Volume 9, Issue 2 One Good Turn February 11 2009 Coulee Region Woodturners Chapter of the American Association of Woodturners www.crwoodturner.com In This Month s Issues Breaking News...1 Up & Coming Events...1 PrezSez....2 Officers & Board Members...3 Club Mentors..3 Instant Gallery...2 3 7 Book & DVD Review...4 Young Turner...5 Feb Demo & Artist....8 Monthly Tip...9 Officers Interviews.. 9 10 Safety Tip.....10 January Instant Gallery Breaking News At CRW Check It Out The American Association of Woodturners Gallery of Wood Art is presenting "Restful Places-Cremation Urns and Objects" at its Landmark Center Gallery January 16 through March 29, 2009. Featured artists include CRW members Pam Reilly and Greg Haugen. They join 24 others including: Dixie Biggs; Jim Christiansen; Alan Lacer; JoHannes Michelsen; Robert Rosand; and, Molly Winton. To see each artist's work, access the AAW site by logging onto "galleryofwoodart.org" (then, click on the artist's name). The work is amazing!! Congratulations, Pam and Greg, for being chosen to participate in this outstanding exhibit. Keep up the great work!! Bob Patros Off-center/Multi-axis turning Onalaska Community Center February 21 2009 9 am Rich Eagan will demonstrate some of the techniques he has learned making multi-axis candlesticks. January Meeting Demo Back To Basics Up & Coming Events. March 2009 Mike Hunter, inventor of the Hunter Tool. Mike will demonstrate the features of his various tool designs. News From the Programming Committee We need leaders for the up coming meetings. A meeting leader starts off the meeting, does announcements and such. Also, we are looking for meeting demonstration ideas and demonstrators. Contact Duane Hill, Rich Egan or Lee Goehring if you are interested in leading, demonstrating or have ideas for demos. CRW Member has article published in More Woodturning. The February 2009 issue of More Woodturning has an article published by Lyle Solem on their experiences and Lyle's thought about their Norwegian Wood Turning Cruise this past August. For another person's perspective on the Cruise I would recommend you also read Bob Neill's article in the December FOR SALE: Full-Length Shop Apron. Was $50 new; asking $10. Roger Meyer: ttwmeyer@acegroup.cc 507/894-4361
ONE GOOD TURN February 2009 Page 2 January Instant Gallery PresSez I d like to start this PresSez by thanking Duane for setting up the Fundamentals/Back to Basics demo as well as moderating the sharpening, John Fisher for moderating the spindle gouges, Ken Grunke for moderating the skews, Dennis Falch for moderating the hollowing, Ansel for moderating the scrapers, and Dennis Snider for moderating the bowl gouges. It was a great meeting and obviously enjoyed by all. When you see these guys be sure you thank them as well. I d also like to thank Clyde Cassell for the donation of the Butternut to the wood raffle. To everyone who helped to clean up after the meeting, thanks. We did a lot of turning that day and by the time we left; no one would have known it. Our new location has been working out wonderfully for us. Thanks to the donation and work of Roger Meyer our storage area is a lot more organized with the shelving he donated and installed. Thanks Roger! A little while ago I mentioned that the club had the need for a Tool Czar. Bob Patros has graciously accepted the position. Thanks Bob! This month s meeting will be Rich Egan demonstrating his multi-axis candlesticks. We ve all admired them in the instant gallery and now Rich will be showing us how he makes them. I ll be issuing a multi-axis spindle challenge, with the judging to be held at the April meeting. The judging will be split into 4 categories; 0-2 years, 2-5 years, and above five years of turning experience as well as a most creative. An entry can only win one category. So if you re new or not, please participate in the challenge, they re a lot of fun. Prizes will be Craft Supplies Gift Certificates. So keep the shavings flying, get the creative juices flowing for the upcoming challenge, and I ll see you all at the meeting, Greg Haugen Great Job On The Pictures Jim Frank The 23rd Annual National AAW Symposium Date: Friday June 26 Sunday June 28, 2009 Albuquerque Convention Center
