This month will feature Turning an Off-center Platter by FLWT Vice President, Bruce Trojan. 

If you are interested in what it takes to turn an object offf-center on the lathe then this one is for you.  Bruce will teach us all about the entire process and the special techniques needed to produce a beautiful off-center platter.  Come out and join us for an informative night, enjoy the company and and learn some new turning techniques.

Hope you can all make it!

Last year, Finger Lakes Woodturners applied for an Educational Opportunity Grant (EOG) from our parent organization The American Association of Woodturners (AAW).  Our request was for grant proceeds to support purchasing additional educational materials for our library and for new mini-lathes and equipment to support our efforts to teach the art of Woodturning.  In April of 2011 we were awarded a grant of $750 to support our efforts.

We are pleased to announce that with the proceeds from the EOG grant and minimal additional club funds we have purchased a selection of additional books and DVD’s for our growing library and also two mini-lathes from Penn State Industries.  This gives the club more educational material on woodtutrning and two great lathes to support workshops and demos for our members and the general public.  Thanks to all who participated in the grant application and of course to the AAW for providing us with the funds to improve the capabilities of our club.

Pictured above, you can see one of the two mini-lathes and the accessories that came with it.

Subsequent to the run in the Victor post, the article was run in all of the area Messenger Post newspapers, here.

This month will feature a demonstration of turning a 5-inch Hand-held Mirror by Mike Hachey.

This project will give you an opportunity to develop both face grain and spindle turning skills with the added bonus of creating a nice gift item. Please join us at the next meeting to see the project turned from start to finish.

Hope you can all make it!

This month will feature Hollowing Tools and Techniques using Green Wood by FLWT President, Mark Mazzo. 

If you’ve ever wanted to learn about what it takes to create hollow-turned vessels, this one is for you.  Hollowing is sometimes looked at as too difficult but really it just takes a few tools and some patience and perseverance.  Hollow forms can be made in all sizes and a small form is well within everyone’s reach. At the meeting, Mark will show you a selection of tools used to turn, measure and hollow green wood and he will demonstrate the procedure for mounting and hollowing a small vessel starting with a small green log.

Hope you can all make it!

For our November meeting, Finger Lakes Woodturners hosted Malcolm Zander who is known for his exquisite forms and delicate pierced details.

Malcolm did a Friday night lecture on Form and Design in Woodturning and followed that up with a lecture and demonstration on his techniques for thin-walled turning using dry wood on Saturday morning.  On Saturday night eight FLWT members tried their hand at applying the techniques that Malcolm taught with their own thin-walled bowls.  Turnout for all of the segments from FLWT members as well as members from other area woodturning clubs was great.

For more details and pictures on the event and take a look at our December Newsletter and the associated photo gallery.

FLWT is hosting national turner Malcolm Zander (www.malcolmzander.com) for our November monthly meeting.  Mr. Zander is known for his elegant thin-turned forms with delicate piercing details and he will be speaking at a special Friday evening club meeting on November 18th.  His talk that evening will be on his work and his thoughts on woodturning design.  On Saturday morning November 19th, Malcolm will be demonstrating his techniques for doing thin-walled turning with dry wood – he has some unique techniques for turning thin with dry rather than green wood.  On Saturday afternoon, Malcolm will host eight FLWT members to try their hand at what they learned turning a thin-walled vessel.

Our Friday night meeting starts with a show and share at 6:00pm with a short business meeting and Malcolm’s lecture beginning at about 6:30pm.  The Saturday morning demonstration of thin-walled turning will be from 9:00am until approximately 11:00am and the Saturday afternoon hands-on workshop will run from 1:00pm until approximately 4:00pm.  The Friday meeting is of course free and open to all.   The Saturday morning demonstration is also open to all and is only $10.  The Saturday afternoon hands-on is open to intermediate turners that attend both Friday night and Saturday morning and is only $30.  There will also be a small materials fee for the hands-on session that will be less than $10.  The details of the equipment needed for the hands-on session are included in the FLWT October newsletter.

Special Friday Night Meeting: November 18th, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Saturday Demonstration: November 19th, 9:00 am – 11:00 am

Saturday Hands-on Workshop: November 19th, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm

The Friday meeting and the Saturday demonstration and workshop will be held at our normal meeting place:

        Isaac Heating and Cooling Training Center 
        180 Charlotte St
        Rochester, N.Y. 14607

This year our club chose to participate in it’s first (for us) Chapter Collaborative Project for display and judging at the American Association of Woodturners (AAW) Annual Symposium in St. Paul Minnesota.  This project was the brainchild of Club Secretary, Bruce Trojan and involved the work of many of our members over a period of several months.  After its long trek to St. Paul, “Polyrhythm” – our symposium entry, went on display at the event.

The chapter collaborative entries were broken down into three categories: 1) Artistic, 2) Fantasy and 3) Technical/Mechanical.  We chose to enter Polyrhythm into the Fantasy category, though it would have also fit well as an Artistic piece.  There were twelve total entries and 4 in our category of Fantasy.  The great news is that FLWT’s Polyrhythm won our category!!  There was also a judging for best of show which we unfortunately did not win, however we should all be very proud of our results with FLWT’s inaugural entry as a chapter collaborative.

Thanks go out to Bruce Trojan for all of his efforts to design the piece and coordinate the build, as well as for transporting the piece to St. Paul.  Thanks also to all of the membership that took part in the effort – it was truly a collaborative effort that made this all come together.

In the pictures:  A few below of the prototype of the piece that was constructed out of foam, and above,  one of the finished piece with Bruce Trojan, Ed DeMay and Doug Crittenden at the symposium and another of the finished piece alone at Bruce’s house.

Congratulations FLWT!!!