WNY WOODTURNERS II
VOLUME VII ISSUE 1 January 14, 2002
Meetings 7:30 PM; Second Thursday
Hamburg Junior High School
360 Division Street
Hamburg, New York
Next scheduled meeting February 21,at 7:30 pm.
Because of a special program
at the school the meeting has been moved back one week.
Your dues must be paid by the end of February’s meeting.
If your dues are not paid, in accordance with the Club’s by-laws, your name will be dropped from the membership rolls.
This rule is being strictly adhered to in fairness to the large number of people currently on the membership waiting list.
To pay your dues
contact Paul Mazuchowski at spooty@pcom.net
or
see Paul at the February, 21 meeting.
________________________________________________________________________
I once had an English teacher tell me, “ You are the worst speller I have ever encountered.” Well, it must be true, because in last month’s newsletter, I spelled Mary Robbins’ name Mary Rogers. Now that is bad spelling. Mary, I’m sorry. Please accept my apology, and I promise it will not happen again.
Ron Hudson, our recently re-elected President, called the January meeting to order. Ron, in what is becoming a monthly ritual, welcomed yet another prospective Club member to our meeting. Steve Imerese says he was inspired to take up turning three years ago at the Eden Corn Festival by none other than our roving ambassador Jim Hilburger. Steve it seems, has really taken to the craft (art). He has pieces featured at Albright- Knox and has shown at the Kenan Center. Chalk up another one for Jim.
Paul Mazuchowski stated that the treasury now contains $905.50
and 23 members have as
yet to pay their dues. The proceeds
for charity from the Club’s booth at the recent Woodworking Show are $793.00.
This brings the Club’s total charitable earnings to $1659 over the past three
years. Paul presented the nearly $800 to Linda Spors. Linda will
later see that the donation is presented to The Pre-School Learning Center of the League for the Handicapped. Paul thanked all the members that
participated in the charity event and in turn Paul was thanked for all his
efforts by Ron Hudson. It should be once again pointed out that the
members donate all material and time used to make the pieces that we
sell. All the money collected at the booth goes to the charity mentioned
above.
Jim Hilburger asked if he could speak on the subject of
the recent show. Jim thanked everyone that participated in the show, then he
praised the entire Club, its members and its efforts. Jim, as a founding
member, feels the Club has finally reached a plateau of respectability and
“doesn’t have to take a back seat to anyone.” He was proud of the quality of
work displayed at the show and the amount of money collected for charity. Jim
expressed his deep pride in the growth and success of our organization.
In another matter, Jim mentioned that Don Olney (? spelling), a noted toy manufacturer from Rochester, NY, may give a talk (demonstration) to a combined meeting of both clubs. Details of a meeting room large enough and a date will need to be worked out first. Don was at the woodworking show and stopped to visit with both clubs. He also entertained us with his ability to spin the tops produced by Jim Hilburger and himself.
Jim Meier reported that he was working on getting a
couple of demonstrators from contacts he made at the woodworking show.
Adding these new
contacts to the gentleman that makes the Irish lace bobbins, Don Olney, the
Rochester toy manufacturer, and our own homegrown pool of talent, we should
have many excellent demos to look forward to in the coming months.
Warren Stevens wants everyone to know he will not bring the
Club lathe to meetings unless it is needed for a demonstration or for a
member’s request to use the lathe. If you are interested in using the lathe you
can contact Warren at his home, 759-645 or his shop, 759-8012 to make
arrangements.
Richard Sarama announced a Pen Turning Workshop at:
Barb’s Barn
March 16,
2002 9:00 am - 4:00 pm
by Richard D Sarama
JR & Paul Mazuchowski
WNY Woodturners 2
The workshop will concentrate on 7mm & PaperMate Pens
Kits including wood will be available for very small fee.
The session will begin with a
Demo followed by question & answers and then
each participant making the pens
As usual:
Begin promptly @ 9 Am
Bring: a lunch (coffee, tea provided)
Tools
Face protection
Mini Lathe if you have
one
Because space is limited, we can only accommodate 10 turners. You must contact
either Barb or Rich and reserve your spot by March 1st. If you make a
reservation and then are unable to attend you need to let Barb know so anyone
on a waiting list can then attend. We really appreciate your co-operation
on this.
