I am happy to report that the “toys for Tots” program, 2020 version, is now “in the books”. Today I delivered 19 bags, each containing 3 toys, to Project Self Sufficiency in Newton. They were very happy to be recipients of hand-made Christmas gifts. As you can see from the attached images, our production, although a bit short of 2019, was still impressive. A thank you is in order for all of our members who participated and your willingness to work through the current difficulties is laudable. Thanks again.
Our November meeting on 11/23/20 was fairly well attended with 9 members participating in the Zoom. The following is a recap of the areas covered:
Treasurers Report – Rick reported that the treasury has grown a bit and now contains $953.8.
Members Contact info – We decided to attempt to build a list of dues-paying members, which will contain name, address, telephone number and email address for each member. As such I am asking each member to email me their contact information and I will incorporate it in a list to be shared with the members. This will allow each of us to contact a member if the need arises. Your cooperation in this effort will be appreciated.
Toys for Tots – It will be necessary for me to get the toys to Project Self Sufficiency in Newton as soon as possible. With that in mind, I ask that all of the toys be delivered to my house on or before December 4, which will allow me to get them to PSS the following Monday. My address is 43 Hyatt Road, Frankford Township (Branchville mailing 07826) Telephone 973-342-5716. I will be at home every day except “Black Friday”; however, I ask that you give me a call before you stop by in case I might have gone off to the store. After I get all of the toys, I will assemble and bag them with the appropriate holiday paraphernalia, and deliver to PSS. Your cooperation will be appreciated.
Record Tool demos – We discussed the free demonstrations offered by the Record Tool Company, emanating out of Australia each Friday night at 7:30. I have observed three of the past demos and I am very impressed by the content and skills of the turner, both turning and teaching, and I highly recommend that you check them out. If you contact Mike Davies at the following email address and ask him to register you for the meetings, he will send you a notice prior to each week’s meeting with the Zoom invitation. mikeD@recordpower.co.uk. This week Theo, the turner, will complete work on a burl bowl. Enjoy.
Election of Officers – Election of officers was briefly discussed and it was agreed that Rick and myself would continue in our roles as treasurer and president, respectively, for one more year, at which time we will be looking for replacements. This will be year three for both of us.
January meeting and challenge – Getting back to our historical meeting date, the first Wednesday of the month, our next meeting will take place on Wednesday, January 6, 2021. We decided not to have a December meeting. The challenge for the January meeting will be a lidded box, the design of which will be completely up to each individual member. Be sure to submit images of your submissions to Mike Peacock prior to the meeting, at watergapwoodturners@gmail.com I am hopeful to see active participation to start off the new year.
Show & Tell
This month’s show and tell includes the results of the November club challenge and other works by members.
Club Challenge
This month’s club challenge was preparation of contributions to the annual Holiday Toy Drive.
General Show & Tell
Rick Wortman — Sea urchin ornaments made with maple and ebony woods. Black walnut salad bowls.
Our meeting was held on October 22 at 7:00 via Zoom. Attending were Jim Cerra, Rick Wortman, Carl Beaulieu, Patty Jennings, Ed Nikles and Mike Peacock.
Rick reported that we got 1 more dues payment and accounting for the balls — for the ball and cup toy — that Jim purchased and the monthly Zoom charge our account stands at $957.77.
We agreed that the next meeting’s challenge would be the toys we’re making for the toy drive — due a few weeks after the meeting.
Jim will give 1/2 the balls for the ball and cup to Rick so you can arrange to pick up a few from either.
Show And Tell
This month’s show and tell includes the results of the October club challenge and other works by members.
Club Challenge: Using Color
This month’s club challenge was color in our turnings and members turned in some very fine efforts.
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Carl Beaulieu — Turned two candlesticks from maple blocks. Used Keda Dye Kit. Measured weight of each component color to 0.01 gram accuracy to achieve desired blue/gray color on ash wood sample. Sealed end grain to retain color. Applied dye to maple and applied lacquer seal and buffed finish with very fine steel wool. It will take much more experience to set desired dye color to achieve a particular final project color tone and depth. Interesting challenge.