Officers, Board Members, and Mentors ONE GOOD TURN February 2009 Page 3 CRW Mission Statement: To promote, to educate, and to inspire ourselves and others in the fine art of turned wood. January Instant Gallery CRW Officers President: Greg Haugen (608) 483-2988 ghaugen@live.com Treasurer: Pam Reilly (507) 876-1195 gpreilly@embarqmail.com Vice President: Greg Zeller (608) 526-9156 wambli56@yahoo.com Secretary: Mike Henderson (608) 781-1056 AsterPlace@charter.net BOARD MEMBERS Librarian: Jim Frank (608) 781-8092 jhfbear@centurytel.net Program Director: Duane Hill (608) 783-0883 dlh@dairynet.com Tool Czar: Bob Patros (608) 788-6839 rjpatros@gundluth.org Webmaster: Ken Grunke (608) 625-2412 kengrunke@gmail.com? CRW Club Mentors Boxes & surface Pam Reilly Elgin, MN. enhancement. (507) 876-1195 gpreilly@embarqmail.com Experimental techniques, Ken Grunke La Farge, WI. tool making, And metalworking. (608) 625-2412 kengrunke@gmail.com All areas of turning and Duane Hill Onalaska, WI. finishing. (608) 783-0883 dlh@dairynet.com Fundamentals. Shannon Storkel Tomah, WI. (608) 374-2242 stork1@centurytel.net Fundamentals. Bob Patros La Crosse, WI. (608) 788-6839 rjpatros@gundluth.org Spindle turning. John Fisher Holmen, WI. (608) 526-4692 minnow1974@charter.net Turning fundamentals. Greg Haugen Chaseburg, WI. (608) 483-2988 ghaugen@live.com
ONE GOOD TURN February 2009 Page 4 How Did He Do That? Book & DVD Review Malcolm Tibbetts The Tahoe Turner Malcolm Tibbetts is a woodturner from South Lake Tahoe Ca. He has been working with wood for over 50 years. He states that his grandfather started his love for wood and woodworking. Working with small pieces of wood, glue and his imagination he has created things of beauty, and beyond imagination. In the 90 s was when he got interest in segment turning. His turnings have won many awards and prestigious collectors have acquired many of these pieces. He is a active member of the AAW and is the current Vice President. His first book The Art of Segmented Wood Turning is jam packed with his techniques and his art form. What he does with wood, glue and a wood lathe is beyond words. From chessmen to chess tables to large vessels to one board bowls. He takes woods from around the world and matches them to make beautiful works of art. He answers all the questions that you my come up with from jigs, gluing, clamping, design and finishing. Malcolm latest production is 2 DVD s; Lessons in Segmented Woodturning Volume one Getting Started, and Volume two Tips, Tricks, and Feature Ring. He takes you through design, cutting jigs, sanding, gluing, and turning. In volume one he takes you through band saw bowls, checked hollow form, understanding wood, ring construction, design and construction. In volume two he takes you through featured rings from, zig zag to portholes. Very hands on packed with his way of doing things. He has a third volume due out late this spring he says to many things are getting in the way. Stay tuned. Learn more about the Tahoe Turner at: http://www.tahoeturner.com/index.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5yfwt8xiw8&nr=1
Young Turner Being Mentored ONE GOOD TURN February 2009 Page 5 Hello Members. I met this young man and we worked together to make a bowl for his Mom and I sent home some Cedar for him to use on his lathe. He impressed me to no end. Attached are pictures of himself on the lathe and some work he has done. I also had his mom write a story about his getting started on the lathe (6 months ago). I think this could be a nice add to the newsletter. He will attend the meeting next month. Jim Frank Hi Jim, Colin Kenow (age 13) stumbled upon woodturning while on his class trip to Arkansas last spring. The combined 7 th and 8 th grade class at Three Rivers Waldorf School took a 4-day canoeing trip down the Buffalo River and then headed over to the Ozark Folk Center at Mountain View, AR, where an artist turning spinning tops on a foot lathe attracted Colin s attention. Upon arriving home, he requested a 2 x 4 x 8 length of pine. We heard some hammering and sawing coming from the basement, and within a day, Colin emerged with a pine acorn in his hand. He had cut up the 2x4 to make his own foot lathe. He eventually made 4 oak acorns for his graduating 8 th grade classmates. Colin was hooked on woodturning. August brought the family to the Great River Folk Fest at UWL and a demonstration done