blenchers, i.e., back row of

the audience.

More of Keith’s work can

be viewed at Woodturners

America, and he is a regu-

lar contributor to several

forums including AAW,

Woodturners America, and

World of Woodturners.

All of the above links are

available on our website.

It’s always fun to have

Keith Burns at one of our

meetings. In addition to

being just a downright nice

guy he is an outstanding

woodturner and is always

willing to share his knowl-

edge and talent with others.

He was an early supporter

of our new club in 2009,

doing one of our first dem-

onstrations, and he partici-

pated in our September

outdoor meeting last fall.

The topic of his demo at

our March meeting was

“Hollowing through a 1/2”

hole”. As is usually the

case with good demonstra-

tors he shared a lot of tips

and techniques throughout

the demo. Keith also dem-

onstrated what he calls his

“Ten minute finish”. Most

of his hollow forms are

finished by coating them

with Min-Wax Antique Oil,

rubbed for a few minutes

until somewhat dry, then

buffed on a three stage

buffing system (Beall or

similar) using Tripoli, White

Diamond, and Carnauba

Wax.

Keith cautioned that one

should always keep the

object on the lower half of

the buffing wheel. Then he

unintentionally demon-

strated what can happen by

launching the piece he was

buffing to about the third

row of the centerfield

Keith Burns — Hollow Forms & Finishing

Larry Sefton — Pyrography The April

meeting will

r e p r e s e n t

what prom-

ises to be an

i n t e r e s t i ng

change of pace from basic

woodturning. Larry Sefton

will build from scratch a

woodburning tool using a

battery charger and other

locally available parts. He

will also make various tips

from NiChrome wire for

use on that burner. After

the tool is built Larry will

then demonstrate using it

to do some actual pyrogra-

phy on woodturnings.

Larry is a safety engineer

for a major insurance com-

pany at his “day job”, and

an avid woodturner by

hobby. He is a member of

the Mid-South Woodturn-

ers Guild where he previ-

ously served as President.

This is one of many pieces

that can be found on his

blog at http://sefton.info/

in “Sandbox Time”.

April 2011 Volume 3 Issue 4

Inside this issue:

Woodworking at local school 2

Kearns at MSWG 2

Upcoming Events 2

Additional Resources 2

Minutes from March Meeting 3

Bulletin Board 3

Photos 4-6

West Tennessee WoodturnersWest Tennessee WoodturnersWest Tennessee WoodturnersWest Tennessee Woodturners NewsletterNewsletterNewsletterNewsletter

Officers

President: Bob Hobbs

Vice President: Kirk Smith

Secretary: Chuck Jones

Treasurer: Bill Smith

Librarian: Bill Wyche

Visit West Tennessee Woodturners

On Line at

www.wtnwoodturners.com

A friend, Mike Partridge, is the assistant principal at Huntingdon Middle

School. He is also a very active and talented woodworker, having made

enough furniture to fill several houses. A couple years ago he started an

extra-curricular woodworking shop at his school. It is completely volun-

tary and the students have to stay after school two days a week to partici-

pate. The level of interest has been quite high on the part of the dozen or

so participants. Mike has managed to accumulate a very nice complement

of woodworking tools including, table saw, band saw, drill press, scroll

saw, miter saw, belt sander, and all the necessary hand tools. As of a

couple weeks ago they have a new mini lathe, scroll chuck, a few tools,

and everything needed for pens.

Like most flat stock woodworkers, Mike’s experience with a lathe had

been limited to the occasional “between the centers” spindle work. Prior

to building a very nice table for the lathe only one of the students had

even seen one. Mike asked me if I would help them get started by doing a

little teaching and demonstrating. We had our first go at it March 10 and

I think the children really enjoyed it. I know I did. It was just plain en-

joyable to see a group of children happily “working overtime” on some-

thing so constructive. It is also reassuring to know that educators often go

above and beyond the required duties to facilitate learning experiences.

Our first session was smaller than usual due to an unexpected conflict

with a band activity. Apparently woodworkers can also be musically in-

clined. Whatever we lacked in numbers was overcome with enthusiasm.

There was no problem keeping their attention. I turned some spinning

tops, roughed out a small bowl and spent time explaining the basics of the

lathe and tools. Mike was almost as eager as the students to learn about

bowl gouges, scroll chucks, pen mandrels, etc.

Wouldn’t you have guessed? A girl got to try the lathe

first. Assertiveness on her part? Yeah. A bit of old fashioned

chauvinism on Mike’s part? Maybe.

Looking around I saw some amazingly nice projects they have

completed with the scroll saw and other flat work tools. I’m

thinking pretty soon they will be giving some of us older folks a

run for our money on the lathe also.

