CALGARY WOODTURNERS

(LIKE MINDED PEOPLE EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE OF WOOD TURNING)

FEBRUARY 2004 – NEWSLETTER

President Wilf Talbot, the newly elected club President called the meeting to order asked if there were any new guests and the following were welcomed to the meeting.

GUESTS

Mark Watts – turning for about 2 months

Joe Van Keulen – turning 1 year NEW MEMBER

Laura Cerveny – new to turning

Diane Doertlein – makes miniature furniture and wants to turn

Brad Hudspetch – 2 weeks experience

Ryan Bourgeois – new to turning NEW MEMBER

ANNOUNCEMENTS, NEW BUSINESS/OTHER

John Simard advised that Ron Falconer will now be in charge of the library, supported by Jim Thorne and Henning Johansen – more on this later in the newsletter.

John gave an update on the two venues that the club has for displaying club members work. Jamie Barry is coordinating the display at Lee Valley Tools. Items can be for sale and for more details contact Jamie. John is coordinating a display at the Oak Shop and items displayed can be for sale. John has more details for anyone interested.

John advised that he has paid the fee and we are committed to the Spruce Meadows Christmas sale which is scheduled for November 19 to 21, 2004. As in the past the club will take 25% of all sales in order to recover the booth fee.

There is also an opportunity to demonstrate wood turning at the Spruce Meadows summer sale. Tony Lucas, Jamie Barry and Ron Falconer have volunteered to demo. Anyone else interested or wanting other information about the event should talk to John Simard.

John discussed the Millarville craft sale scheduled for November 5 to 7, 2004, two weeks before the Spruce Meadows sale. After some discussion it was agreed that the club should apply for a 10 by 16 foot booth at a cost of $800. John noted that there is a lot of competition for the booths and we may have to take a smaller one. Again the club will take 25% of the receipts.

Ron Falconer gave a library report and asked that members should let him know of any books or videos they would like him to acquire. Jim Osenton suggested the Stephen Hogbin design book, Appearance and Reality. Ron has funds available ( Beaman draws have raised $320. for our Library Fund) to buy new material and he will try to have it for the next meeting.

Terry Golbeck gave a review of the recent Stephen Hogbin design course which was attended by a number of club members. Stephen, who lives near Georgian Bay Ontario is well know among international elite studio furniture makers. He has spent much of the last 3 years doing much of the interior design, including two spectacular staircases, in a 9500 square foot house. Comments from those who attended confirmed that it was an excellent course.

Carl Smith reminded members that dues for 2004, which are for the calendar year should be paid now. If you can’t make the March meeting, mail your dues to Carl @ 88 Strathridge Cres SW, T3H 3R9. The cost for members receiving the newsletter by e mail is $20 and those that receive the newsletter by snail mail pay $25. He also mentioned that the Calgary Woodturners is a chapter of the American Association of Woodturners and members should consider becoming members. For the yearly fee of US $35 AAW members receive a good quality magazine 4 times per year. Anyone interested in joining should visit the AAW website at http://www.woodturner.org/org/mbrship/.

Future meeting programs

President Wilf Talbot asked the members about what topics they would like to see in future meetings. He has reviewed suggestions for programs made in the last several years but would like new input. The following is a list of suggestions made and beside each is an indication of how many members are not in favour of the topic. The club executive will use the list to plan future programs.

Shop tours – 0

Photography of turnings – 4

Spring swap meet – 2

Chucking techniques – 1

Wood harvesting, storing and handling – 4

Segmented turning – 2

Basic bowl turning – 3

Tool sharpening – 4

Osenton bowl rim demo – 0

Osenton potato chip bowl demo – 0

Eccentric turning – 0

Metal spinning – 8

Gluing – 3

Thread chasing – 6

Shop safety – 0

Dust collection – 0

New Zealand Golbeck tour – 0

Andy Lockhart, President of SAWS advised the meeting that the April 14 SAWS meeting will be held at the Calgary Fire Department Training centre and will include a talk by fire safety officers about shop safety and hands on training on use of fire extinguishers. Calgary Woodturners are welcome to attend and there will be a small fee to recharge the extinguishers.

