WNY WOODTURNERS II
VOLUME IX ISSUE 26 MAY 30, 2004
Meetings 7:30 PM; Second Thursday
Hamburg Middle School
360 Division Street
Hamburg, New York
The next scheduled meeting is Thursday, June 10 at 7:30 pm.
Jim Hillburger, will demo his captive ring goblets.
Announcements
The Western New York woodworking
community has lost another good friend. The passing of Lloyd Crissman recently
marks the end of yet another era for woodcarvers and woodturners alike. Lloyd
was the “go to guy” at the Erie County Fair’s woodcarving exhibition. Lloyd
also belonged to many of the carving and turning organizations in and around
Western New York. He was friendly, knowledgeable and willing to offer his
advice when asked. He will be greatly missed.
We here at WNYWoodturners-II offer Lloyd’s family and friends our deepest sympathy.
Remember !! the turning weekend at Rockler June 5&6. We will be joining the other area clubs in
this “for fun weekend.” Rockler is supplying the tent and the hot
dogs; you bring your tools, a sense of humor and we will all have a good time.
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Pen turners! On Saturday June 26, there will be a Freedom Pen Turning Marathon at the Rockler Store. These pens will be sent to our GIs in Iraq. Rockler will donate the pen kits and supplies. All it will cost the area Clubs is their time. If you can’t make the Marathon and would still like to participate, call Ed Jolls at 716-631-8922. Ed will make arrangements with you to receive supplies necessary to make the donated pens.
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Don’t forget ! We will judge
and award three prizes of $35 each to the top three entries in our “best school
donation” contest at the June meeting. In addition, the fourth place winner
will receive a Craft Supplies USA gift certificate. ENTER, “hey
you never know.”
President’s Letter
Mid Year Progress Review
The January President’s letter outlined my plans and goals for the year. Now that we’re half way through the year, it’s time to see where we are with respect to the original course and what’s left to do. The original bullets are listed briefly here. If you want more original explanation on any particular point, please find your January 2004 newsletter or review that newsletter issue on the web.
Adopt New Charity Fund Raiser – We have completed the selection and have plans in place to participate in our selection this August. We will be using the Toy Fest event as our “big event” charity fundraiser for the year. If it pans out, we’ll continue it in coming years. If not, we’ll review it and make any changes necessary. We have and will consider participating in other smaller events as they become available and as the club sees fit.
Improve Relations Between All Three Clubs – This doesn’t have an end point but will be an ongoing effort. To date, we’ve done the following. We’ve opened up the events at Barb’s Barn to all three clubs. We’ve started sessions at other sites (i.e. moved some traditional barn events to Pembroke and will consider others as well). We’ll be having our first multi-club turning event at Rockler. These are the beginnings of a journey to have all of the clubs on a better relationship. We’ll continue this effort.
Improve Club Activity Participation – This also is an ongoing effort. We’ll never change things overnight but we’ll continue to encourage more support for group events. Club participation at the recent Carvers show was great. We need to continue to encourage that type of participation getting more members involved and help spread the load.
Maximize Meeting Efficiency – Again, this will be an ongoing effort. My reason for attending the meetings is to talk, see, and learn about turning. The minutia of running the club takes away from that and should be handled whenever possible in another forum. To that end, I have tried to include the elected officers in an informal “board” where we can cover most of the club administration outside of the regular club meetings and only bring things to the club meeting that require the clubs input or approval. This has met with varying degrees of success. I will continue to focus on trying to maximize the “fun” at meetings and minimize the non-turning related content.
Expanding Our Fundraising Event(s) Preparation – We have come a long way on this point. It is rare that we have a meeting where we don’t have turnings to add to our stockpile. I have tried to lead by example and more and more people are participating. Barb has kindly provided the storage space and managed the materials. We have made great progress on this point and will continue to spread our efforts throughout the year on a continuing basis.
Re-write the Club By-Laws – This item is underway. The current by-laws do not speak well to many issues such as roles and responsibilities, over all organization, unforeseen vacancies, quorums, methods of by-laws change, or even our correct name. There has been an effort underway to put a comprehensive set of by-laws together for the club to consider. I have asked three long-term and respected members to work with me in preparing a package for the membership to consider. Barb Berger, Jim Hilburger, and Jake Debski have been asked to assist in this task. The membership will receive a special mailing with the proposed by-laws to consider in the near future.
These were the major points documented in the January President’s letter. Your assessment may differ from mine but I would conclude that we have completed some, have others well underway, and some will never be finished. They are truly a journey, not a destination. Considering that half the year is over, I feel we are well on our way to successfully accomplishing the plan.
