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.
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Category: Meetings/News/Events
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August 2020 Meeting Notes
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.
A full video of the clinic is available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6WXgw6OTCg
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.
A full video of the clinic is available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzGQ99qKIy4
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Informal Get Together #2
Once again, the driveway group will meet at Steve’s house on Saturday at 10am. This week’s topic will be carved texture on a bowl surface.
If you are coming, please bring a chair and a small bowl about 4-5″. Feel free to bring any tools you might own for carving or you can try some of mine to create a textured surface of your own design.
Please RSVP to Steve if you might attend?
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Dennis Fuge Demo
NJ Woodturners is hosting a Dennis Fuge demo – via Zoom – on Monday, August 17, 2020 at 6:30 PM. The topic is “Adding Pewter To Your Artwork”. Check your email or contact Jim Cera for the link.
Note Date Change: Wednesday August 19, 2020 at 6:30 PM
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Water Gap Get Together
There’s no substitute for getting together and making shavings…even if they’re small?
I was getting all of my stuff ready when the first car arrived. I know Wil’s truck, and Carl had just been here, so I wasn’t sure who was going to get out of it… because I didn’t recognize the vehicle.
Imagine my delight when Jim Matthews stepped out? Can’t remember the last time I saw Jim, but he made the last minute decision to come out. Sadly, he told us of his wife’s passing back in June. If you have a second, feel free to send him a personal note with your condolences?
Wil and Carl arrived a few minutes later. Carl had his son Daniel in tow, and after a few minutes of demonstrating, everyone got a knife and some wood and we just got carving.
We talked a bunch about straight letters and curved letters, caught up a bit, and just carved until about 12:30. It was very low key, but really nice to see some folks again.
Watch the blog for the next topic, as this is the new normal.
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Last call for Letter Carving
If anyone has had a last minute change of heart, and wants to learn a little bit about hand carving letters, 10am tomorrow at Steven Antonucci ‘s house. Outdoors, weather permitting.
21 Glen Cove Road, Andover for the GPS. (Forest Lakes off 206) bring a comfortable chair.
Also, if you subscribed to the blog yesterday, thank you. You should have gotten an email with this announcement?
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Shop day with Carl
Carl Scheuermann dropped by for a shop day. We fixed his sharpening jig up…and he learned that hot nickels are REALLY HOT NICKELS.
In the end, a good time was had by all, and wood was turned. A first was witnessed… as I actually allowed sanding on the project and walked him through my sanding regimen.
Shop us open. Reach out if you want to work on something.?
Water Gap Woodturners 