As The Wood Turns June 2003

As The Wood Turns Internet Version

June 2003

CWTC Meeting 7 PM 2^ndTuesday of each month

Location: Woodcraft Supply Store, 1280 E. Dundee Rd, Palatine IL
847-774-1186

In this Issue
> Curls from the President
> Jim Brooks — Metal Spinning
> Demonstrators Schedule
for meeting nights & weekend Master Demos
> CWT Mentors
> June Meeting Note’s
> June Gallery — See Gallery section of web site

Curls From the President’s Platter
By Paul Shotola

Father’s Day has come and gone, and my girls and my wife gave me wonderful gifts.
In 29 years of fatherhood, I think this is the first year that I received a gift that I really needed and wanted. There was the year I got a table saw, but I picked it out, went to the store myself, and also paid for it. They know I don’t wear a tie, except for weddings and funerals, and my girls know that I don’t wear t-shirts that proclaim my personality or politics (I’d rather be…, or I survived a trip to…). So I guess I’m hard to shop for. These gifts were truly from the heart, and didn't require any action on my part, except to enjoy them. So what were the gifts? Two days in the shop without any interruptions. That sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? Maybe not so fun for a production turner, but for a non-retired hobbyist that normally works 6 days a week, this is heaven.

How did I spend those 2 days? I had a mental list of all the things that I wanted to accomplish: Sharpen all the chisels, carving tools and plane irons. Empty the dust collector. Tune up the table saw. Make some drawers for a shop cabinet. Take a nap. Add some lighting over the lathe. And about 30 other things in the shop that get let go or put off to another day. You have a similar list, I’m certain. And what happened? I made one drawer. Yup, that’s all that got checked off of my list. I never even got the nap. However, I did turn and finish a walnut platter that had been roughed for about a year, and turned a little closed vessel that had been calling me for months. That lathe is an addiction, and a demanding mistress. But I love it.

Why is that the case? Why is the lathe so much more interesting than say, the chop saw? When you put it in those terms, it sounds silly. The chop saw makes square cuts. That piece of wood is then joined to another square piece of wood, and eventually you have a bedroom suite. Boring. With the lathe, however, you start with a lump of wood, hopefully larger than the finished piece you have in mind, and through careful, skilled hand manipulation, end up with art, or at least serious craft work. Or maybe just a pile of shavings. But it was done by hand. Most woodworking machinery is just a jig and a motorized cutter. Your lathe is a means to bring the wood to your hand held tool, without a jig, without a fence, to enable you to create forms that cannot be created in any other way. That’s freedom.

And for Father’s Day this year, thanks to all of my girls, I had a couple of free days.
I’ll hone those plane irons next year.

Until July, turn lots, thank your family, and turn safely.

Paul Shotola
Email address: p.shotola@comcast.net

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Jim Brooks — Metal Spinning

Meeting Demonstrators 2003
July 8
Pixie Eslinger — Wood Turning & Carving

See Fran Islin to sign up to
be a demonstrator

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Weekend Master Turner Demo Schedule

Steve Sinner, Iowa — August 23, hands on After

Nick Cook, Georgia — Sept 20-21

Alain Mailland, France — Oct 11-12,
No hands on After

For More on Master Turners Demonstrations, see Demonstrations Page

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CWT Mentors
The following individuals have volunteered as mentors. Their contact information is listed in the CWT roster, available at our monthly meetings and on the Yahoo club website. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ChiWT/
(You must be a CWT member to access the Yahoo website)

Name Teaching Level

,	City	Starter	1-2 Years	2+ Years	Advanced	$$$
Anderson, Dan	Itasca	X	X	X	X	,
Barbier, Harris	Lisle	X	X	X	,	,
Brooks, Jim	E Moline	X	X	,	,	,
Eovaldi, Tom	Evanston	X	X	X	,	,
Eslinger, John	Antioch	X	X	X
Friedman, Jim	Palatine	X	X	,	,	,
Hubbard, Gary	Rockford	X	X	X	X	X
Malmin, Bruce	Arlington Heghts	X
Olszewski, Tony	Palatine	X	X	X	,	,
Pho, Binh	Maple Park	X	X	X	X	X
Pyrick, Paul	Lisle	X	X	X
Rader, Darrell	Woodstock	X	X	X	,	,
Shotola, Paul	Vernon Hills	X	X	,	,	,
Sinner, Steve	Bettendorf, IA	X	X	X	X	X
Szakonyi, Ed	Roselle	X	X	X	X	X
Waterstraat, George	Elmhurst	X	X	,	,	,
Welch, Ted	Wilmette	X
Your Name Here?		,	,	,	,	,