SPECIAL NOTES
If you wish, you may purchase a mandrel for turning pens. It is not
necessary to do so to participate in the workshop.
Drill chuck mandrel available for purchase $ 7.00, A morse taper mandrel either
#1 or #2 will be available for purchase $ 9.95 each. We will have them there
but need to know ahead of time to get them.
To sign up please contact Barb Berger or
Richard Sarama.
Old Business
Both the Club president and secretary have copies of the Club’s current insurance
policy.
Ron Hudson once again brought the subject of a mini-symposium
forward. Many ideas and questions were discussed. It was generally agreed that
we have a very long way to go and many many questions need answers before
planning can begin. Ron is going to contact the AAW to see if they offer
any guidelines that we could use in our planning. The next step would be to
contact Club One and perhaps a couple other clubs to see if they would be
interested.
As a result of the
symposium discussion, a membership discussion ensued. We currently have twenty
people on the waiting list. Should we expand the member limit and allow
them to join? How big can we get and still remain cohesive
and personal? Will the school allow us to expand and if so by how much? We
currently only have approximately 50% participation at meetings. Would
expansion increase participation? Walt
Tanski suggested we wait until next
month and see how many members fail to pay their dues and are dropped from the
Club before making any decisions. With so many unresolved questions, it was
agreed to take Walt’s advice and take up the issue again at the next meeting.
There was no new business, but Sam Ciccia wanted to know if we could impose a rental fee on videotapes kept longer than one month. It turns out such a policy already exists, free the first month, fifty cents the second and a dollar each month after.
Linda Spors showed several of her beautiful ornaments.
They consisted of a solid ball style body with delicate contrasting hangers and
finials. Very nice.
Paul Mazuchowski brought a hollow vessel he had turned from
fresh cut white ash. The vessel began to crack as he was turning it and he
sealed the cracks with CA glue which stabilized the wood. The piece was given
several coats of lacquer finish. This is to be a gift for Pauls mom, and a fine
example of Paul’s work.
Elmer Baumer showed us a piece of Mexican folk art. It
was turned and carved and best described as a hand powered beater. Quite
interesting.
Jim Meier showed a bowl made from burl purchased at
Club One’s auction. This seems indicative of Jim’s preference in turning
material. He also brought a vacuum fixture he made to do a small production run
of walnut clocks. An excellent example of what can be done with the vacuum
principle.
Paul Donahue turned a medium sized, stemmed, lidded box
from mahogany and brought it to the meeting. Paul too turned this as a gift. He
is hoping his father-in-law does not think it is an urn. Nice job, Paul. Paul’s
box led to a discussion on finishing porous woods. It was generally agreed that
several more steps (extra coats, etc.) are needed to attain a gloss finish on
porous woods.
Next came Jerry Rucker with his amazing locomotive. This piece was turned, routed, scrollsawed
and carved. Just a little something to fill the time between plays while
watching a Sunday football game. This piece must be seen to appreciate the
effort and workmanship that went into its making.
50/50 was won by Gary Sargent (again). Gary
collected seventeen dollars.
Elmer Baumer gave
another well thought out demo on the making of your own vacuum chucks. Elmer
also showed us several other uses, besides the lathe, for this technology. Once
again Elmer, thank you for a valuable lesson.
Next months Demo. will be presented by Sam
Ciccia.
Elmer’s Corner
Nearly every month
Elmer Baumer has some little tid-bit of information or source of materials to
share with the membership. When space allows I will include these “tips”.
This month Elmer suggests we contact The Victor Machinery Exchange Inc., 251 Centre St., New York, NY 10013-3214, ph. 1-800-723-5359 or www.victornet.com
Victor sells machine
tools, taps & dies, morse tapers, high speed steel tool bits, twist-drills,
and all kinds of “neat stuff”.
Once more,
let me remind you of the change in meeting date to February 21.
Don’t forget your dues!
Keep
Turning,
and see you at the next meeting!