Next Meeting

Our next meeting will be held in room 2470 on Monday, November 6^th at 7PM. Remember to bring in your items for the "instant gallery". We will be turning this month featuring Doug Crittenden demonstrating the bowl gouge.

Introduction to Woodturning

This all day session will cover the basics of turning. It will be focused on the non-turning woodworker interested in learning the basics of woodturning. The class topics will include: safety, tools, equipment, types of turning, basic tool selection, stock preparation, proper tool use, and tool sharpening basics. Attendees of the class will all have the opportunity to do some basic turning with guidance of an instructor. The cost of the workshop is $20 (lunch included) for RWS members. It will be held in room 2530 (the 3D room) in the Booth Building at RIT. The class will begin at 9AM.

Wood Available

Wendell Smith passed this along - A friend of mine, Paul Kopel, called me last evening to inform me that he is moving to Philadelphia the middle of next month (retirement). He has some wood that he would like to sell, so I thought I would pass on the info. He has some 8/4 and 4/4 teak, 8/4 and 5/4 zebra, some chunks of wenge and padauk. If interested, his phone number is 442-8593. He lives near Highland Ave. Don't know if it's suitable for turning or more suitable for non-turning projects.

Display Table

We have a full sized table for the SIG display at the next RWS pre-meeting. That night features the famous turner Alan Lacer so let’s put on a good show. The meeting is Friday, November 3^rd. The pre-meeting display starts at 7PM. Bring your best and don’t be afraid to bring too much. We will be having a pre-meeting table at all of the RWS lectures from now on.

New Officers

The officers for next year were elected at the last meeting. Your officers for next year are President - Doug Crittenden; Vice President – Bill Tschorke; Treasurer – Don Osborn; and Secretary – Ed DeMay. The new officers will attend the BOD meetings for the balance of the year to effect an orderly transition. The new officers will take office on January 1^st.

Thank you

A special "thank you" to Steve Loar, Dave Chinnici, and Bob Dugan for their kind donations of wood to the SIG. It all has a new home and we look forward to seeing the items made from the donations.

Minutes of the BOD meeting of 10/11/00

Doug Crittenden called the meeting to order at Ward Donahue’s house at 6:10 PM. In attendance were Doug Crittenden, Ward Donahue, Ed DeMay, Kurt Hertzog, and Don Osborn. Bill Tschorke was unable to attend.

Kurt reviewed the October meeting to fill Doug in on the events. It was decided to push the FLW table at the pre-meeting as we move forward. We will emphasize it in the newsletter. The BOD approved the expenditure for the December meeting prize. It will be a set of turning project books from the AAW.

Ward informed the BOD of the passing of member Bill Kracji. His untimely death was due to cancer. Kurt will send a sympathy card to his wife in the name of the club.

There was discussion of suggesting club memberships as gifts for the holidays. This is complicated by the By-Laws requirement that members of the SIG must also be members of the RWS. The idea was shelved.

The RWS Introduction to Woodturning needs was discussed. There were no volunteers from the membership to teach the class. Kurt volunteered to teach the course. He had informed the RWS workshop committee that the SIG would provide the instructor and equipment. Dave Chinnici and Ed DeMay have offered to assist in the hands on portion of the workshop. The planned FLW Beginners Turning Class was put on hold since the RWS had announced their course first. We will run ours as a "next step" class at a future date.

The SIG still has some of the donations for it’s fundraising efforts. We still have ornaments and pens that did not sell at the Corn Cob show. Doug has volunteered to sell them at his upcoming show at the Dome.

The BOD discussed the passing of the baton to the new members. The hand off of the treasury will be handled between Ed and Don. The BOD will ask for a volunteer from the membership to "audit" the books and affect the transfer between the old and new treasurer. The transition of the Secretary’s job from Kurt to Ed will be handled during December. Ed will take over the responsibilities by the end of the year.

The demonstration for November will be the bowl and spindle gouge. Kurt will bring in his lathe and Doug will do the demo. Hopefully we will have our grant submitted and approved shortly after the first of the year. This will allow the SIG to purchase equipment of it’s own easing the burden of bringing in equipment.