by your club. We all watched with great interest as a mushroom emerged from a piece of buckthorn. This experience motivated Colin to electrify his turning. He dug out an old sewing machine motor that a friend had given him and made an electric lathe. With this lathe he made a small pine container with lid, but he quickly found that the motor was underpowered for his purposes. At the same time he found that some friends of ours had inherited a lathe and learned that his school had a lathe. He worked on these lathes as often as he could, but they did not allow him the time he desired. He was also very excited when he rode his bicycle past a garage where a man was almost always working on his lathe. It was Jim Frank, of course! Luckily Christmas was fast approaching and Colin was pleasantly surprised with a Jet 12x20 lathe. During the past month, Colin has learned techniques from Jim and turned out several pieces including a goblet, bowl, vessel with cover, and miniature baseball bat. Also, attached are some photos of Colin and his lathe. Please let us know if you need anything else. Thanks much, Kevin
ONE GOOD TURN Back To Basics February 2009 Page 6 Back To Basics At the January meeting, we had a back to basics, hands on demo s. We had five mini lathes, and one grinding station set up. Each lathe had a mentor working with people on the lathe. The lathe topics were as follows: Lathe 1 - Spindle gouges - Pam Reilly - Lathe 2 - Skew - Ken Grunke - Lathe 3 - Bowl gouges and bowl work - Dennis Snider - Lathe 4 - Scrapers - Ansel Heram - Lathe 5 - Hollowing - Denis Falch - Grinder - Sharpening - Duane Hill. Photos provided by Jim Frank
ONE GOOD TURN January Instant Gallery February 2009 Page 7 Photos By Jim Frank
ONE GOOD TURN February 2009 Page 8 February Demo & Artist Rich s Work Multi-axis Candlestick Turning Demonstration For February Our Saturday meetings are always busy, and even more so when you are the demonstrator. In case I forget to mention a few things, I m including a few notes for the newsletter. I plan to bring a few completed examples, and there are also a few photos in my gallery page on the club website. Don t let your design ideas be limited to what I will show you. Experiment and have fun! A few notes on safety: Employ common sense when starting these projects. Only use material of sound construction. Use a face shield. Select material appropriately sized for your lathe and experience level. Variable speed is a nice feature, but not essential, although you may have to adjust project size or amount of offset if you are unable to adjust your spindle speed low enough. A great shift in center is not necessary to be visible to the human eye. Slowly adjust the degree of offset to be sure you don t exceed your lathe s limits of vibration and speed. Use sharp tools. Observations: I use a steb center to drive my projects. I find it slips less than a spur center, and tears up the wood less, making it easier to accurately reposition to that center. For my first few candlesticks, I tried drilling or carving a tapered hole for the candle. That was not very successful. I have since been using brass cups which I purchased on-line. I use forstner bits to drill two holes for the cup, and glue it in at the end of the project. The forstner bits cut well into end grain, and don t wander too much. Blending of elements is accomplished with a combination of rasping, carving and sanding. I use tools from Microplane (www.microplane.com) but rasps, files, or a rotary tool might work as well. Thin edges are fragile, so I usually round them back a bit. Use solid round shank tools, not the tang-handled spindle tools for these projects. You ll have a lot of interrupted cutting, and some cuts require some reach beyond the tool rest. A stiff tool with long handle will help control vibration. Hope to see you there, Rich Egan Tip From Ray Allen On being Precise. During the planning, cutting and assembly process the emphasis must be on accuracy and precision at every stage. Quality segmented work leaves no room for error. A close fit is not good enough. The segments either fit or they don t. Slightly open joints, discolored edges or offset lines are just not acceptable in top quality work. As Ray Allen said many times, If it doesn t fit before you glue it up, it won t fit after.
