Month Demonstrator Subject
January

Oren Zehner of Roanoke

"How Do I Chuck Thee?  Let Me Count the Ways."
February Devore Burch Weird Bowls
March    David Dick (Austin Texas) Long Stem Goblets
April Larry Anderson Homemade Woodturning Tools
May WNT Members Member Tip's and Tricks
June Ken Rodgers (Dallas) Platters
July John Horn Turning Duplicates
August Janice Levi Secrets of Turning Backyard Pine
September John Lauderbaugh Inside Out Snowmen
October Stacey Hager Setting Yourself Up for Success
November
Randy Johnson Finial Design
December No Demonstration Holiday Banquet.

November

Randy Johnson

Topic of "Finial Design"


October

Stacey Hager

Topic of "Setting Yourself Up for Success"

Stacey's Handout:  Click Here

                     I am a genuine “Ding-Dong Daddy” from Dumas (a small town at the very top of Texas). I was born in April of 1942. At the age of eight, I began sweeping and carrying out shavings at my father’s planning mill and cabinet shop.         I worked there until I was 18.         I always thought of the job as a means of earning pocket change.         Only later did I realize that I had received a full European style apprenticeship.         I began turning at about twelve.

            My “pocket change” (with a little help from oil field jobs) turned into “college money”.         I pursued my interest in science, math, music, and girls earning two and nine/tenths degrees…and a wife.         I taught Chemistry, Physics, and Microbiology at the high school, junior college, and university level.         I am now retired, dividing my time among traveling, turning, tool making, and … none of the rest begins with T.

            With school, family, jobs, the Army, and all of the dang-things-that-break, I turned very little in my 20’s and 30’s.         I joined AAW and CTWA in the 80’s and discovered many tools and techniques that my father never imagined.         I like experimenting; therefore, I seldom do anything exclusively.         Learning to make and use new tools fascinates me and is probably my most constant endeavor.        

            Each year I help a number of beginning turners discover the joy of turning wood.         I also help experienced turners solve problems and learn new techniques.         I am currently working on how and why turning tools work (i.e. Cutting Theory).           I believe that if you understand the nature of wood and the physics of a cutting edge, you can solve most woodturning problems.        

            In the course of almost 60 years of working in shops and laboratories, I have stumbled upon a number of things that work for me.    I like to pass on what I have discovered and what others have been kind enough to teach me. I believe it is this enthusiastic eagerness to share ideas, skill, information, and techniques that bonds wood turners into a vibrant brotherhood.

Stacey W. Hager 


September

John Lauderbaugh

Topic of "Inside out Snowman"


August

Janice Levi

Topic of "Secrets of Turning Backyard Pin" 

Janice's Handout:  Click Here

I began turning in 2001 when a television show on woodturning revived a childhood interest I had experienced when my father let me hold various tools and make cuts in spindles mounted on an old Sears lathe.         Upon receiving a new lathe for my birthday, I immediately joined the local organization, Gulf Coast Woodturners Association, which has an outstanding mentoring and teaching program.        

Woodturning became a passion and I wanted to learn as much as possible as soon as possible.         A few months after joining the club, I signed up for my first day long hands-on class with a guest turner by the name of Richard Raffin. What a way to get started!

Over the years, I have continued to explore many facets of turning.         I enjoy making delicate finials for boxes and ornaments.         I have more recently become interested in turning common pine—a wood I was warned to avoid years ago.         I also like trying my hand at enhancing turnings with dyes, carving, wood burning and other treatments.

I was not just interested in learning to turn, however; I was also interested in being a part of the process for promoting woodturning.         I served on the GCWA Board in 2002 and became a two-term president from 2003-2004.          

After 35 years as a drama teacher and alternative school counselor, I retired and my husband and I moved to the central Texas area. After taking off two years from turning (I was the general contractor for building my new house), I was glad to get back to it.         As soon as I could get my lathes unpacked, I joined the Brazos Valley Woodturners in the Waco area. I currently am serving as president.         We are a small club, but a growing group.         Again, my focus is on promoting woodturning, especially with younger turners.         I am also serving as vice-president-elect of the Southwest Association of Turners (SWAT).

