Category: Meetings/News/Events

Meeting Notes

The March 2021 meeting of the Watergap Woodturners was held over Zoom on the 2nd of the month.

Attendence. Attending were Jim Cerra, Rick Wortman, Mike Peacock, Joe Kopec, Carol Pastor, Patty Jennings, Ed Nikles, Scott Hendricks and Fred Guendel

Treasurer’s Report. The Treasurer reported a balance of $900 with the only outlays being the premium to renew our liability insurance policy. The Club earned $42 from Peters Valley Gift Shop sales.

Demonstrations. The membership discussed engaging one or more of this summer’s Peters Valley Workshop instructors to conduct a demonstration during the program portion of a meeting. Fred will contact Kieth Thompkins and Lucy Derickson; Rick, Janine Wang. Other topics were mentioned for further consideration—Dennis Fuge for pewter work; Seth for finials; a master sharpener for sharpening techniques.

Tips and Tricks. Our “Tips and Tricks” segment explored three topics: 1) A demonstration by Carl Bealieu of using the shadow method to turn a sphere; 2) A discussion by Patty Jennings regarding how she carved and colored an oak leaf relief pattern on a box; and 3) a space efficient way to store sandpaper using discarded food service containers from Ed Nikles.

Challenge/Show-and-Tell. A number of ball catchers and Kendama-type games were turned. The group was surprised by the number of different ways there are to turn a sphere/ball. Similarly, members offered a number of projects that were marked by skill and proportion. Patty Jennings oak leaf carved box top gained unanimous praise.

March Meeting. The next club meeting will be held 7 Apr 21 at 7:00pm, via Zoom. The “Challenge” for this meeting is a live edge bowl.

Show & Tell

This month’s show and tell includes the results of the March Club Challenge and other works by members.

Club Challenge

Mark Wallace — Walnut and maple ball catcher. Spray spar urethane finish.

Jim Cerra — Ball catchers- turned from poplar 6 inches high 1 1/2 inch ball

Fred Guendel — Ball catcher: ash ball with cherry handle.

Carl Beaulieu — Poplar ball catcher. Turned 2-1/4 inch ball using shadow method.  Hollowed catcher with spindle gouge and scraper.  

Ed Nikles — Walnut ball catcher.

Rick Wortman — The fist wo shots are of a Bilboquet, which is a French ball and cup game that is reported to have been imported to Japan where it evolved into a Kendama which is now a very popular there and is in the third and forth shots. Each of the three cups is a slightly different size. Both are quite challenging; especially stabbing the hole in the ball with the peg. The Bilboquet is hickory and oak and the Kendama is oak and cherry.

General

Mark Wallace — 1900 Boston teacher desk that I restored. Was in bad shape. A friend of mine trashed picked the desk. Solid maple and cast iron. Turned two pencil holders for ink well holes.

Fred Guendel — Two small maple hollow forms.

Patty Jennings — Maple vessel with carved lid that is colored with trans tint dyes.

Ed Nikles — Cherry vase with a textured colored ring top and bottom. Oak burl live edge bowl. Oak burl vase. Cherry pepper mill.

Jim Cerra — A hollow form turned from cherry. It is five inches high. It is an example of hollowing from the bottom up.

Meeting Notes

The February 2021 meeting of the Watergap Woodturners was held over Zoom on the 2nd of the month.

Attendence. Attending were Jim Cerra, Rick Wortman, Mike Peacock, Joe Kopec, Carol Pastor, Patty Jennings, Mark Wallace, Ed Nikles, Scott Hendricks and Fred Guendel

Treasurer’s Report. The Treasurer reported a balance of $1,373 with the only outlays being a Zoom Subscription and the need to renew our liability insurance policy; due in early March. A discussion regarding timing of the renewal occurred. The issue being, since we are currently not physically meeting, we might delay renewal. The consensus developed that because we plan to hold in person meetings at the first opportunity we should renew, failing to find a lower cost insurer. Follow-on research showed that our current policy cost less than would one offered by a competitor, so Rick Wortman will renew our plan.

Club Secretary. Fred Guendel volunteered to serve as the Club Secretary.

March Meeting. The next club meeting will be held 3 Mar 21 at 7:00pm, via Zoom. The “Challenge” for this meeting is either a “ball-and-cup” or “ball and post” game. Fred will circulate the list of woodturners, along with their websites, that will be teaching a workshop at Peters Valley before the next meeting to see if there is interest in engaging any of them for a club demonstration.

Show & Tell

This month’s show and tell includes the results of the February Club Challenge and other works by members.

Club Challenge

This month’s challenge was a goblet.

Joe Kopec – Goblets.

Rick Wortman — 3 goblets with multiaxial stems. Black walnut, sweet birch, and maple.  Stems done with technique described by Barbara Dill.

Carol Paster – Goblet.

Patty Jennings – Oak goblet with 2 captive rings in stem.

Mark Wallace – Goblet.

Ed Nikles – Cherry goblets. 5-3/8” x 3-3/8.  Finished with 3 coats of High Gloss Formby’s Tung Oil Finish.

Scott Hendricks – Fir goblet, 5” x 3”.

Fred Guendel – Chestnut oak goblet. 6-1/2’ tall with 2-3/4” base.  Finished with oil/wax and buffed.

Jim Cerra – Ash goblet. 7” tall, 3.5” top diameter.

General Show & Tell

Ed Nikles – Cherry bowl, 9” diameter x 2” high.  Finished with Tried & True Linseed Oil and Beeswax. Oak burl vase, 7” high x 3” diameter.  Finished with Tried & True Linseed Oil and Beeswax. Walnut vase.

