed us some pretty nice turnings he had made, and it is easy to see why we will all miss his smiling face.
This also reminded me to get to work on my will wood stash. Jim, Dave, and Clarence all left their will wood to us. If you aren’t familiar with the term, it is that special wood that we obtain and it is just too nice to waste on a so so project. So we keep it till we know what to do with it. We never get to it, and it goes in our estate sale to the next turner, who may or may not do the same with it. I bought a half log of pink ivory at the AAW symposium in Pasadena, 2003. Got a great deal on it, but I’ve never done anything with it. So, was it a great deal?No ideas for it yet, but I did attack a nice piece of BLM burl and a nice piece of Madrone burl that i didn’t want to screw up so I just kept looking at them. The BLM is something I picked up at the first AAW symposium in Portland. No question it’s dry! Lots of dust. Found that when it was wet, it had some bugs. Nothing now, but left some filling opportunities which I’m now in the process of working on.
Lots more will wood pieces that are going to get more attention now. Also means that I have wood I’ll never get to. Nothing wrong with it. But I’m limited by time, so even though I have ideas, if I won’t get to it, I’ll pass it on. Your gain. I’ll try to bring a little each meeting. But in the mean time, don’t just store that special piece. Find a project, and use it!
WBW board members and committee chairs
President: Claude Godcharles
Vice President: Tom Gaston
Treasurer: Jon Bishop
Secretary: Roman Chernikov
Member at Large: Fred Colman
Meeting Program Coordinator: Vacant (Claude G acting)
Visiting artist Coordinator: Vacant (Bob Bley acting)
Anchor seal: Dennis Lillis
Craft Supply: Tina
Librarian: Kelly Smith
Audio Visual: Curtis Vose
Website & Newsletter: Vacant (Roman, Claude and David acting)
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