My turnings have appeared in several shows:         (1)         Galveston Grand Opera House Eight Artist Show featuring Hurricane Ike turned wood—2010,         (2)         Houston Center for Contemporary Craft juried show, “Texas Turned”—2009, (3) Houston Center for Contemporary Craft juried show, “Wood Turned Art”—2005, (4) Houston Woodcarver’s Show—2004.

I have enjoyed demonstrating for my local clubs—Gulf Coast Woodturners and Brazos Valley Woodturners.         I was also a regional demonstrator in the 2009 Southwest Association of Turners Symposium.         My pieces have been in the Fleury Gallery, Houston, TX; Eagles Nest Gallery, La Porte, TX; Ice House Pottery and Gallery, Luling, TX


July

John Horn

Topic of "Turning Duplicates" 

JohnhornSooner or later we all are asked to make one or more duplicates of a turning on the lathe.  With a minimum of experience, turning the first piece is not usually a problem.  The difficulties begin with making the following pieces look exactly like the original.  John’s demonstration will illustrate some of the techniques used to assure that an item can be closely duplicated.  He will show how a person can avoid some of the common mistakes that are made when copying a pattern and how to reduce the errors that are often introduced when turning multiples. 

One of the challenging projects that require making duplicates is a chess set.  Most of the traditional chess sets are lathe turned with some carving on the knights and other details on some of the major pieces.   Making your own chess set is an accomplishment that a number of woodturners would like to enjoy but keep putting it off because of the perceived difficulty of making a number of small duplicate pieces.  By learning duplication techniques,  a little carving and making a few jigs,  the task can be accomplished to most people's satisfaction.  If there is a problem, just remember it is just a piece of wood and there is more wood where that piece came from. 

 

Each year since 1998, John has demonstrated for at least three or four monthly chapter meetings a year for various woodturning clubs in Texas and Oklahoma.  To keep the audience from becoming bored with his presentations, he demonstrates on a different topic every year. 

 

He has demonstrated on the following topics at Texas Turn or Two and SWAT every year since 1998 except 2004 and 2009. 

“Turning a Birdhouse Christmas Ornament”……………..… 1998

“Turning a Santa Claus Nutcracker” …………………………1999

“Turning a Threaded Lidded Box”    ………………………….2000

“Quick and Easy Turned Toys”      ……………………………2001

“Woodturning Fundamentals for Students and Teachers” .... 2002

“Taming the Skew”……………………………………………..2003

“The Art of The Peppermill” ……………………………………2005

“Turning Your Scraps into Wearable Art” …………………. 2006

“Tools and Techniques for Endgrain Turning” ………………. 2007

“Making the Most of your Mini Lathe”………………………... 2008

 

Educated as an instructor of high school musicians, John has spent a major portion of his life teaching a variety of subjects from high school band and choir to adult computer applications.  Now he teaches regular classes at the Woodcraft store in Addison and one-on-one sessions on woodturning topics in his shop for beginning to intermediate turners.  When he is not teaching and attending woodturning meetings, he stays busy turning contract jobs for corporations and individuals on one or more of his four wood lathes that he uses for turning and classes.

 

A member of the AAW, he is active in both the Woodturners of North Texas in Fort Worth and the Golden Triangle Woodturners in Denton.

 


June

Ken Rodgers

Topic of "Platters" 

Ken demonstrated the turning of a large platter, using a regular chuck.  He also demonstrated the start to finish turning a platter starting at only 1 inch thick.


May

All WNT Members

Topic of "Member Tip's and Trick's"

The meeting program for May will be "Tips and Tricks" as presented by our members. We are encouraging all members to come to the meeting with a Tip or Trick that they can snare with the rest of the group. I have several tips planned to share and several others have indicated they would participate, but we would like to have a broad participation from the membership.


April

Larry Anderson

Topic of "Homemade Turning Tools"

March 14 2010 020aMarch 14 2010 022aI will be doing some simple stuff that anyone can do on their wood lathe. Some of the things will be small drive centers, a weighted knock-out bar, long and short tool rests, cheap inserts to use unhandled tools in the Trent Bosch, John Jordan, Oneway or other handles, some different jigs for sharpening the tips used in a lot of hollowing tools, power sanding for deep, hollow vessels and if time permits, other items.         Below are some pictures of some of the items I intend to make.         I hope to get people to open up to new ideas to make woodturning easier. 

