Category: Water Gap Woodturners

Dennis Fuge joined the Water Gap Woodturners today to deliver a two part all day demo in celebration of the WGW’s 1st anniversary. The meeting was well attended, drawing nearly the entire membership in a tremendous show of growth from 12 months ago.

Club business was quickly contained to the first minutes of the meeting to allow Dennis to deliver the first part of the program: From Road Kill to Lathe. Dennis discussed the breadth of his life experience before settling into NJ, which he described as “hardwood heaven”. We went through a very interesting exercise in identifying local hardwoods. Dennis asked how many of the 14 common NJ trees could we identify on the bench, and as a group we got 13 of them with little trouble. Pear was the “prickly” one (groan, yes that was a pun…)

The main program was about decorative techniques for platters, however, many of Dennis’ demonstrated techniques could be applied to any woodturning. Dennis credited the influences in his work from his teacher, as he has now become the teacher. As Dennis pointed out, we take a lifetime to “fill our pockets” with the techniques that make our work our own. From the looks of Dennis’ pockets, I’d say he should be wearing some pretty big pants.

Dennis started with the basics of roughing out and drying platters, however the main focus was on surface enhancement. He laid out the concept of a Saturn platter, and the various layers that would be added. Some of the techniques covered were poured pewter inserts, carving, burning, ostrich skin texture (Note for Dennis: one of my three!), eggshell, gesso, and a few more to that I have probably forgotten! For the next four hours, Dennis’ passion for wood flowed as he disclosed his techniques freely and openly. The Water Gap Woodturners thanks Dennis for his time and energy and we would welcome him back any time.

The meeting adjourned with the announcement that the next meeting will be about bowl coring systems. Please check back before April 1 for the formal announcement of the meetings schedule.

I know Dennis from NJ Woodturners and I asked him for a syllabus. Here’s what he’s proposing:

More often than not, a new group struggles to find its identity. With our one year anniversary rapidly approaching, the Water Gap Woodturners is final starting to find its own identity. I firmly believe that we are one of the most “hands-on” clubs in the AAW, with an unofficial charter of a hands-on skills session at least once per quarter. This is somewhat uniquely possible because of the generosity of our host, Peters Valley Craft Center.

Our origins are also somewhat unique. The club was charter by Steve Butler, who heads up the woodworking program at Peters Valley. The funny thing is that Steve is not a woodturner. I keep telling him that it’s somewhat disturbing to have our president not know how to use a lathe, and we kid about having to get him some lessons.

But that’s what makes this club so special. Folks from all walks of life can get together around a common topic, woodturning, and socialize in a GREAT facility. I think that our willingness to learn from each other coupled with our access to great equipment (9 Oneways- are you jealous? :-)) is a winning combination. And we are not afraid to make shavings…

Peters Valley recently instituted a woodturning program that has had Michael Mocho, Beth Ireland, Graeme Priddle, and Mark Sfirri just to name a few. Many of the instructors in the woodturning program make time to demonstrate to our group, and there’s always something going on during the warmer months at Peters Valley woodshop.

If you are looking to take a great class in a quiet corner of NJ, you can find Peters Valley on the internet @ http://www.pvcrafts.org/. This year’s line-up includes Harvey Fein, Craig Nutt, Beth Ireland, and Lee Alexander. Peters Valley also has photography, fine metals, blacksmithing, fibers, ceramics, and woodworking programs.

If you get a chance to take the ride up to Peters Valley this summer, stop by the woodshop and we’ll show you around.

The WGW meeting was held on February 11, 2009 at the Peters Valley Craft Center Woodshop in Layton, NJ. Roughly a dozen members were in attendance and braved the mud on Thunder Mountain Road. Only one car got stuck, and was quickly extricated thanks to a downhill lie…

The meeting kicked off with a short discussion of club business. With our one year anniversary just around the corner, it seems like the synergies are starting to take place. People are getting more involved, and the club is growing. 2009 promises to be a great year.

A couple of events that are upcoming were discussed.

http://www.totallyturning.com/

http://www.gnhw.org/happening/2009_turnSymposium/about.html

http://cms.thewoodworkingshows.com/cms/Shows/SomersetNJFeb27Mar1/tabid/92/Default.aspx

The show and tell had several wall hanging by Dan Moore who discussed his method of work for mounting the slabs to the lathe. If we had brought a camera, we could have posted some pictures 🙂 I encourage the membership to nominate a Club photographer…

During the main discussion, the topic was “Jig, Tips, and Fixtures”. Sevral member brought in some of their favorite hints for holding work on the lathe. We saw several versions of the Straka Chuck (aka Donut chuck), cone centers for reversing hollowforms, and how to turn your lathe into a variable speed buffing system. (you’ll never throw away a bedsheet again!)

Towards the end of the meeting, a member showed his McNaughton bowl coring unit. It was discovered that several members had an interest in seeing the unit in action, and decide on the spot that it would make a great topic for the April meeting. If you own a McNaughton, please bring it to the April meeting and we’ll core some bowls together and let some folks try it out before spending the big $$$.

Next meeting will be on Saturday, March 7th and is an all day session with Dennis Fuge on decorative platters.

Safe spinning.