Patty Jennings – The wood is maple. I used 3 coats of acrylic paint with a light sanding between coats. After the paint was dry I sprayed on 4 coats of Poly with a light sanding between coats.
Rick Wortman — Hemlock(I think) bowl, 14×4″: Base and bottom have green and yellow milk paint respectively. Using 4/0 steel wool I polished the base until grain stood out and bottom until the paint was removed, leaving a yellow tinge. The stripe around the upper outside is India ink bordered by a wire burned band. The top edge is dark green milk paint and the inside is not colored making it darker than the yellow-tinged outside.
I threw in the children’s Christmas presents because I had just done them. The wands, 16″, have acrylic paint, colors separated by wire burned rings and the tops have nontoxic magic marker applied over chattering. Both were then sprayed with polyurethane for protection and brightness.
Jim Cera — Ash bowl with blue and yellow dye with shellac and carnuba wax finish.
Fred Guendel — Two lidded boxes that blend the Fall theme that Rick Workman suggested and the coloring assignment that Jim gave us. On the left of each photo is a pumpkin, turned frown ash, carved, then colored with orange dye; its finished with shellac and wax. On the right is an Apple, turned from figured maple, carved, then colored with red dye, the finished with shellac and wax. Both are ~3” tall and in diameter.
Scott Hendricks — Turn the maple blank. Paint the face flat black. Splash iridescent colored paints. While wet, put plastic wrap on paint and squish with your hand. Cut out the center, ring and edge.
Ed Nikles — Candle holder made from oak and then colored with a pickled gray weathered paint and the textured stripes were colored with a blue permanent marker. I finished the candle holder with two coats of high gloss tongue oil.
Mike Peacock — Ornaments and tops colored with Guilders Paste Wax. Red ornament is poplar. Green ornament is oak. All tops are poplar. (And good spinners!). Two of the tops photographed as black but they are actually a midnight blue and a forest green. The paste wax was diluted with paint thinner and the mixture applied with a brush. It was just my second time using Guilders Paste (did the red top in May) and there was a bit of a learning curve to get the proportions of paste and paint thinner correct for smooth application and good coverage – especially with each color being of a different consistency.
Jim Matthews — three point turning for holding a candle or snow globe
Treasurer Rick Wortman reported that 2 additional members had paid 2020 dues. With those added funds and accounting for the monthly Zoom bill of $16, our account balance stands at $963.75.
Fred Guendel announced that the Peters Valley visiting artist lecture series will feature Derek Weidman — a woodturner who uses the lathe to create “carved” sculpture via Zoom in October 7 at 7:00 PM. Every year Peters Valley hosts a series of visiting artist lectures; typically, they are held in the Pike County Library. This year they are being conducted on the Zoom. Register through the Peters Valley website to participate; its a painless process.
This month’s show and tell includes the results of the September club challenge and other works by members.
Club Challenge: Scoop
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Rick Wortman — Scoop made from hickory and finished with walnut oil.
Ed Nikles — Scoop. Maple. Finished with Tried & True. 9” x 2-12”
Carl Beaulieu — Coffee Scoop #1 made from 2×2 x3 1/4 inch walnut, handle from 3/4×3/4 x6 1/2 inch oak scraps. Good learning project for spindle turning.
Coffee Scoop #2 has 1 3/4 “ bowl with 6 inch handle. Turned as a spindle and bowl turned in donut fixture. Made from 2 inch square by 7 inch walnut piece. Most difficult part is turning the ball to form the scoop bowl.
Fred Guendel — Two coffee scoops and a flour scoop. One of the coffee scoops and the flour scoop are made from cherry with an oil/wax finish. The coffee scoops have a barley twist handle.
Ed Nikles — Pepper & Salt Mills made from walnut and spalted maple
Rick Wortman — Christmas tree ornaments made from a small piece of red maple from the one tree in the yard and had laid for a number of months outside for the mother and grown children who had been raised in that home.