March 14 2010 019aLarry has been turning wood for about 20 years.         He has taken classes from many well know wood turners, including Ray Key, Richard Raffan, David Ellsworth, Trent Bosch, John Jordan, and Ron Fleming.           Larry worked in a machine shop right out of high school using a metal lathe.         After military service, he worked 33 years for the telephone company.         He just recently started a new job in a machine shop.         Larry’s two favorite pastimes are woodturning and drag racing motorcycles.         He receives so much enjoyment out of woodturning and meeting the people involved that he doesn't understand why everybody isn’t a wood turner. 


March

David Dick

Topic of "Long stem goblets"

David Dick, of Austin, will be the featured demonstrator at our March meeting.  His topic, “Long Stem Goblets on the Mini-Lathe”, will show some easy ways to join parts of the goblet together which will allow a turner of any skill level to achieve a long stem goblet of any length.  The hollowing of the goblet will be done with a spindle gouge which is an extremely efficient end grain hollowing tool.  He will show an easily made alternative to the skew, and an easy way to produce mortise and tennon joinery on the lathe.   Two tools that he loves to use are the skew and the skew-chi gouge.  He will use both of them in the demo.  Dick has a tip or two that lets his students start to use a skew easily.  Nothing beats practice.

 

David has been turning for about 17 years.  He started by making a lot of pens for sale.  As his interest in pens wound down he started turning parts for other people’s broken furniture.  David is a Past President of the Central Texas Woodturners and a professional contract woodturner. To this day he considers himself more of a spindle turner than a bowl turner.

 


February

Devore Burch

Topic of "Weird Bowls"

Devore Burch

When you first see a “Weird Bowl” like the ones Devore Burch makes, it is a big mystery as to how it can be turned on a lathe.           For our program on February 25th, Devore will reveal his secrets about how to make this very unusual bowl.           Devore made his first “Weird Bowl” in 1933, 77 years ago, when he was in a high school woodshop class.           Since that time he has made and either sold or given away over 100 of these vessels.           It was one of these bowls on the cover of Popular Woodworking Magazine that attracted the attention of Larry Roberts and others who were in the initial stages of forming the Woodturners of North Texas.           Devore was asked to come to a meeting and demonstrate how his bowls were made.           After the demo he quickly became one of the charter members of the WNT and since that time has been winning collaborative projects. 

Having recently turned 92 years old, Devore still regularly turns multiple items as gifts for Mary, his wife, to give to her friends as presents.           “Dee” now turns on a Super Shop for the last few years but he used a Shop Smith as his lathe of choice since 1950. 

For many years Devore Burch wrote and illustrated articles for four major woodworking magazines, including Fine Woodworking and Popular Woodworking.           In fact, it was the picture of his “Weird Bowl” on the cover of Popular Woodworking that prompted John Horn to look him up in the phone book after discovering that Devore was from Fort Worth.           Devore invited him to a club meeting back in 1989 and the rest is history. 

A reprint of Devore's Weird Bowl article can be found at this site:
http://www.channelislandswoodturners.org/CymaBowl.htm


January

Oren Zehner of Roanoke

Topic of "How Do I Chuck Thee?  Let Me Count the Ways."

Demo Download - COMMON AND SPECIALITY CHUCKS FOR USE ON THE WOODLATHE.doc

Oren ZehnerOren Zehner was born in Tonkawa, OK, where he attended Northern Oklahoma College and finished his teaching degree at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, OK.  He started turning in high school and continued turning while teaching for the next 29 years in both public and vocational schools with classes in woodworking, drafting, cabinetmaking and woodturning for high school students and adults. 

He moved from Oklahoma and settled in Roanoke and one of the requirements he had for his new house was for it to have a three car garage so he would have room for his lathes: a Vicmarc Mini, a One-Way 1224 with extension, and a VB36 bowl lathe.  While he doesn’t specialize in any particular turning style, he likes turning miniatures and that contributed to his interest in a watch making career. 

He is currently a member of the Northeastern Oklahoma Woodturners Association where he presided as president, vice-president, treasurer and demonstrator for many years.  He is also a member of the Golden Triangle Woodturners and has been a member of the AAW for many years.  If you have ever watched the Woodturning Workshop hosted by Tim Yoder from Tulsa, OK, you might have seen him on the television.  He has attended several AAW and SWAT symposiums and numerous seminars which included classes taught by John Jordan, Ron Flemming, Frank Sudol, Trent Bosch, etc.