Mentors have indicated the skill level that they are comfortable teaching.
This is not the same as their personal skill level. Some mentors may charge for their services, and have indicated so by checking the “$” column.
To add your name to this list, contact Paul Shotola

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Minutes of the June, 2003 CWT Meeting
by Marie Hunter

Paul Shotola opened the meeting with the usual welcome and a reminder of the rules and regulations. He asked members to clean up after themselves and to put their chairs away before leaving. He also told the members that we have permission to stay until 10:00 p.m. on meeting nights. This will be helpful to the demonstrators and the cleanup crew. Wayne Bernahl gave the Treasurer’s report. Andy Kuby introduced the evening’s guests and 2 new members. Membership stands at 182. All-day demos scheduled include Steve Sinner, August 23rd, Nick Cook on September 20th and Alan Maillan in October (date to be confirmed). Paul Shotola asked for volunteers to do various jobs for the demos, such as bringing the donuts, making the coffee, doing the setup for the video, and taking photos. At this point Paul did something that was comparable to poking a sleeping tiger. He jokingly said something to the effect that he got tired of having to look at Mike Wall pointing the camera at him. Mike got even.
He zeroed in on Paul’s dome and filled the large screen with what seemed like a blinding light. Did someone ask Paul what kind of finish he used on his scalp? Paul invited members to write articles for the newsletter. He suggested an article on David Nittmann would go well. He also thanked all the folks who made the David Nittmann demo such a success. Marie Anderson gave details of the College of Lake County exhibition of wood art. The show is titled Turned & Shaped: An Invitational Exhibition of Wood Art. It will run July 3 to August 8, 2003. All members are invited to the show and to the reception on Friday, July 11th, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
The address is College of Lake county, 19351 West Washington Street, Grayslake, IL The gallery is located in the west wing of the main building. Kudos to Carole and Bill Floate for a great newsletter. There are 4 turning clubs in the Florida panhandle that will be using the newsletter as an example of what a great newsletter should look like. Carole will be doing a turning demo at a gift gallery in Wilmette on Saturday, June 14th. Larry Jensen of Chesterton, Indiana was a guest. He invited club members to submit slides of work to the committee of the “Works in Wood” exhibit which will run October 4th thru October 31st in Chesterton, Indiana. Deadline for submissions is July 3rd. September 13th was chosen as the date for the CWT picnic at Darrell Rader’s farm near Woodstock. Darrell mentioned a new ice cream maker that is crying to be used. Marie Anderson was appointed to think up a challenge for the turning competition for the picnic. George W. gave the news that Dick Sing donated a copy of his new book about turning bowls to the club library. Many thanks Dick. Dennis Sullivan mentioned that he knows someone with a black cherry tree that needs to be taken down. If you are interested, call Dennis. Larry Fornecker is a dealer for Stubai carving tools. Club members get a 10% discount. Catalogs are on the freebie table. Thanks to Dick Stone for his efforts in getting donations for the raffle table. Thank you letters will be put into the newsletter and a copy of the newsletter will go to the people who made the donations. The collaborative project is still in the works for the 2004 A.A.W. Symposium. The raffle was held. Robin Fraser, a member of the Quad Cities Turning Club, was a lucky winner. Harris Barbier did the
gallery review. The gallery was a class act. The youngest turner, 10 years of age, had a pen and a small bowl on the review table. Harris was impressed with the items and the turner got a round of applause for each piece. He’ll be a world class turner some day. Jim Brooks did a demo of metal spinning. He had used the club scholarship award to pay for a lesson to learn something about spinning metal. Thanks, Jim, for an interesting demo.

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Chicago Woodturners 2002
A Chapter of the American Association of Woodturners
Last Updated October 19, 2006