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March Meeting Demonstration

Michael Anderson

Captured spin top

In the demonstration, Michael Anderson will show you how to make a 4-piece “captured” spin top where the spin top and spin platform are attached yet still mobile. The process includes spindle turning, bowl turning, drilling on the lathe, and using calipers to precisely size turned components. Michael will also discuss aspects of form, function, and appropriate finishes.

For Michael, wood is the ideal medium for his bowls and sculptural work.  He currently lives in Chattanooga, TN and teaches at Chattanooga State Community College. Prior to finding wood art, Michael spent time climbing rocks, searching for frogs and salamanders, and hiking around to marvel at giant trees. Following the birth of his first child, Michael found himself lacking in the time and desire to be away from his growing family. When he bought a lathe in 2021, Michael was elated to feel the same sense of exploration and wonder as he had before. Those feelings were amplified when he combined woodturning with other skills. While the wood lathe is Michael’s principal tool, he frequently devotes considerable additional time to refining his pieces post-turning via hand and power carving, pyrography, and painting.  

Michael has demonstrated for clubs throughout the country and is the admin for several online forums including AAW and World of Woodturners. His work was selected for the Best of Tennessee Craft Biennial Exhibition on display at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts through 2024.

“My favorite pieces tell a story. They also encourage interaction, such as turning a bowl over to find a hidden surprise on the bottom. I find great joy when someone sees my work and wants to know more.”

Instagram Gallery:  https://www.instagram.com/ulmus.woodturning/

Profile: https://newsouthfinds.com/michael-anderson/

Examples of his work:

Show & Tell Photos

Annual December Contest - Turn a Bowl Winners

KC Kendall elected President of the American Association of Woodturners

Congratulations to OVWG member KC Kendall who will be the new president of the international American Association of Woodturners (AAW) organization (woodturner.org). With more than 13,000 members and over 365 local chapters globally, AAW members include amateurs, hobbyists, professionals, gallery owners, collectors, tool and equipment suppliers, and others.

KC was a two-term past president of the Guild and is an Honorary Lifetime Member. He championed the development of the Learning Center and has co-chaired several symposiums.

AAW Turning of the Week: Gabriel Hoff

American Association of Woodturners selected member Gabriel Hoff’s lidded box as the AAW Turning of the Week. Please give it a “like”, share with your friends, and follow AAW on Facebook.

From AAW: “Gabriel Hoff's boxes are elegant, pure and displays a classic design. Regardless the wood species, he manages to create a beautifully turned box.”

According to Gabriel: “This box is really a stunner from all aspects, grain, spalting, and design! Turned from a blank of American Beech (Fagus grandifolia) gifted to me from my woodturning teacher, this box has a lot going on with the grain. The spalting is really intense, and the color variation and grain flecking is really pronouced. Style features include a true round bottom, chamfered rim, and domed lid. Turned, hollowed and finished with only wax. This box really turned out well, the wood was not too punky, and it took sanding and finishing very nicely!”

New Classes - sign up now, classes are filling up.  Check the Calendar for more classes and skill building sessions….

Fundamental Tool Control and Cutting Edge Presentation for Spindle Turning 

Dozens of short exercises will introduce and build fundamental skills and concept understanding to enhance spindle turning projects. The emphasis will be on learning and practicing tool control fundamentals: body positioning; posture; arm and body mechanics; and handle grips; using a number of short exercises. Concepts that will be explained include riding/gliding/floating the bevel, raising the handle to lower the cutting edge, supported and unsupported cuts, ghost images, and more.

New class added for April at Tool Control When Spindle Turning - 4/7/2025

Basic Lidded Box

Learn to turn a basic lidded box. We will take a blank through shaping, hollowing, lid fitting and sanding. Tools used will include gouges, scrapers, chucks, and sanding supplies.

The lid should be easy to remove but provide a tight fit. The orientation of the wood grain is parallel to the lathe as the wood is shaped and the end hollowed. Components of the box include the tenon, base, joint and lid.

Sign up for the 3/8/2025 session at Making a basic box - 3/8/2025

RIBBLES! (Multi-Axis)

Begin the adventure with a cylindrical turning blank. Then, turning on several axes yields a basic six-ribbed shape. After mounting this on another axis, further turning offers a huge range of shaping opportunities, such as ‘flowers’. Intermediate turning skills are necessary. Much of the turning involves interrupted cuts and deep narrow cuts require good tool control when using a small blank. This project was demonstrated at the February 2024 OVWG monthly meeting. A handout is available on the OVWG website. ‘Ribble’ is a nonsense name, inspired by an old commercial – my “Ribbles have ridges”.

