Atlanta Woodturners Guild

Our demonstrator for July was the elusive Hal Simmons. Hal is a well known turner in the Atlanta area who often demonstrates and teaches turning classes at Highland Woodworking. He also works for the Red Cross and has repeatedly had to cancel appointments to demonstrate for us due to inconsiderate disasters which demanded his attention.

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For our August meeting, John Lucas from TN will demo. John is a professional photographer with Tennessee Tech and is also a very competent turner and demonstrator. He will demonstrate his well know hand-mirrors for us. The demo includes both platter turning and spindle turning since the mirror body is just a small platter and the handle is a spindle. He will try to discuss different ways to use the cutting edges of the tools as well as a skew turning demo.

If anyone is interested in photography for woodturners, they should attend GAW’s meeting on Thurs, 8/21 where John will demonstrate how to obtain professional results when photographing your turned pieces.
// Harvey - Program Chairman

Fellow Turners: The July meeting was very well attended and for those of you who were unable to attend, the mystery man, Hal Simmons, presented an enjoyable demonstration. He reminded us that things don’t always go as planned, but then, that is why I enjoy turning so much. If every piece turned out as I envisioned, where would the challenge be?

I want to thank again those members who contributed to our show and tell portion. Everyone who brought a piece to show can be rightfully proud of their respective accomplishments.

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The 2008 Symposium in Richmond, Virginia, is now behind us - and what a great symposium it was! Were it possible for each member to be there, I’m sure everyone would have been excited about his or her experience. I find that just being with and talking to the fine people that make up the woodturning community is in and by itself inspirational and something to feel really good about, plus there are so many top notch demonstrators to see and study.

There were 164 rotations to choose from, where various aspects and techniques of contemporary and basic woodturning were demonstrated. Attendance at this year’s conference was almost 1,600.

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Our demonstration for June was Jack Morse. Jack opened the session with some very informative demonstrations of techniques and special purpose jigs he has developed over the years and followed with an off-center square-edged bowl.

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Prior to the start of the June meeting a few of us were talking about the grinding wheels in stock at Woodcraft. There is so much new information out there that a little refresher is in order.

I am only going to be writing about wheels for woodturners. Since most of us use tools made with high speed steel ( HSS ) I will narrow my comments further.

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Fellow Turners, I want to thank everyone for your continued support of our new club. And again a special thank you to Woodcraft for without their continued support we would not have a place to call home. Additionally, Woodcrafts’ donation of last evenings raffle prizes was very much appreciated. Last evenings demo by Joe Gettys was two doses of fun with a strong dose of learning for good measure. Thank you (Joe) for filling in on short notice.

We had a good showing for the President’s Challenge and I am hoping for an even better showing next month. The project is to turn a lidded box. The next meeting will be on Wednesday, June 18th. 7PM at Woodcraft.

There will be a change to our meeting format which we hope will provide the demonstrator extra time to complete their project. Our meeting will open with brief announcements ( additional details will be contained in my message and posted on the web site ) followed by the President’s Challenge, show and tell and help questions from the membership. We will take our usual ten minute break followed but the demonstration which should run around one and 1/4 hours with additional time if needed to answer questions etc. Our meeting will conclude with announcement of the challenge winner and our raffle. I am sure everyone will appreciate the change.

Bob // Robert F. Greenberg, Club President

May Meeting Notes, by Harvey Meyer.

For this meeting, our demonstrator was Joe Gettys. Much thanks to Joe for filling in on short notice. Our scheduled demonstrator, Hal Simmons, a Red Cross volunteer,was called into action by the Red Cross to help out in one of the tornado ravaged areas.

Joe demonstrated an unusual style of box made from ambrosia maple, with a kingwood finial, a collar, and 4 inlaid buttons made from African Blackwood. Joe starts with a square piece of 4×4 about 6” in length. He maintains the 4 sides while rounding only part of the square. This leaves a crescent shape on each of the 4 sides.

Read the full version of this story and view the presidents challenge pictures.(click here)

The presidents challenge for June is to turn a lidded box.

The next meeting will be June 18, 7pm at Woodcraft.