ONE GOOD TURN February 2009 Page 9 Greg Haugen President How long have you been a club member? Almost four years. What do you like about the CRW? Everyone is really willing to help everyone else. Have you ever held a position in the club in the past? Yes, I ve been the Tool Czar as well as Programming Coordinator. What do you plan for the future as President of our club. Continue to have fun and to share the craft of woodturning with others. What do you like to create on a lathe? Anything, it s all good. What are you working on now? Right now, mostly pens. But I m also starting to get ready for some demos and classes I m teaching this spring. What kinds of wood do you like to work with? I work with just about anything. My favorite woods would have to be Bubinga, Cocobolo, Bocote, and burls. I also like to turn other materials; acrylics, antler/horns, etc. How long have you been a woodturner? Almost four years. How long have you been wood working? My woodworking went from a child s past time, high school class projects, to graduating from the Tech. College with high honors and working in custom furniture and cabinet shops, until I became a full time stay at home dad. Has there been some one who has inspired you with their approach to woodturning? Absolutely. Alan Lacer, Mike Mahoney, Bob Rosand, and Barry Gross are definitely people that have inspired me. I consider them mentors as well as friends. What are you reading now? Ellsworth on Woodturning by David Ellsworth and The Pen Turner s Workbook by Barry Gross. Are you married? Yes Children? 3 daughters. Have you ever helped someone get started in woodturning? I really enjoy helping/teaching people about turning. I benefited so much by others helping me. Have you ever won awards for your work? Yes. Last year at the Great River Folk Fest I won Outstanding Design for the wood category. FROM THE TREASURER: Quarterly Financial Statement ending 12/31/08 Balance as of 10/1/08 $2,784.09 Income: Dues $855.00 Mike Stafford demo proceeds $479.81 Reimb. OCC rental fee from Stafford fees $325.00 Total Income $1,659.81 Expenditures: Onalaska Community Center key deposit (being held) $50.00 AAW club membership renewal $45.00 Onalaska Community Center rent for Jan, Feb, March 09 $225.00 Craft Supplies order library materials and tools $188.45 Lathe Stands from A-Line $284.85 Demonstrator fees $50.00 Postage, copies $30.63 Total Expenses $873.93
ONE GOOD TURN February 2009 Page 10 Pam Reilly Treasurer How long have you been a club member? I ve been a member since 2004. What do you like about the CRW? CRW is fantastic for the camaraderie of it s members. Everyone is very open and happy to share what they know about turning. Have you ever held a position in the club in the past? I was on the Programming Committee when it was first started a few years ago. What do you plan for the future as.. of our club. As Treasurer, it s my goal to preserve the financial stability of the club so we have the ability to add to our assets through tool and library purchases as well as add to our knowledge base by hosting professional turners as we are able. What do you like to create on a lathe? I like to create art pieces more than anything else, but I also enjoy turning bowls, boxes, heck, I just like making shavings! What are you working on now? Right now, I have several hollow forms with a mosaic motif in various stages of progress. What kinds of wood do you like to work with? Maybe it s easier to ask what woods I don t like to work with, but even that s a toughie. How long have you been a woodturner? I ve been turning since Feb. of 2002. How long have you been wood working? I ve never done any serious woodworking before turning other than making things out of necessity like workbenches and rough shelving. Has there been some one who has inspired you with there approach to woodturning? It s hard to pin it down to any one person. Woodturners in general always have so much to offer, it s pretty safe to say I ve learned a little something from almost everyone I ve met. What are you reading now? Do the Form 1040 tax instructions count? Are you married? Children? I ve been happily married for 17 years. Have you ever helped someone get started in woodturning? I haven t personally mentored anyone, but I ve always been happy to help and provide advice whenever asked Have you ever won awards for your work? One of my mosaic forms won a Juror s Award at a show in Rochester, MN a few years ago. I ve had a few different pieces critiqued at AAW symposia - while that s not an award, it was a thrill to be picked out of several hundred different pieces for acknowledgment. What s your favorite tool? My favorite tool is a detail gouge. What kind of lathe? My pride and joy is my Oneway 2036 and yes, it has the short legs on it. Safety Tip: I just finished turning some walnut spindles and I was reminded of how important it is to not only use a