Tag: meeting

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October 2025 Meeting

Our October meeting included a presentation about turning a bowl out of a white cedar burl and debrief of the recent woodturning symposium from Jeremy Sinclair and our normal show & tell and wood auction.

Richard Garland’s Presentation

Richard Garland provided a slide show demonstration titled “Tree to Bowl –
White Cedar Burl”. Below you can see the log with the Burl which was cut from the log and cut in 2 pieces, one of which, Richard prepped for the lathe and turned into a large bowl with great grain. One challenge was dealing with tear-out due to the grain and softness of the cedar. Nice bowl.

Jeremy’s Tour of the Symposium

Everyone enjoyed Jeremy Sinclair’s enthusiastic summary and slide show of the
Lancaster Mid-Atlantic Woodturning Symposium. Amazing world renowned woodturners were there to demonstrate their skills and teach attendees the tricks of the trade. Vendors were also there to show off their products with many opportunities to find deals and pickup the tools you need. We hope that more members will attend next year’s event the 3rd week, September 2026.

Show & Tell

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September 2025 Meeting

Our meeting included a demonstration on making tops, show & tell and wood auction

Dan’s Top Demonstration

Demonstration began with Dan suggesting that it is important to pick the correct style of top to make a good spinner. Some examples of poor design included: stem too thick; top to tall for diameter; disk (body of the top) too thin—the body should have significant mass to it. Ideal shape of the disk is wheel shaped. Remember the top should be large enough that it does not fall through the center of a toilet paper roll.

Dan used a parting tool and a spindle gouge to turn a top. The point of the disk should not be too sharp as it would be a puncture hazard. The stem should be about the width of a finger and 1/8 inch in diameter. Dan tapered both sides of the disk with the spindle gouge and shaped the stem with the parting tool.

Using Sharpies, Dan decorated the top and bottom of the disk. Ken remarked that at Black Moshannon, some of the kids liked the decorated tops, while others preferred to color the tops themselves. Club members were encouraged to turn their own tops over the next month and bring tops to the October meeting so the tops can be distributed to kids who come to the Reeds Gap State Park Fest demonstration, October 11, 2025 11:00-3:00. 

Show & Tell

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May 2025 Meeting

Our May meeting included an ornament presentation and show & tell.

Gib Corl presented how he made Christmas ornament “bulbs” using pine cones and epoxy.

He showed an ornament with a small hemlock cone, but other center pieces can be used. The cone is hot glued to a blank and another blank is hot glued to the bottom of a plastic cup. The cone is suspended over the cup with a jig he has fabricated and after all the parts are in alignment, he pours the epoxy mix into the cup. He uses a 5 gallon pressure pot @ 60psi to compress any bubbles in the pour and waits about 48 hrs before removing the item. The cured assembly is then put in the lathe and turned to the desired shape, lacquered, and sanded up to 400 grit.

Show & Tell

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October 2024 Meeting

Paul Demmert shared how to make a Celtic Knot rolling pin.  A Celtic knot is an infinite loop type pattern which makes an impressive decoration on a rolling pin.  But first we had our regular show and tell where several people showed us what they’ve been making lately, from sculptures to grinders to chips and dip bowl.

Below are examples of various Celtic knots.

Below is an example of how to layout the cuts made in the blank before turning.  You must make deep cuts just 1/8″ short of going through to hold it together until glued.  Place a different colored 1/8″ thick wood blank in each slot, cut and glue one at a time.

Some other tips he shared:

  • Rolling pions are between 19”-22” in length, so starting with a 3″x3″, 24” long blank is best
  • 35 degree cut works well, 1/8” wide and 2 7/8” through
  • Cut one at a time, glue in the insert and after 6 hours cut off excess and cut next side, so prep takes about 2 days
  • Use Titebond or epoxy glue
  • Each handle is about 4” long to fit a hand well
  • Using a sanding block helps keep the rolling pin flat when sanding
  • Use table saw sled at angle, table saw blade is vertical, but use a block for perfect repeat  

Due to the demo lathe’s size limits Paul used smaller pieces to show how it’s done.

Look at this beautiful final product, when done on a full sized lathe.

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September 2024 Meeting

Our first meeting after the summer break was a time to reconnect and learn what everyone made over the summer, so we had a larger than normal show and tell session as well as a great wood auction.

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March 2024 Meeting

We had a normal meeting at the Rivet including a business discussions, show and tell and an in-depth presentation and sharpening demonstration by our very own Larry Lukens.

Several people showed the nice pieces they had created

Larry showed us how to sharpen our tools

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January 2024 Meeting

We had a normal meeting in January which featured the business meeting, wood auction, show & tell as well as a discussion and walk through from Gib Corl on how he creates bowl blanks using left over hardwood flooring as well as how he recycles home wiring into a nice rim decoration.

The steps involved include:

  • Cutting off the tongue and groove and bottom grooves of the flooring
  • Sanding off the finish
  • Gluing each layer at right angles to get striping colors
  • Mounting with a faceplate using soft screws, 
  • Using carbide tools to turn
How do you turn hardwood flooring into bowls?

Show & Tell

Some of the bowls made from hardwood flooring and two have a twisted wire decoration in the rim
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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