The BOD discussed the possible need for an alternative site for holding our meetings. Currently we use RIT facilities but this no cost situation may be changing. Requests by RWS were handled through different channels and were informed that they needed to pay a nominal sum and provide or purchase insurance. This could force us to raise dues to pay for a meeting place or potentially find an alternative site. We will explore this further to be prepared.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:45 PM

KTH/kth
10/16/00

Minutes of the FLW meeting at RIT on 10/2/00

Kurt Hertzog called the meeting to order. Doug Crittenden was unable to attend. The meeting had two presentations for the evening so the normal order of business was adapted to accommodate the demonstrations.

The guests and presenters for the evening were recognized. The guests that evening were Mike Denick, James Duffy, and Ted VanZandt. Our guests introduced themselves and gave a brief description of their interests. The presentations for the evening were microwave drying by Ed Lehman and ornament fixtures and turning by Bill Tschorke. The officers present were introduced and gave their reports.

Ed Lehman began his microwave drying presentation. Because there were many drying and cooling cycles to be made, Ed’s presentation was broken into sections to weave into the business portion of the meeting. Ed brought in several examples of work in process. They were turned wet and then stored allowing for a controlled drying to take place. Ed showed the methods for drying and cooling that he has worked with over time. He also showed the amount of water that is typically removed from a piece during the drying process. Photos of the demonstration can be found here.

There were no items for the instant gallery. Kurt reviewed the plans for a "contest" for Christmas using the instant gallery. Every member bringing in an item for the instant gallery at the December meeting will receive one chance in the drawing, up to a maximum of three chances. The items can be newly turned or an old favorite. The winner of the drawing will win the three-book collection of turning projects from the AAW.

Minutes of the last meeting were approved as published on the website. Kurt reviewed the proposed By-Laws changes with the membership. It basically removed the position of the Activities Director and added those responsibilities to the Vice President’s position, along with some additional responsibilities. The By-Laws changes were then voted on and adopted as proposed. The revised By-Laws can be found here.

Volunteers were solicited for the FLW table at the RWS meeting. That responsibility will fall to the Vice President in the future. There was no volunteer so it was decided to encourage the members to bring something and see how it turned out. A volunteer was solicited to put on the RWS Introduction to Turning Workshop as the planned instructor had an unexpected conflict. There were no volunteers. A volunteer was solicited to be the host for Gary Wantiez, an upcoming visitor to the Rochester area. Jim Hotaling volunteered to contact and host the AAW visitor during his stay.

Kurt reviewed the status of pumps and bearings. He also noted that 2", best quality, mirrors for turned mirror projects were available from one of the Buffalo turners for $1.25 ea. Moisture meter handouts were passed around. This was timely as Ed Lehmans’ demonstration used a moisture meter to check the progress of his drying activities.

The floor was opened for nominations for officers for next year. As advertised, no one was strong-armed or embarrassed into "volunteering". The nominees had volunteered prior to the meeting and the volunteer nominees predetermined all of the offices. There were no additional nominees from the floor. The nominations were closed and the membership voted on the officers as presented. Doug Crittenden was elected as President. Bill Tschorke was elected as Vice President. Ed DeMay was elected as Secretary and Don Osborn was elected as Treasurer. They will take office on January 1^st of 2001. The new officers will be included in all activities of the current BOD to familiarize them with the responsibilities and ease the transition from the current to new board.

Ed Lehman finished his demonstration of microwave drying and we moved in to Bill Tschorke’s presentation. Bill had been a pattern maker and used many of the skills from that profession to make patterns, jigs, and fixtures for his turnings. Bill showed a hanging ornament that he had made in the past. The ornament was exquisite and unique. Bill explained the "tricks" that were required to make the seemingly unmake able turning. After a question and answer session by Bill, the meeting was adjourned.

Steve Loar contributed a pushcart full of wood from his collection to the SIG. This was wood that he had already matched and prepared for glue up. Steve also donated an extension arm for holding a tool rest on a large lathe. Dave Chinnici also donated walnut from his collection. This is wood that Bob Dugan had harvested from beams in a 100-year-old barn. The donations were picked clean by the members present. Thank you from the club to Steve, Dave, and Bob.

KTH/kth
10/16/00