The first presenter that I saw at the Southern States Symposium X was Mike Mahoney. I had never seen him in person before, although I had seen him present via a DVD that I purchased from his arch-nemesis Stuart Batty. The two of them made a great team in the video. His presentation was on making family heirlooms. He turned a beautiful platter for the demo out of dried cottonwood. Actually, it was shaped more like an offering plate, and he intended to pass it around at the end of the session! Read the rest of this entry »
I received the following email from the GA Association of Woodturners, announcing the symposium in September.
Wow, that was a lot of work! We finally finished the workroom. There’s still some touch-ups that need to be done, as well as one corner that needs re-mudding, sanding, and painting, but the room could be used as soon as I put tools back in, so we’ll call it done! No more insulation dropping sawdust on me all day long (or insulation falling on me, for that matter)…. Walls to actually hang things on (instead of concrete)…. Outlets…. And no more non-woodworking related things in my shop getting sawdust all over them. Woohooo! Thanks, everyone who helped! Here are some before and after pics.
Heads up, folks! The Southern States Symposium is in Gainesville, GA on April 23, 24, & 25. There will be lots of great turners there. This year, the featured demonstrators include Dixie Biggs, George Hatfield, Mike Mahoney and Michael Mocho. For more information and registration, go to their website: http://www.southernstatessymposium.org/
For the January meeting of the Classic City Woodturners we had a bandsaw demo. Some would think that unusual for a woodturning group, but you’ve got to make usable blanks somehow. More often than not, that ’somehow’ includes a bandsaw. Alex Snodgrass was our demonstrator, and he is a true expert on the bandsaw. He made a point to tell us that he’s not a woodworker, he’s a bandsaw-guy…. Read the rest of this entry »
On January 31st I decided to go ahead and order one of the Earlex Spray Stations. Sears (online) had them for the best price around. I also made the assumption that if I had any problems that I would be able to deal with my local Sears store. At this point, I have no idea if that assumption is correct or not, let’s just hope there are no problems! Either way, it was still $30 cheaper than anywhere else (including the woodworking show that I had just returned from). When I checked Sears online that night, I just happened to log on during a time that they were having a 10% off sale. Woohooo! Well, now, it wouldn’t be that simple, after all…..
Jan 29,2010 – Jan 31—
Just an FYI in case anyone in the Atlanta area is interested…
http://cms.thewoodworkingshows.com/cms/Home/AtlantaGA129131/tabid/60/Default.aspx
I’m going to try to drop by on Sunday to ask the Earlex folks a question or three. 
Turning has come to a halt for the next few weeks while I start working on the workroom again. There’s still some sheetrock to hang, lots of mudding to do, a light fixture to hang, and maybe even painting to be done. We have most of the sheetrock hung, but still lack a corner and a small section of ceiling. I’ll post some before and after pics once I get closer to the ‘after’ stage. Special thanks to mom, dad, wifey, and the kid for what they’ve helped with so far! (And what they have in store for them still. 
) Getting this completed will cut down on the dust in the room considerably. Previously, there was no ceiling, just insulation hanging down. It did a great job of collecting dust and dropping it whenever I looked up. Hopefully it will reduce the noise a bit as well, but that remains to be seen. Wish us luck!
This year I took on the challenge of making pepper mills for Christmas. That’s one for each of the 3 sets of my kid’s grandparents, one for my sis’s family, and one for my wife. As you can see, I had a good helper during the process. Left-to-right, they are made of mahogany, purpleheart, 3 pieces of unknown woods + 2 colored veneers laminated together, maple, and mahogany.
Here are the pics from our Christmas party last Monday, December 14th. The turnout was not as big as last year, but there was plenty of great folks and good food! The weather was horrible (cold, very foggy, rainy) and probably contributed to the light attendance. A good time was had by all, and thank you to everyone that made it a great night!
