December 20, 2020
Our club is evolving and learning and improving as we adapt to this pandemic lifestyle. The ability to communicate from home has many benefits that (at least I) suspect wouldn’t have been thought of or accepted if they would have been suggested. Here are some of the advantages that I see observe.
1. You can attend the meeting from your home or wherever you happen to be as long as you have internet access.
2. Intimate, you can share as much or as little of your surroundings as you so choose. The camera angle that you choose and the background you share establish the mood you want to portray. (Now that I consider this, I could have had our Christmas tree as a background.) Makes me wonder how creative can all be as we share a part of our lives remotely.
3. Convenient, your home. How much easier can that be?
4. Economical, no travel expense.
5. Environmentally friendly, no energy consumed, no additional building needed so no carbon emission.
6. Safer, no danger of an accident or fear of driving in a winter storm.
7. Easier to show your work and to ask questions.
8. Easier to take notes and keep organized.
9. It doesn’t feel like there is a hierarchy. Everyone is equal from the camera lens of the computer.
10. No preparation or clean up after the meeting facility.
11. You can move away and still be a member.
12. You can actually record the meeting if you like and review later.
13. You can share / show a problem you are having and get immediate feedback. (Example, Jack made a “yarn” bowl and was looking for a way to keep the yarn ball in the bowl w/o compromising the appearance. John, who has an eye for details, suggested that he remove one of the segmented pieces and use the remaining hollowed out space as a treadway. (I didn’t think of it at the time but a lid or partial lid could be made and snap in place or just be heavy enough to hold the ball in place until spent.
14. Internet opens up membership to the world. If we add value we add to people’s lives, our club will grow if we want it to or we can restrict the size. Leadership is voluntary now and I don’t think we want to burden them. If we grow, we may want to hire an administrator.
There are oblivious disadvantages as well, of which, I will not go into aside from the obvious, loss of personal interaction and extra expense. Perhaps there is a way to set up subgroups that can meet in a members shop or a restaurant from time to time, post pandemic. (If this happens, perhaps residence adjacency could be a criteria.)
Enough of my rambling.
We have a fantastic group of officers in charge for the next two years.
John Fink -President, Mark Krecic -Vice President, Steve Kolpacke – Treasurer and Jeff Braunscheidel.
John will report the change to the AAW.
Following is a “screen shot” of those attending our last meeting. (Obtained by holding down the sift key, the command key and the 3 key at the same time on a Mac.) No will like their picture, sorry. For those of you that have not attended an online meeting, this is how it appears. Hope to see you in January. (Sophie is using her dad’s computer. Great to have a young person in the club.) Helps brighten the picture from all the grumpy appearing old men of which none are grumpy.
Time to pay your dues to Steve Kolpacke, 6767 Kings Mill Dr. Canton, MI 48187
Covid-19 special of $30.00 for 2021. However, if you can afford it $60.00. After all, isn’t the Zoom platform more convenient and it does raise our overhead.
Treasurer report, the club’s finances are in good shape even with the added burden of Zoom and the restricted raffle revenue as well as other fund raising opportunities. We are holding our own.
Jeff’s signature needs to be removed and John’s added to the checking account. Jeff needs to destroy the company’s credit card he has and John needs a new one.
Present
Steve Kolpacke, Jim Westgate, Jack Sisak, Erica Perry, John Fink, Mark Krecic, Dan Konyn, Karl Anderson, Karl Schmidt, Carroll Jackson, Sophie DiPirro, Brant Fries and Bill Anderson.
Safety- Tips and Tricks
No one was hurt and so a general discussion followed about stability of work on the lathe.
Plywood is dangerous to turn.
Always wear a face shield and always control dust. The heaver the object being turned, the more stout the face protection needed. Stories of flying pieces and resulting lose teeth, cuts and scars were shared. Be careful.
Richard Raffan, famous turner was brought up www.richardraffan.com
Keeping gravity in mind, Mark suggested that it’s best to pull air for filtering as low as possible in the room. Erica spoke of dangers of dust.
Jack shared a video of his shop and a picture of his yarn bowl and the super skew that he purchased from Penn State Industries. www.pennstateind.com Super skew item number LCWIZSK
Erica, asked to share Mark’s work space at the University. Lots and lots of big equipment and air control there.
Attached is a picture of a bowl that Mark recently finished.
Finished with poly urethane.
Jack shared a bowl that he made, Considering making a yarn bowl
Jack found a “Carbide Wizard Super Skew (4 sided) Item # LCWIZSK at Penn State Industries.www.pennstateind.com
Mark shared a platter that he made out of spalted Maple
To get spalted Maple, leave a log or piece of maple on the ground for 6 months.
David Ellsworth’s school of wood turning was mentioned. www.ellsworthstudios.com
Karl Schmidt, shared a bowl, pith in the center , Mark said put a satin oil base and cover with urethane, let dry for 30 days.
Brant Fries made gifts for family and linseed and walnut and maple.
Bill Anderson, Shared a roughed out elm bowl
Suggested that side walls are less likely to fail if thinner.
Bill looked into the Art Fair. The last two years have been a disaster. Art fair in in trouble. They will be reducing their price. Bill is considering investing doing the Fair. Looking for support
Next month, Art fair needs to be on the agenda.
Karl, AAW magazine this month. Nested bowls, asked about veneers
Jack bought a 5” diameter
John shared a Power Point some old tools that he picked up on line.
Also shared a shew
Karl, Why isn’t mahogany used more? Too expensive.
Karl- has a couple 10” boards to look at nesting bowls
Conversation about old tools continued.
John buys old tools.
Erica shared a YouTube video of a British guy picking up root balls and his epoxy treatment of themi
Alumalite – https://www.alumilite.com/resins/alumilite-clear/
A company in KZ that has epoxy and does demonstrations.
Mark walked us around the UOM workshop.
Next meeting January 17th
Send suggestions for next meeting w/in 2 weeks.