Meeting Notes
Our April meeting was held on the 2nd of the month at Jim Cera’s home in Branchville NJ.
Attendees: Steve Ackman, Jim Cera, Joe Kopec, Ed Nikles, Joe Pansini, Mike Peacock, Mark Wallace and Rick Wortman.
Discussion:
Peter’s Valley will be conducting a clean-up weekend on Saturday April 9, 2022. The purpose is to clean up the winter debris and prepare the grounds for the upcoming season. They are looking for volunteers. We would likely be attending to the woodshop area. (This event was subsequently cancelled and re-scheduled for April 23rd)
The May 7th meeting at Patty Jenning’s home will be the last before we return to the Peters Valley Woodshop.
The discussion continued regarding invited demonstrators. Although we have funds enough for one paid demonstrator sometime this year, we voted to stretch our available funds for demonstrations by having members contribute $30-$50 towards each demonstrator’s fees. Woodturners teaching at Peters Valley this summer and will consequentially be in our area are: Jannie Wang (June 10-12), Kimberly Winkle (July 8-12), Matt Monaco (July 29 – August 2), Barry Gross (September 3 – 4), Dennis Fuge (September 10 – 11). Other woodworkers teaching at PV that may be of interest include: Robert Lyons & Douglas Finkel (Wood Shaping Techniques; August 5 – 9) and Kristin LeVier (Powercarving Wood; July 22 – 26). We continue to review these instructor’s works for potential demonstrations.
We discussed Peter’s Valley Craft Fair: September 24th & 25th 2022. Last year’s event was the first that the club participated in, and it was a great opportunity for us to promote the club and demonstrate woodturning to large groups of people. Although we are still several months away, it is time to start planning our display’s and demonstrations. This year we would like to have displays that demonstrate how a log is transformed into a beautiful bowl, vase, candle holder, etc. We’d like to provide more live turning demonstrations. Mark your calendars and plan to attend.
Treasurer’s Report: Rick Wortman reported that our current account balance — 309.35 — includes a $7 refund from overpaid insurance premium.
Show & Tell
Several members brought recent works for critical show and tell.
Jim Cerra: Live edge bowl out of pin cherry from Rick’s demonstration last month. Also a salt cellar with a clever rare-earth magnet hinge.
Rick Wortman: Live edge bowl, pin cherry.
Joe Kopec: 3 live edge bowls, ash, natural and dyed cherry. Delicate container with lid and stand. Three turned eggs.
Ed Nikles: Cedar bowl. Candle mounts. Walnut lamp
Steve Ackmann: Live edge bowl from cherry burl
Joe Pansini: Olive wood bowl-end grain. Maple Bowl
Demonstration
Jim Cera gave an excellent and informative demonstration on the making of elliptical boxes using the lost wood method. Essentially, three pieces of wood are glued together with paper (brown paper, grocery bag, etc.) between each piece. The resulting square blank is then turned round. A lid is parted off and shaped and the container is hollowed. The center piece of the form (the lost wood) is removed — the paper in between sections making this easy — and the resulting container is elliptical in shape.
Jim provided a handout the project steps:
The video of Jim’s demo can be viewed with this YouTube link: https://youtu.be/pA5bz5Rh2a0
Next Meeting. Our May meeting will be held at Patty Jennings home (address to be provided by email). Patty will demonstrate carving techniques for turnings.
Water Gap Woodturners 