Woodworking at Local School

Our raffle has been rather small the last few meetings. Please keep in

mind that this is the primary method of raising funds for the club. Your

support is appreciated, both for bringing items and for buying tickets.

Raffle Needs A Boost

Page 2 Volume 3 Issue 4

By Chuck Jones

March 26 Bill Kearns will be demonstrating how he makes his

“Bowls from Boards” at the Mid-South Woodturners Guild.

Kearns Demo at MSWG

March 26—Bill Kearns demonstrating “Bowl from a Board” at Mid-South Woodturners Guild

April 9—Regular Meeting. Larry Sefton, Building and using a Woodburner

May 7—Regular Meeting. Skip Wilbur, (Tentative)

June 24-26—AAW 25 Anniversary Symposium—Saint Paul, Minnesota

Upcoming Events

Please keep in mind that in addition to resources available through our relatively small and new club, our members have other out-

standing resources available through the Association of American Woodturners (AAW) magazine and web site. Also, there are several

other larger and very active AAW chapters in Tennessee including Tennessee Association of Woodturners (TAW) in Nashville and Mid-

South Woodturners Guild (MSWG) in Memphis. Both TAW and MSWG have recently made major revisions to their websites and news-

letters. If you haven’t done so in the past few weeks, you should take a look. Links are available on our web site.

Additional Resources Available

The meeting was called to order by the president, Bob Hobbs.

• Guests and new members were introduced. There were twenty-five members and eight guests present.

• Members were reminded that we will be electing the new slate of officers at the May meeting. Everyone should be deciding who they

want to nominate. If the nominee’s agreement to serve is obtained in advance it will make the process go a lot smoother.

• The two challenges that Nick Matos organized were well received. We will attempt to make challenges a regular part of our meeting activ-

ity. The challenge for the April meeting will be to turn an ornamental birdhouse. The goal will be uniqueness and beauty of wood used.

It can be any type of wood and must be no more than 4” tall and 2” wide.

• Everyone was reminded to please fill out the card to identify the items they bring to the Instant Gallery, and to leave those cards at the

end of the meeting. Jerry Dawson has worked out a method to number the pictures and the cards so that he can match the information

to the pictures for the newsletter.

• Cecil Cravens noted that we need more chairs and he will not have a problem with more being brought in so long as they are stackable or

foldable to conserve minimize the space for storage. Bob Hobbs said he thinks he can come up with some. If not we will take another

approach.

• There are some new videos in the library.

• Anyone needing help with any aspect of woodturning is encouraged to take advantage of the Mentoring Program.

• Bob Hobbs is working on an arrangement for a discounted price on cyanoacrylate glue (CA, or Superglue) for club members.

• Starting June 1 (our third year) we will have three types of membership. Regular $25, Youth $15, and Family $35.

• Everyone is asked to remember the can for donations to cover the cost of the coffee.

Minutes from March 12, 2011

Page 3 Volume 3 Issue 4

Lathe For Sale Delta Mini Lathe with stand. Limited use — practically new.

$300 for lathe and stand, or will consider selling separately—

$175 for lathe & $125 for stand

Contact:

Hershel Miller

901-872-3355

Handmade Tools

Nick Matos builds a variety of small handmade tools using O1

tool steel. They are priced at $25-30 including a hardwood han-

dle.

If you are interested contact Nick at 731-584-5970.

Delta Homecraft Lathe For Sale A lady contacted me about selling a very old Delta lathe that had belonged to her husband. It is belt driven, probably a 12” swing and ap-

proximately 4’ between centers. It is belt driven and mounted on a cabinet along with a 6” grinder. There are also some older miscellaneous

lathe tools. She is asking $100 for the entire lot. Anyone interested can contact me for more information.

Bill Wyche — 731-988-8619

Please take time to meet and welcome our newest members. Barry Smith is new to woodturning and looking to buy a full sized lathe. He lives

in Henderson and works at Freed-Hardeman University. Danny Johnson lives in Sardis and is a retired educator, most recently with the Ten-

nessee State Department of Education. He is an avid woodworker and makes bowls with a “Ring Cutting Lathe”. He is just getting started

with woodturning.

Page 4 Volume 3 Issue 4

Burns Demo

Members Instant Gallery

Thanks to Jerry Dawson for the photos and labels.

Page 5 Volume 3 Issue 4

Members Instant Gallery—continued

Thanks to Jerry Dawson for the photos and labels.

Page 6 Volume 3 Issue 4

Members Instant Gallery—continued

Thanks to Jerry Dawson for the photos and labels.

The items below are just a few examples of the beautiful vessels “made” by a visitor, Danny Johnson. They were made on a

“Ring Lathe” using only flat boards. Danny has now joined West Tennessee Woodturners and is seriously thinking about ob-

taining a “real” lathe to add to his woodworking arsenal.