Archive for the ‘Events’ Category
Click on a gallery, then click on a pic, and then '<<' & '>>' buttons to navigate. Thanks again to all of the organizers and demonstrators of this event!
Monday night was our monthly meeting of the Classic City Woodturners. Bill G. started the meeting off with some business including executive committee nominations. Also included was the appointment of Shep as the treasurer through the rest of this year.
This month, instead of a hands-on demo, Abraham Tesser showed us a powerpoint demonstration of how he built a custom pool cue stand. Please click on his link for pictures as well as his word document further describing this piece of fine furniture. It was interesting seeing how he was able to incorporate turnings into the work. His stand has been in two pool-related magazines, and will also be featured in a woodturning magazine in the near future.
Afterwards, Don Fournier followed up with a demonstration of how he recent built some shaker style chairs, as well as the steady-rest that he made in order to deal with wobble of the long back pieces. Nice chair!
Yesterday finished up attending the NC Woodturning Symposium, and I’ve got to say it was worth the time and money.
And here I thought yesterday was a long day…. Four 1.5 hour sessions today, lunch was provided, more wishful thinking at the vendor area, another glance at the instant gallery, dinner banquet, auction, a quick g’night call with the wife and kid and all of a sudden it is 11pm! Given the long drive tomorrow, I’m going to get some rest and do pics, etc. sometime next week.
I saw 3 demos by Jimmy Clewes today, and he has great turning skills as well as demonstration skills. His demos were Coloring, a Natural Edge End-Grain Vase, and an Oriental Box. His last demo ended early (a first for him!) so I was able to peek in at Allan Batty working the skew chisel for a few minutes. Hopefully I will get to see more of Allan tomorrow. The other demo I saw was Nick Cook on pepper mills — partly because someone asked me recently if I had done any, and I haven’t yet. Probably soon though. 
Nick gave an excellent demonstration as well.
The auction was impressive. The main goal of the auction is to raise money for charity, so folks are willing to open their wallets a bit. (Don’t worry, Lanie, I got a deal on the tool I bought at auction… I swear I got it for under retail.) They auctioned off tools, wood, demo pieces, and finished pieces. The most expensive piece was one by Stuart Mortimer (see yesterday’s post for link) that went for around $1600! Several items went for over $100. After the auction, they gave away several weeks at Arrowmont and John C. Campbell. I think that they may have mispronounced my name when they gave them away though, it sounded like they spell ‘Bill’ with a ‘T’, ‘o’, ‘d’, and ‘d’. Go figure….
Wow, busy day! After a 5-hour drive, I made it in the nick of time to the North Carolina Woodturning Symposium located at the Greensboro Coliseum. The first session started mere seconds before I walked in the door. Read the rest of this entry »
Last night at the monthly CCW meeting, Hal Simmons came to demonstrate turning Christmas tree ornaments. He was the 1st or 2nd demonstrator that I saw when I first joined CCW, and his attention to detail is amazing.
He turned for us a 1-piece ornament, as well as a 3-piece globe-style ornament. He also brought 3 ornaments that he had previously turned. When asked how fast he turned, he replied…
Two things determine how fast:
1st, if the lathe walks, that’s too fast
2nd… your fear factor.
(He also pointed out that he does mostly splindle work.) MY fear factor is pretty low on out-of-round bowl blanks!
October 23-25th marks the bi-annual symposium hosted by turners in NC. Full information can be found on their website. I believe that I already have something booked for that weekend, myself, and will not be able to attend. However, there will be some top-notch demonstrators. I have seen Stuart Batty, Nick Cook, and Ray Key before and would like to watch each of them demo again.
Turning Southern Style XV is next weekend, Sept 18-20, 2009. I haven’t registered yet, but may do so last minute if I get the chance. There will be some great demonstrators in attendance!