Tag: demo

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December 2023 Meeting

This was our Holiday celebration meeting where everyone brought in something to eat and we had extra time to hang out and chat. We held a truncated business meeting, short wood auction and show & tell.

Ken used Acrylester Molten Metal 1-1/2 in. x 1-1/2 in. x 6 in blank from Penn State Industries and turned it with a roughing gouge used with a shearing cut, a negative rake carbide tool and a sharp, sharp roughing gouge.

Paul Demmert discussed many different options of things you can make from skills gained after making pens. There are many things like coffee scoops, ice cream scoops, pizza cutters, measuring cups and spoons, and seam rippers which go together much like pens by tuning handles. You can find kits for such projects at places like Penn State Industries.

Some tips Paul shared from the classes he’s taught included:

  • A mandrel saver works best for pen setup, protecting flexing of the mandrel
  • Barrel trimmers works but can dull quickly, using a drill with a sander can be as effective
  • CA glue fails due to weak shear strength, use 2 part epoxy to glue in brass tube, put plumbers putty or apple in the tube to keep glue from clogging the tube
  • For threaded inserts use a bolt and washer to make them sit flat on the end of the blank when glueing
  • Drill press works better than a chuck on lathe to drill blanks straight
  • Washer over the hole of blank allows using a cone tailstock will help protect the blank from splitting

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November 2023 Meeting

Dan Kozar demonstrated how to make a mini wizard wand ornament and a freeform finial style ornament highlighting his skills with a skew.

Some of the tips he shared included:

  • Set the tool rest at center when roughing and above center when using the skew
  • Sand slow – it is more effective and reduces heat
  • Remove the tool rest when sanding
  • Make a plane cut with bottom 1/3 of the skew
  • The long tip (toe) of the skew goes straight up and down to create a V cut (vertical)
  • Don’t wrap your fingers around the piece or use a cloth to avoid getting hurt, use paper instead so it tears away vs. pulling you in
  • Friction finish (oil, alcohol, shellac) and hut wax is a quick and easy way to finish ornaments
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January 2023 Meeting

This month’s meeting featured an interactive remote demonstration (IRD) by Don Wilson showing us how to turn a sphere, with the tricks he’s learned from making hundreds over his many years turning.

Our show and tell table
Our IRD setup
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December 2022 Meeting

We enjoyed some holiday treats prior to our show and tell where we shared the first thing we turned. Some of us started turning months ago, others brought decades old pieces. It was fun to hear how we all started out. Ken Vasko also demonstrated how he makes several different Christmas ornaments and decorations.

Our first projects
Ken’s handiwork
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Reeds Gap Fall Festival

The Reeds Gap Fall Festival, Saturday Oct 8th, was a great success. We had a lot of interest in woodturning and our club. There was about 1200 people at the event. It was a lot of fun and we met a lot of good people.

Special thanks to Travis Gross, Brian Hummel and S. Bear for helping setup, turn, schmooze the crowd, tear down and clean up!

New club member is a great demonstrator. He drew a crowd for sure.

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January 2022 Meeting

The demonstration for this meeting was be provided by Ken Vasko.  It was a really good follow-up to the presentation at the December meeting about Easy Wood Tools. 

Ken covered:

  1. Advantages and disadvantages of carbide tools
  2. Pen turning
  3. Short demo of spindle turning and bowl turning with carbide tools
  4. Provided “hands-on” experience with three different tools for anyone interested
  5. Demo of Acks wood paste for wood sanding
  6. Had a drawing for Acks wood paste which Mike Lebo won. Congrats Mike and thanks to Annette and Tom for the donation.

Ken’s demo

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November 2021 Meeting

Our previously scheduled presenter had to cancel for personal reasons this month so our pivot was to watch a video about befriending the skew by Alan Lacer. If you have any reservations about using the skew, join us as we watch Alan break it down, show how to sharpen it, use it for 8 different cuts and discover why it can grab and how to avoid catches.

Meeting video, which includes the other video we watched embedded in it.
Direct link to just the video of Alan Lacer’s skew presentation
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October 2021 Meeting

Dave Betler demonstrated his technique for making Stump Boxes.  A turned box that he then carves and wood burns to create a realistic looking stump.  We had a hybrid meeting using some equipment from the Rivet. Unfortunately the audio never really worked well enough for people watching at home which you’ll notice if you watch the video. Hopefully you can see how Dave does it despite the lack of audio.

Dave demonstrated making stump boxes. They start like any other box.
The finished product…it’s all in the details
Here are all the stages of making a stump box
Another hybrid meeting with video streamed over zoom but the audio was not working unfortunately
Full meeting video, unfortunately most of the audio is very poor, but watching should give you a good idea of how it’s done.
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April 2021 Meeting

We had another GREAT demo from a member’s shop, thanks to an outstanding presentation by Mike Lebo of how to make a thin necked goblet.  Good attendance, great conversation and Q&A, made for a successful meeting during the pandemic.  Thanks all who participated.

Our “try it challenge” for this month is to make your own thin necked goblet. Give it a try and show us what you made at the May meeting and you’ll get a chance to win something in our quarterly drawing.

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November 2020 Meeting

We had another GREAT Zoom meeting from The Rivet, thanks to an outstanding presentation by Mike Lebo of his latest wood threading tool.  Good attendance, great conversation and Q&A, and some terrific “show and tell”s made for a successful meeting during the pandemic.  Thanks all who participated.

Mike based his threading machine on Mike Peace’s design