Rick Wortman – Natural edge bowl. 12” x 3”.

Joe Kopec – Bowls.

Mark Wallace – Bowls.

Fred Guendel – Sewing table chair.

Patty Jennings  – Car. Small soldier ornament.

Jim Cerra — Bagel cutting “contraption”

Tips & Tricks Q&A

Questions and answers from members on tuning technique, finishing, etc.

Question 1:

What finish would be suitable for a goblet to hold wine?

Answers:

The discussion included use of CA glue, polyurethane and leaving a goblet—especially and oak goblet—unfinished.

Question 2:

What is your favorite and most effective method of hollowing end grain?

Answers:

Techniques included boring a hole—either as a starter or at the desired diameter—with an forstner bit; using a spindle gouge; using a “ring tool,” “Oneway Termite,” or “hook tool”; using a scraper; or employing a dedicated hollowing system, such as the Trent Bosch Stabilizer

During follow-on discussion, Ed Nikles noted that he has had very good success sharpening scrapers “up-side-down,” that is to say, with what will be the top edge of the tool when used, facing down on  the bench grinder tool rest when sharpening.

Going forward, the Club decided that inputs responding to technique questions/“Tips and Tricks” would be better if they included an available source for future reference.

Meeting Notes

Treasurers Report – Rick reported that the club account stands at $938.82 with the only current expenditure being the $14.98 monthly cost for the Zoom account.  It was decided to not renew the club’s liability insurance until we resume face-to-face meetings in Peters Valley or member’s shops.  It was also decided that we’d continue the $30 yearly dues – which should be sent to Rick.

Peters Valley – Announcedthat classes will be reinstated in May with some of the same medical precautions still in place, ie. masks, social distancing, etc.

February meeting and challenge— Our next meeting will take place via Zoom on Wednesday, February 3, 202, and our turning challenge will be a goblet of your own personal design choice.

Show & Tell

This month’s show and tell includes the results of the January Club Challenge and other works by members.

Club Challenge

This month’s Club Challenge was a lidded box.

Mark Wallace – Bass wood box.

Jim Cerra – Hickory box, 4” high, 3-1/2” wide.

Rick Wortman – Lidded mushroom box made from cedar 4” x 2”.

Scott Hendricks – Lidded bowl is turned from a butternut tree that was planted by my friend’s grandfather in 1929 in Warren, NJ on their farm. The farm is long gone but for the 6 acres where the farm house is located. The finial is locally harvested walnut. Finish is 3 coats of lacquer.

Fred Guendel – The first is “Three end-grain lidded boxes–oak, spalted “something,” and walnut.”

Carol Paster – Lidded box.

Ed Nikles — Lidded box simple design made of cherry wood.

Joe Kopec – Gray birch box, 4” diameter x 2” high.

Mike Peacock – Spalted maple box with paduk finial.  Box is 4” diameter x 6” high (9-1/2“ high with finial).

General Show & Tell

Rick Wortman – Box elder bowl, 4.5” x 2”

Mike Peacock – Sea urchin ornaments with cherry finials and caps.  Used Cindy Drozda YouTube Video as a guide.

Fred Guendel – A bird house Christmas ornament.

Carol Paster — This camera and ‘lenses’ are not yet completed but the (lidded box) challenge helped push me to get this far already. A friend had asked me to make what’s known as a havdalah set which consists of a candle holder, a container to hold spices, a wine glass and a place for matches.  I remembered that this person is an avid photographer so I made all the functional pieces into 2 lenses and a film canister.

Ed Nikles – Oak burl bowl and oak burl candle stand that leaves half the burl bark and the other half turned smooth. Bird mouth vase.

Joe Kopec – Lidded boxes made over several years.

Jim Cerra – Fir scoop 6” long.  Cherry bowl 8” wide, 2” high.

From President Jim Cerra

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.

Meeting Notes

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.

Just a quick heads up… this Saturday is the final 2020 meeting of the Driveway Club at Steve’s house. We’ll be inside, so bring a chair and anything you think you want to work on, as it will be an open studio session.

If you want to do something and I have it, that’s what we’ll do?

10AM until whenever.

Meeting Notes

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.

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

General Show & Tell

Ed Nikles — Several bowls.

Meeting Notes

Our meeting was held on September 23 via Zoom.

Attendees welcomed back member Tim Dunne.

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.

http://www.petersvalley.org/html/event-calendar.cfm

Show & Tell

This month’s show and tell includes the results of the September club challenge and other works by members.

Club Challenge: Scoop

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.

Joe Kopec — Ash scoops based on plans found in:

Click to access Wooden%20scoops.pdf

Jim Matthews — Two scoops. Wood unknown. Scoop #1 finished with mineral oil & beeswax #2 finished with beeswax.

Jim Cera — Three scoops. #1 Maple finished w/butcher block #2 Cherry w/ Tried & True. #3 Maple made in 2 pieces

Mike Peacock — Oak scoop. Finish is Danish Oil. Removed top of “bowl” using method described in the following article (Thanks Fred!): https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Turn-Scoops/

General Show & Tell

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.

Hello all and welcome to the September 19th Driveway edition of the Water Gap Woodturners face to face meeting in my driveway. Since I do not have multiple lathes, these things will need to involve non turning related activities.

For this month’s topic, I will offer relief carving on turned work. If you cannot picture what that means, you should probably come?

10AM, all are welcome. Feel free to bring something to work on, or I’ll just give you a scrap and you can play?

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.

A full video of the demo is available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X57vsxQup6w