October 10th 2020:

Prescott Area Woodturners met at the YEI Building in the Prescott Airpark on October 10, 2020.  President Barry Walter called the meeting to order at 1:00 p.m.  Barry introduced 3 new members and asked them to tell a bit about themselves.  Planning for the club Holiday Party is under way.  We will go to the Redwoods Grill in the Prescott Country Club in Dewey, where we will be seated at round tables, allowing plenty of distancing. 

Vice President Ken Allen chairs the committee that is updating the PAW By-Laws.  They are nearly ready to be submitted, but Ken cautioned that the committee is focused more on doing a complete job than on speed.

Gary Frank then reported for the Nominating Committee working to fill the positions of Vice President and Program Director for 2021.  Unfortunately, they are back to “square one” , and will be canvassing members yet again.

Show & Tell time was brief, due to time constraints from the long program, but – as always – items were beautiful.

Today’s program might be called Woodturning Snapshots.  Six demonstrators had 25 minutes each to talk about their subject, after which they adjourned to the middle room and displayed the items from their presentation.  After the first 3 presented, there was a 15 minute break and members joined them to look at their items up close.  Then the next 3 demonstrated and, after their presentation, retired to the middle room until the next break.

First up was Barry Walter, who demonstrated on the lathe the steps need to create a pen.  The material he turned today was acrylic.

Dan Hall used the lathe next, this time to hold a vessel for carving.  He showed how he embellishes a vessel by tracing leaves onto it, then uses a power carver around each.  He marks with red the places to be removed, begins carving in the middle of the vessel and works toward the ends.  He textures the top of the leaf, then undercuts the edges.  Woodburning creates shadows.

Gary Frank then told us how he creates power sanding blocks.  They are available for purchase, but making your own is much more cost-effective.  Gary purchases adapters at Home Depot.  Beginning with a block of poplar into which he drills the center and inserts the adapter with epoxy.  Gary uses the Easy Wood chuck to hold the block as he turns it into a cone, which becomes the holder for sandpaper.  Now he applies hook & loop, cut to size from a sheet.  It is important to use InstaBond Black FLEXIBLE glue.  He weights the piece while drying.  Gary created a whole tray of graduated sizes of these blocks.

At the break everyone gathered around the first three presenters with question and a chance to see the examples up close.

After the break President Barry Walter introduced Susan Murphy as our new Website Coordinator.  Susan has already begun her work.  Keep watching www.prescottareawoodturners.com for updates!

The second half of the presentations began with Don Milburn, who used a flip chart to describe various aspects of carbide tips.  He demonstrated the ease with which they can be sharpened simply by gliding them on a diamond card – after applying a drop of lubricant like WD40.  He cautioned that these carbide tips become extremely sharp.  He mentioned that a hand-out is on our website with details of this presentation.

Wayne Hunt is mainly a segmenter.  He began learning these skills at Tuesday meetings at Ed Jones’ shop, and showed some of the jigs they built in those days.  He displayed some examples of the way he builds his segmented pieces, as well as examples of finished works.

Next up  was Jim Winge, who has been creating his own tools for years.  He laid out an array of these and talked about how he uses each and how and why he chose to make them.

Again, at the end of this series everyone moved into the middle room to get a closer look at these three presentations and/or the earlier ones.

The meeting adjourned at 4:00 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Marge Hunt, Secretary