Thanks,
Kurt
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President Kurt Hertzog gaveled a large crowd to order.
Treasurer’s Report
Beginning balance – 2665.33
Expenses Income
Member’s tickets 15.00
50/50 12.00
Bank promo 300.00
Hands on 120.00
New Balance - $3,112.33
Vice-President’s Report
Rich (Bud) Sarama reported on the progress and planning for the Mark St. Leger demo.
Old Business
Planning is underway for our July meeting at Barb’s Barn. We will utilize the opportunity to have a turning session for our August Toy Fest sale.
Paul Mazuchowski presented Linda
Spors with a check for $204.00. These monies were collected
for the Preschool Learning Center at the Southtowns Wood Carvers
Show. This brings our total
charitable contributions to the Center to $3035.00. Thank you to all who gave so
generously of their time and effort.
New Business
Jim Meier volunteered to select and purchase a video for the Club to be presented in Lloyd Crissman’s memory to the Hamburg Library.
Instant Gallery (show and
tell)
As it has been for sometime now, show and tell is one of the high points
of our meeting. It inspires new ideas and offers moments humor that we all seem
to enjoy and look forward to.
Muriel Kummer – showed us
her newly developed and boxed for presentation “Wine Lovers Serve and Save” kit.
It includes a couple of nicely turned stoppers with the high-end metal and
neoprene “corks,” several ID charms to place on the stem of the wine glasses
(you could probably also hook them on the edge of your mason or jelly jar.)
This was all kept neat and readily available on a wooden rack that Muriel also
makes. Muriel has raised the bar on the local stopper business, nice job
.
Debbie Hatchey – turned
some pens from corian. It was her first attempt using this type of material,
and she was quite successful with it.
Gordon Fritz turned pens
and light pulls from material he purchased from Fiberon of Buffalo. This
material is similar to diamondwood, which as the name implies, is very hard.
Who said you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?
Mike Hatchey – showed
several urns that he turned on commission. Mike used brass threaded inserts to
screw the tops to the bodies of the urns. It was a very effective method to
secure the tops. Mike’s turning has enjoyed a quantum leap in both quality and
design lately.
Gary Jones, one of our
newer turners, displayed his creative side by turning an oil lamp from walnut
and crafting a top for it made from slate. Quite impressive.
Jay Ferrand – once again
showed his preference for exotic woods.
Jay crafted two small bowls from Australian She Oak and Eucalyptus.
They were very well crafted.
Ann Raby turned a wedding
goblet for her own upcoming wedding. Jim Hillburger taught Ann this type of
turning. She says hers are now better than his. (Grin) No comment on that
claim, but Ann’s goblet was a dandy.
Jim Hillburger brought two
of his goblets to show the group. These were turned from walnut and as we expect from Jim, the craftsmanship
was excellent.
Rick Wierzbicki – showed us
his pool cue turned from Fiberon. It was Rick’s first attempt and he obtained
really fine results. Now he says, he has to find ways to reduce the weight of
the cue so it is within tournament limits.
Kurt Hertzog - Kurt has
been busy. He brought six bowls of various woods; a lidded box made from a sea
urchin and also a series of spin tops was included. I don’t know where Kurt
finds the time to do all that turning , but he does and he does it very well.
Bill (Norfolk island-pine) Perry brought along his latest endeavor, an oil lamp turned from (you guessed
it) Norfolk island-pine. Just to throw us off he added a “Revere Bowl” turned
from a local Florida wood called “earwood.” Both pieces were up to Bill’s high
standards.
Demonstration
Paul Putt, delivered the
evening’s demo program. Paul explained his methods for adding decoration, both
carving and painting, to enhance his turnings. Paul talked about the tools
needed and where the ideas came from. He also explained where he does this work
and how he finds it therapeutic in nature. Paul is comfortable in front of a
crowd, which keeps his audience both attentive and relaxed. It was a fine demo,
of interest to all who attended. Thanks, Paul.
June demo
Because Jim (chips flying)
Hillburger has asked for more time to do his demo, we will shorten the
business portion of the meeting as much as possible. It will be important to
keep announcements, etc, short and to the point. Thank you for your indulgence.
Elmer’s Corner
I recently heard a quote on the radio, by an unknown author, that sums up
my turning experience. See if you agree.
“It takes minutes to learn but a lifetime to master.”
Notice
Except for important announcements the June NL will be the last
newsletter until September.
Goin’ Fishin’
Keep Turnin’