NJ Woodturners hosted a mini clinic featuring Patty Jennings– via Zoom – on Monday, August 31. Patty, a member of both the NJ Woodturners and Watergap Woodturners clubs, gave a beginner’s lesson on carving and enhancing wood art with color and pyrography.
NJ Woodturners is hosting a Patty Jennings mini clinic – via Zoom – on Monday, August 31, 2020 at 6:30 PM. The topic is “Engraving & Carving”. Check your email or contact Jim Cera for the link.
The meeting was held on August 25, 2020 via Zoom. In attendance were Jim Cera, Fred Guendel, Ed Nikles, Jim Mathews, Rick Wortman, Patty Jennings, Seth Riehl, Scott Hendricks, Carl Beaulieu and Mike Peacock.
Treasurer Rick Wortman reported current club funds to total $920 but that only 12 members have paid dues for 2020. He also stated that Peters Valley is currently not including club turned pieces in their gallery sales.
Participants discussed NJ Woodturners generosity in including our members in their weekly Zoom clinics and demos and agreed we’d continue to participate. It was also agreed that the challenge project for the September meeting would be a scoop.
Show and tell for this meeting featured the mortar and pestle challenge pieces. These can be seen in detail in the earlier “Club Challenge” post. Rick Wortman also showed a very deep natural edge bowl and Ed Nikles presented several pieces he’d made from half of a single white oak burl. These can be viewed in the Gallery.
Next meeting is tentatively set for September 23rd.
The NJ Woodturners hosted a mini-clinic – via Zoom – by Craig Newton entitled: “Veneering For Beginners“. Craig has been veneering for nearly 40 years and specializes in furniture restoration and decorative veneers for boxes. Veneering is a careful, meticulous craft that takes a piece to a new level. It allows for the use of exotic woods that would be cost-prohibitive if used as full boards. Craig discusses the benefits of veneering and demonstrates the basics by creating a decorative inlay.
The upcoming August 25 club meeting will feature a show and tell of the results of a club-wide mortar & pestle challenge. Since we are meeting via Zoom, many members have sent photos of their creations in advance to be posted.
Rick Wortman
The pestle has a flat end for smashing and a round end for grinding. The bottom of the mortar is flat and where the walls and bottom meet is rounded for the two different uses. It was shown in an old AAW magazine and is available on AAW website. The wood is Hickory.
Carl Beaulieu
This is a prototype walnut turning for an olive wood mortar and pestle to be turned for the kitchen grinding of middle eastern spices. It took three attempts to turn the cross grain mortar bowl. I gained a much better understanding of cutting across the grain and allowing fibers to support the cutting process in my three attempts to make the prototype project. A lot of practice still required. Now I will rough cut a 4×4 piece of Olive wood and test wetness before finishing bowl cuts. I hope the wood will be dry enough for bowls to be finish finished by Christmas. I did enjoy the challenge of my first deep and narrow bowl attempts. Prototype Pestle is 7 by 1 1/4 inches of Maple and mortar is 3 x 3 inches of walnut.
Scott Hendricks
Mortar is cherry burl. The pestle is butternut.
Fred Guendel
Mortar is made of walnut and the pestle of maple. I turned the mortar with a lip, that I then carved away except for the part that I shaped into a spout that allows ground spices and grains to be accurately poured from it.
Jim Matthews
Mortar and pestle are made with oak.
Seth Riehl
Wood: Cherry Finish: Watco Danish Oil
Mike Peacock
Mortar is walnut finished with Watco Danish Oil and buffed with Beall system (Tripoli, White Diamond, Carnauba waxes). Pestle is zebrawood finished with Beall wax/buff.
The NJ Woodturners hosted a mini-clinic – via Zoom — by Dennis Fuge entitled: “Adding Pewter To Your Artwork”. Dennis’ presentation – a series of short videos – took members through all the details of casting, shaping and fitting pewter adornments to turned objects with beautiful and stunning results.
Water Gap Woodturners 