Mountaineer Woodturners
A chapter of the American Association of Woodturners
June 2011
June business
President John Sheets called the June 2011 meeting of the Mountaineer Woodturners to order at 10:00 with 21 members present.
John Gregor informed the members that there were no debits or credits to the club’s account for the month of May. He reminded everyone that there are club hats available and gave a brief proposal to order a supply of T-shirts with the club logo. The shirt proposal will be discussed further at the next regular meeting in September. John reminded everyone that there are four new DVDs added to the club’s library.
Byron Young gave an overview of the club’s participation in the Mountain State Arts and Crafts fair. The fair will serve as our July club meeting.
John Sheets emphasized that the club should strive to present a positive impression at the fair. He proposed that we should display only our best turning projects, keep the display area clean and neat, and be polite and cordial to the fair patrons.
John also provided brochures for the Turning Southern Style XVII symposium to be held in Georgia on September 16-18, 2011. Details here: Georgia symposium
Christmas ornament demo.
Byron Young demonstrated each step of the procedure he uses to create his beautiful and elegant Christmas tree ornaments.
 
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Byron begins with three small blanks to create the entire ornament. He rounds and hollows the larger blank to form the body of the piece. After reverse-chucking, he shapes the body and turns the elegant finial. |
Byron then rounds-up the roof blank, cuts the insides dome to fit the body of the ornament, and shapes the roofline.
Next, he turns the perch from the smallest blank and drills the door opening and perch hole in the body.
After inserting the perch, Byron applies the CA glue only
on the inside to prevent glue “squeeze out,” which would be visible
after applying the finish.
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After applying the finish, gluing the small bird and the roof in place, and adding the hanging hardware, Bryon has another collectable Christmas tree ornament.
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Turning Learning
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Pen
turners who work with acrylics are often frustrated by the
acrylic strands that cling tenaciously to their work piece
and pen mandrel. 
Trying
to remove the strands with your fingers usually binds them
together and exacerbates the problem. A better solution is
to use a small brass bristle brush to remove the problem
strands quickly and efficiently.Reminder
The club picnic is rescheduled to the third Saturday in August to avoid conflicting with other turning events taking place on the second Saturday. The picnic will be held at one of the Cedar Lakes shelters on Saturday, August 20th
Bring your favorite covered dish, lawn chairs, and your significant other to enjoy the day. We will eat around noon, but come early to share your turning exploits with your friends. Remember, turning tales, which incorporate superior tool control and feats of artistic excellence, are deemed more credible when supported by unaltered photographs.
A Big Thank You
to Doug Kemp and John Crede for their generous donations to the club. Doug supplied six Norton grinding wheels, which were auctioned off separately with the proceeds going to the club treasury. The wheels sold for a total of $54.
Doug also brought a maple log that was subsequently cut into bowl-size billets and sold separately for a five-dollar donation to the club.
John had a “truck load” of green holly logs.
These were cut into billets and sold for a five-dollar donation. I did not get a total amount for the wood sold, however it was substantial.
There were many nice items for show and tell.
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Dave Jones led off the show and tell session with five pieces. The two tall vases have and interesting pattern of holes and stains resulting from a woodpecker’s search for insects in the crabapple tree. |
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Doug Kemp displayed an “unnatural” edge bowl to demonstrate that not every turning session goes according to plan. In contrast, his other three pieces certainly turned out well. |
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Larry Weese brought a nicely turned bowl with a burned-in edge design and two natural edge pedestal pieces. |
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John Gregor had an attractive vase. He pierced the sapwood at the top to create the decorative rim. The lidded box features a threaded top. |
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Ervin Jones displayed a well-turned natural edge endgrain vase (left) and Bob Lett had a natural edge burl bowl that is also very well done (right).
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Warnie Lore turned two nice piecs and created a striking finish by dyeing them green with analine dye. Ron Jones brought an array of well turned acrylic and wood pens.
| Jim Morrison had a beautiful burl bowl; however, it appears to be a “leaker.” |
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Byron Young brought a natural-edge hollow form with carved feet and a nice lidded box along with his ornaments.
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John Crede explained the process he developed to produce quantities of craft show sewing thimbles. John reground a twist drill to bore a hole with a 5° taper for the thimble’s finger hole. He also turned the mandrel to the taper of his headstock and hollowed it to the shape of his thimbles to secure them for boring. |
