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of southwest florida

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Club Newsletter

september 2019

from the top

"You'll never know until you try."

I can't begin to count the number of times I've heard those words in my head throughout my modest years in life.

This past Saturday, those words resonated in an unexpected way while hosting local Girl Scouts for a woodturning experience. 

I have little experience at coordinating a group event, let alone one involving other people's children.  "Strangers in my shop!" and "Stranger Danger!" were bouncing to-and-fro in my head as my morning drive took me closer to the club shop.  My fellow board officers handled most everything, but I couldn't shake the feeling that somehow me as club president would still be held responsible good or bad.

On the drive in, I'll admit I was anxious.  If this went well, we would get a much-needed boost to the community outreach potential of the club.  If this went poorly, these young ladies would probably never return.

But, you can either focus on the potential failure or you can focus on the potential reward.  I reminded myself one last time "You'll never know until you try" and stepped out of my truck in the parking lot.

By the end of the morning the guests were ecstatic, the members were smiling ear-to-ear and the parents were asking when we could it again.  I could tell the day was a big hit for everyone involved.

I guess now I know.

in this issue

This month's Featured Work

This month I'm featuring some of the pens made by Girl Scouts at our special event. 

Member Craig Meyer went to incredible lengths to organize each turner with bushings, kits, finishing supplies and professional blank castings. 

septmber 2019 Club Meeting

The September 2019 Woodturning Club meeting began with a brief show-and-tell to give more time for the featured presentation.  A few club matters were discussed such as:

Several club logo t-shirts are available for sale on the club website or at any club meeting.

A new meeting format will be tested for the October meeting.  The October meeting will begin an informal Show-and-Tell at 6:00pm with the official meeting starting at 6:30pm.   Members arriving early are encouraged to tour and discuss show-and-tell pieces between 6:00pm and 6:30pm.   We'll see how this goes and if we like it, we'll stick with it going forward.

Club President Joe Payne is continuing work on soliciting donations from various woodturning companies around the country.  These donations will be available to bid for the silent auction during the annual Christmas dinner.

Reminders for upcoming events include both the Beth Ireland demonstration Saturday November 9th and the Annual Christmas Dinner December 3rd.  Registration is required for both events and available online at the club website.  Just click the Events menu at the top.

Final discussions for the Girl Scouts special event too place with compliments to member Craig Meyer for his working preparing the club.  

Open shop Saturday

September Open Shop Day

September 21, 2019

Open shop Saturday was a special event for everyone.  This month the club hosted 5 young ladies from three different local Girl Scouts troops. 

Each troop member was paired with a club member to learn about making pens.  Both a wood and acrylic pen were included and provided by member Craig Meyer.  Craig even made custom acrylic pens with the Girl Scouts logo.  Each young lady got to take home the pens they made. 

I'm happy to say nobody blew a pen blank and everyone (young and old) had a great experience!


Featured presenter

Steve Johns
Bowl Turning Basics

Steve Johns provided an excellent demonstration on basic bowl turning techniques at this month's meeting.  Several tips and chips were provided throughout the presentation. 

Full video of this presentation is available to active club members on the club website under the Members->Past Presentations menu option.


THIS MONTH'S TIP

Understanding Grain

I saw this in a recent AAW tutorial on exploring grain direction.  A pretty clever way to explain how wood grain works so I wanted to share with the club.



AAW National News

WIT exchange event

The Women In Turning eXchange event is scheduled to take place September 5th - 7th in Gatlinburg, Tennessee at the Arrowmont Arts & Crafts School.  Find out more details on the AWW WIT Event page.

Upcoming Events

Chapter 120
American Association of Woodturners


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3061 E Riverside Dr
Fort Myers, FL 33916

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