The Beaman Raffle Draw The raffle brought in $116 and the winners were: Ivan Schaub – Crown Tools parting tool donated by Lee Valley Tools – thanks Kathy Reg Miller – Elm wood bowl blanks Ron Falconer – box of African wood donated by Seffudin

Program

The evening’s program was for members to bring and discuss gadgets that they find useful in the shop.

Jim Osenton started with a home made compass utilizing a deck screw, 1 by 1 inch stick about 12 inches long and a carpenters pencil.

Ron Falconer brought a home made set of wall thickness calipers made from aluminum plate. He has the pattern if anyone is interested.

Dale Hildebrand showed how to use two “J” shaped pieces of wire used to measure depth of a bowl or closed form vessel.

Andy Lockhart demonstrated a bowl depth measuring device made from a thin flat stick with a hold in the centre. A thin dowel is inserted through the hole and in use extends to the bottom of the bowl while the flat stick rests on the rim of the bowl.

Carl Smith showed how he uses a round plywood disk with the centre removed that he uses to trap a bowl with the rim against a face plate allowing him to finish the bottom of a bowl. The disc is attached to the face plate with long bolts.

Carl also uses solid circular disks in place of a compass to lay out circles. He also said they are useful to use as a guide when bandsawing bowl blanks out of half logs.

Terry Golbeck showed how he used a number of calipers to make a number of identical small finials. He traced out the pattern on a piece of thin plywood and used the calipers to establish the various diameters and their location on the blanks.

Jim Osenton showed how he uses a paint brush to demonstrate the alternating with and against the grain experienced when turning a bowl.

Jim also showed how he uses a wire bent into a hoop to measure the wall thickness of closed form vessles.

He also brought a Lee Valley beam compass used for laying out bowls on rough logs.

Jim showed the diamond hones he uses to lessen grinding. They are available from several sources and varying degrees of finess. He can sharpen turning tools several times between grinding.

Wilf Talbot uses a small piece of masonite with fine wet or dry sand paper attached in a similar manner to the diamond hones described above.

Jim Osenton showed a plywood gauge used to size spigots for the One Way scroll chuck. The gauge has the diameter as well as the depth.

Jim showed how he flattens of bowl rims to accept a top ring using a piece of sanding belt and a stick. He flattens the rim as best he can with his tools. He then holds the stick wrapped with the sanding belt against the rim of the bowl which ensures it is flat and in a single plane.

SHOW AND TELL

Jim Osenton showed an 18 inch Western Maple bowl that he hollowed with his centre saver allowing him to make a number of smaller bowls from the piece. Jim has several sizes of McNaughton centre saver tools and used the largest for the 18 inch bowl.

Rob Adamson brought a beautiful 14 inch diameter closed form vessel made from diamond willow. The vessel had a number of voids and a natural edge top complete with bark. By way of decoration Rob cut a dove tail groove around the vessel and in laid a piece of barbed wire in epoxy. Also inlaid in the epoxy were a number of end grain branch sections. The overall effect was stunning.

Ron Falconer showed a hollow form made from a poplar burl. The vessel had many void areas which added to its beauty. Ron said the burl was formed after a beaver cut the tree and the stump sprouted several times and formed the burl.

Bob Vergette showed a goblet made from Manitoba Maple. The vessel was turned green and unfortunately cracked. Tony Lucas suggested several ways to prevent this from occurring. He said the best way to prevent it was to make the bottom thinner. He said the vessel could be microwaved in a plastic bag or stored to dry slowly in a plastic bag. Jim Osenton suggested that it could be boiled.

in the Display Area...

NEXT MEETING

TUESDAY MARCH 2nd - 7:00 PM AT BLACK FOREST WOOD

AGENDA

TERRY will tell us about his wood turning experiences during hid recent trip to New Zealand.

Thanks to Bob Vergette

Carl