full face mask but to also use some sort of dust protection. This applies to turning as well as sanding. I have read articles that say that the fine dust particles we breathe when turning get into our lungs and never leave. They continue to build up over time and if you get enough of it in you it can cause permanent breathing problems. Normally we do not realize how much dust we breathe in because it is light colored and not as visible. As an experiment take a piece of walnut or similar dark wood and turn it for a while using a clean dust mask. Look at the dust mask after you are done and see how much dust is on it. Just think about the fact that if you did not have the dust mask on you would have breathed in all that dust. As a further example now blow your nose into a clean white handkerchief or Kleenex and see how much dust got through the dust mask. I believe there are three personal essentials for turning: a full face mask, good dust protection and good hearing protection. Jim Andersen
ONE GOOD TURN February 2009 Page 11 Open Shop Nights - Tuesday evenings from 7-9 PM at Duane Hill's shop (808 Quincy in Onalaska). Please call ahead (608-783-0883) to make sure he will be there. Programming Information - We are in need of meeting leaders from April through the end of the year. Meeting Leader basically starts the meeting, does announcement, etc. If interested, contact Duane Hill Upcoming meetings - March - Hollowing tools on a mini lathe - Mike Hunter. This will be a hands on event and will run to approximately 3PM. Mike will have some of his tools available for sale. We will have 5 lathes set up with different hollowing systems on each lathe. April - 2 Piece Top with Marbling - Greg Haugen May - Urban Tree Identification. This will be a walk around meeting to learn how to identify the trees in our urban neighborhood. Bring your walking shoes. Note, we may move part of the meeting to Hixon Forest. We are in the process of planning June through the end of the year. If you have any topics you would like to see for a meeting and/or if you would like to do a demonstration please contact Duane Hill. Due to the success of the recent Back to Basics meeting, we will be scheduling another session for late summer or fall. Professional Demonstrators Note: Due to the relative lack of interest in the two pro demos last year, we are not scheduling any pro demos for this year. If you would like to see a pro come demo, let the Officers and/or Programming Committee know who you would be interested in. Keep in mind, we usually need 6 months notice to get a pro in here. Some recent suggestions we have had are Dick Sing (return), John Lucas, Mark St Leger and Bob Rosand. Let us know if any of these are of interest to you. For Sale (not woodturning related) - Blue LazyBoy recliner/rocker. Great condition. Great for watching football or woodturning videos from $75. Black entertainment center with glass doors. $50. 2 Ikea black slingback leather chairs. Also very comfortable for watching football and/or woodturning videos. $50 each or both for $80. Call Duane Hill (608-783-0883). Duane Hill 608-787-1424 dlh@dairynet.com Looking For Some Help Do you have a new tool that you like? A safety story that was a near miss? A project that your working on? A tip that you would like to share. Or something of interest? Write a short article and submit it for our newsletter. Thank you Art and all who helped me get this January Newsletter done. Phil Miller your new editor Instant Gallery. I would like to add names to our instant gallery. In the future I will have cards at the table to ID your work Thanks Phil Miller A New Look to our Newsletter. I was looking at the fall issue of American Woodturner(2008), and I saw were they had give out awards for chapters websites, and newsletters. Seeing that I am new to doing our newsletter I thought that I would take a look. Needless to say I was impressed, Montgomery County Woodturners were first and Chicago Woodturners took second. I thought that I would play around a bit, stepping out of the box per say. As in woodworking and woodturning we sometime start with a plan make some changes and walla! So I hope that what I have done, you will like. Looking for safety stories to help us work without a painful surprise! Phil Miller
Coulee Region Woodturners Chapter of the American Association of Woodturners "A Turn For the Better" Phil Miller / Editor 2831 Onalaska Ave. La Crosse, WI 54603 Phone: 608-781-5342 Email: pmiller010@centurytel.net Next Meeting Onalaska Community Center on Saturday, Feb 21, 2009 at 9am. Here s a map to help those who aren t sure where we meet. It s the Onalaska Community Center at the intersections of Quincy & 6th Ave North in Onalaska, Wisconsin. 608-783-9290 We ll start the program promptly at 9am, so get there early to avoid getting a Uecker Seat. Chairs are provided. We ll have coffee, so donuts are ALWAYS welcome.