The April meeting of the Central Illinois Woodturners was held on April 14th in Peoria where Dave Lee gave a demonstration on inlaying materials into wood. There were 34 members and guests. We welcomed Matt Stribley and Joe Landon as new members.

2008 AAW Symposium will be in Richmond, VA, from June 20-22. The AAW website for further information is www.woodturner.com

The Spring edition of "American Woodturner" magazine, page 5, right sidebar, middle item, announced that our club qualifies as a "Star" club. In recognition, the club will be presented with a plaque at the national symposium in Richmond and will recieve a turning DVD set. Keith Zimmerman will represent our club at the National symposium and will accept the plaque. Other members that may be present are welcome to accompany Keith to accept the plaque.

April 2008 AAW Board Letter
From Frank Amigo
The Love and Lure of Wood Turning
I have been turning since the mid-seventies, and one of the most common things I have heard from other turners is that they have taken a class, whether formal or with a turner that they know, and are now hooked on turning. This is an expression I too have used. I hooked myself and drove it deeper after seeing John Jordan demonstrate and even more so after taking a class at Arrowmont with Michael O’Donnell. I taught two basic courses a semester at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts from September 1990 until I moved to New Mexico in 2000. Most of my students claimed to be hooked on turning and joined our local chapter, the Chesapeake Woodturners. These same people fed our master classes and had the chance to study with David Ellsworth, Al Stirt, John Jordan, Bonnie Klein, Johannes Michelsen, Michele Holzapfel, and Michael Peterson, among others. Talk about being hooked after that!

The popularity of wood turning is obvious to most members of the American Association of Woodturners, an organization that has grown from a handful of members to over 13,000 in just twenty years. My first chapter, the Chesapeake Woodturners has split three times in its short 18 years and is still a large chapter.

As a very successful craft, wood turning continues to draw people. I used to say that it was the perfect American craft in that it gave almost instant gratification. When doing a wood-working project, it is sometimes months between the drawing and having something approaching a finished product, but put a hunk of wood on the lathe, and you can have a finished piece in under two hours.

This was not the reason I was drawn to, and fell in love with, our craft. As hobbies, I first practiced wood-working, then lapidary and silver-smithing, and then wood carving. In lapidary and silver-smithing no one would show you how to do anything unless you took a formal class, and there were still a lot of secrets that were never shared. In carving, I was helping a friend who owned an antique store. I replaced carvings that were broken or missing. No one would share their secrets on repair or finishing. I went to some AAW sponsored functions, and there were people like David Ellsworth and John Jordan showing folks all of their techniques. The openness of turners is the greatest lure of our craft, that and their friendliness.

We talk about the American Woodturner, the Resource Directory, and the symposiums as the reasons for joining the AAW. They are good reasons, but the best is the brother and sister-hood, friendliness and sharing. Ask any member.

July 6 - "Art in the Park" weekend at Wildlife Prairie Park. Roger Buss from Woodcraft would like our club to be represented at the booth to demonstrate. We can also sell our work at the event.

July 25, 26, 27, 2008 - Chicago Woodturners is sponsoring a symposium at the University of Saint Mary of the Lake, Mundelein, IL 60060, North Chicago Suburbs. The website is: http://www.chicagowoodturners.com/. A link to the flyer with more details is: http://www.chicagowoodturners.com/symposium/flyer.pdf

Baby Fold (Normal) - John Katzke reports that the Baby Fold in Normal is asking for donations of ornaments for Christmas trees the organization sells to raise money. Each tree is "pre-decorated" then raffled off. Please keep the Christmas spirit alive all year by making two or three ornaments that are 2" -5" tall and weigh under 4 oz. Bring them to the Peoria Woodcraft store and they will be on display throughout the year.

Details of the requested ornaments are as follows:
• Each ornament tagged w/ makers name, wood types used, and value.
• Have them marked " Baby Fold/John Katzke"
• Deliver after March 15, so John has time to set up display area.
• Price them appropriately so that the Baby Fold has an idea of their value

The April tool raffle winners were John Katzke, who selected a finished walnut bowl, Terry Quiram, who selected a walnut bowl blank, and Dave Kraft, who selected a set of digital calipers. The winners of the Show-n-tell raffle were Mike Caperelli, who won a Craft Supplies gift certificate, Hod Bailey, who won a bottle of CA glue, and Larry Moreau, who won a bowl blank.

Ten members brought pieces to show this month. Photos of their pieces are scattered throughout this newsletter.
Jerry Rhoads showed us a Burl hollow form.
Jim Meizelis had a birdhouse with a Barley twist that was assembled from various species of wood.
Dave Lee showed us a Burl hollow form that demonstrated the epoxy inlay he discussed in his demo.
Joe Landon showed us several bowls, among them was a large Maple bowl and Catalpa bowl.
Dave Brown brought a segmented vessel made from several species of wood.
Dennis Belcher was very proud happy to show us his very first peppermill and some doorstops he turned. See his design for them.
Mike Caperelli showed us an Ambosia Maple bowl and a Cherry bowl.
Dave Kraft showed us two inside-out Christmas ornaments.
Hod Bailey brought bowls made from Mulberry and Maple to show us.
Larry Moreau showed us a "Talking Stick" he made for his church. It is intended to organize meetings at his church.

See the Show-n-tell photos of our members showing and discussing their pieces.

This month we had two demonstrations. The first was done during the monthly meeting by Don Lee and the second was done by Duane Leech from Indianapolis. Don's demo was about inlaying materials into wood as an embellishment. He discussed the differences between inlace and inlay and showed us the many different types of inlay materials that can be used. He provided several different handouts for everyone to take to help them use this embellishment technique. Dave had several handouts available. They can be found using the following links:

In our second Demo this month, Duane Leech came over from Indianapolis to demonstrate several techniques he uses in his turning. He demonstrated how to turn a pierced lid for a box in a process he calls "Groovey Lids". He also demonstrated how to turn a winged bowl from a branch and how to embellish bowls with rose-like pierced areas. There will be tutorials created about turing a pierced lidded box and turning a winged branch bowl. An announcement email will be sent out when they are available.

To create his "Groovey" lidded boxes, Duane uses a custom jig that allows him to offset the top of the lid so he can use a tool of his own design to cut concentric circles in the wood. After completing the outside of the lid, there is a set of offset circles on it. He then mounts the lid into his chuck and cuts concentric circles in the top surface, making sure to cut only deep enough to pierce the circles from the outside. When finished, the effect is stunning and makes one wonder, "how did he do that?"

The winged branch bowls start with a section of a branch, just short of the swing of your lathe, mounted between centers. Carefully turning the piece at a slow speed, a tenon is turned on the tailstock side of the piece and the remainder is evened up and shaped so the entire piece is balanced. Starting with the outside edges of the wings, they are carefully turned a section at a time to minimize vibration and flex. Once the wings are turned, if a bowl form was left in the middle, it can be hollowed. If no bowl form is desired, the bowl is ready to finish the bottom. The last step is to finish the bottom with the foot you desire.

The final demo Duane did was to show a tool he made that allows a bowl to be hollowed to a perfect arc.