Get on the waitlist for the March 29 adventure at Multiaxis Turning with Ribbles - 3/29/2025

SAVE THE DATES

Basic Platters

Bob Henrickson demonstrated the basics of platter turning. Methods of mounting on the lathe for turning the face and finishing the base were reviewed for members to apply on their work piece. Design options were discussed to provide opportunities for various types of later embellishment.

Peppermills

KC Kendall demonstrated how to make a peppermill from layout, shaping, drilling and assembly.

Cross Drill Ornaments with Inlays

As an intermediate class, we learned how to make a Christmas ornament using a cross-drill technique and advanced spindle turning skills. After cross-drilling a hardwood cube, the cube was turned to created a globe. Laminates (snowflakes and dog paws) were then inlayed into the cube. A cap and finial were turned to complete the ornament.

Bird House Ornaments

As the holiday season approaches, we found ourselves looking for special gifts for special people. For woodturners, small gifts that will have special meaning for others are well within reach. With a little imagination and the use of wood scraps, the class made birdhouse ornaments that relatives and friends will treasure for years to come.

Demonstrator Class: Winged Bowls

Following his demonstration at the October monthly meeting, national woodturner Jamie Donaldson guided class participants through the process of making their own Winged Square Turning and Winged Bowl. He covered the process of sharpening the tools as well.

Segmented Vessel Week

It was segmented vessel week at OVWG in August.  Jess Parrett led a two-part hands-on class that provided techniques for creating segments using a table saw sled, gluing segments into rings, and gluing rings on the lathe to create a rough vessel blank to finish at home.  Dan Gingerich, John Peters, and Terry Elfers provided instructional support and shared various techniques in making segmented pieces.

Offset Plate:

Bob Henrickson led the group in turning a different sort of plate by creating a plate using both offsets and tilts to produce a striking effect. The domed center provided a focal point for embellishment. Using a jam chuck, the back side of the platter was shaped into an ‘ogee’ curve. 

Cheese Platter:

KC Kendall provided the ingredients to create a cheese platter with a marble insert.  A tasty tip to share - repurpose a mortise.  A mortise on the top side is used to finish the bottom side of the platter.  If the marble insert in the center is set up to be removable, the mortise can also be used to hold a similar sized bowl for chip dip.

Introduction to Woodturning and the OVWG Learning Center

The latest group of new members attended the free monthly orientation to the Ohio Valley Woodturners Guild and our Learning Center. They were acquainted with a brief history of the OVWG that started back in 1988 and how we've grown as a friendly group of people who love to turn wood. The operation of the Learning Center was reviewed and how this great resource can help the journey of learning to turn wood and finding out what kinds of things you can make. 

Safety is a high priority for the OVWG in all of our activities. The parts of the lathe were reviewed and how to be safe when working on the lathe, as well as use of other tools in the workshop. An introduction to sharpening was provided as well.

Attendees used the lathes for spindle turning as a hands on introduction to woodturning by making a bead & cove stick, since beads and coves are the key design elements of many things around us every day. 

Embellishment Tools & Techniques

As an intermediate class, attendees observed the use of a variety of embellishment tools and the associated turning techniques for each, and was then able to try each out on the lathe. Demonstrated tools included the following:

• Point Tool
• Knurling Tool
• Chatter Tool
• Spiraling Tool
• Beading Tool
• Teardrop Tool
• Elf Tool

Intermediate Skills: Jam Chucks

In the July Intermediate Skill Building session, techniques using jam chucks to turn and shape round objects were demonstrated. Attendees created a jam chuck to hold a round work piece in place for turning and repositioning as needed to create a desired shape.

Intermediate Skills: Ball-and-Cup

It was time to have fun making a Ball-and-Cup toy in Bev Connelly’s Skill Building Session for Intermediate members.  In a round about way, the session started with making a sphere and then designing a cup to fit the sphere - all from the same workpiece blank.  Techniques included sphere making, hollowing with a Forster bit, caliper measure, and creating pieces that fit inside another. With Bev and Mark’s expert guidance in efficiently turning the workpieces, the biggest challenge was catching the ball in the cup.