It shouldn’t surprise me that February’s already over. Even with the extra day, it seems like time is speeding up! I’ve heard that’s a sign that you’re aging, but I know that’s not true, because I’m still 35…
The completed wig stands from NCHS will be on display at the March meeting, and I will be dropping off a batch of wig stands to complete to the NCWHS art teacher on the 3rd. I think everyone will be intrigued by what the high school art students have done.
The new CIW Board held it’s first official board meeting in February and it was extremely productive! More information will be shared with the club at the March meeting, but I wanted to highlight one of the decisions that was made, since it will impact the club in a multitude of ways. The board agreed to 4 high level goals that are intended to provide focus for the club. Whatever we do, should align to one of these 4 goals:
- Increased Club Member Participation
- Increased Training
- Increased Public Visibility
- Increased officer accountability
To support these goals, the board discussed a wide range of activities that we can either begin, renew, or recommit to. We decided that throughout 2020, we will take intentional action on these four activities:
- More hands-on training for club members, outside of club meetings. This will most likely start with opening up Youthbuild on a weekend, once a month, where members can come to work on a project they’ve started and need help to complete, try to make something that was demonstrated at a club meeting, turn some wig stands, or anything else they’d like to get help with. Once we get the lathes from the AAW grant, this will be VERY easy to do, since there won’t be a need for people to bring equipment.
- More public demonstrations. Our club currently has commitments to the Summer Harvest Festival in Princeville (once per year), and the Spring and Fall open house at The Woodworker’s Shop in Pekin. These are not only fun to attend for members, it’s an excellent way to show the public what we do and what our art/craft is all about. We will look for additional venues to attend.
- Restart/revamp the club’s approach to mentoring. I think everyone will agree that having an experienced turner available to provide instruction, critique, and to answer questions is perhaps the best/fastest way to improve. We have committed to finding a way to make this possible.
- Reimagine our club website. There are so many improvements that can and should be made to our club’s website, from rearranging information so it is easier to find, improving the content with more useful and interesting content, or improving the overall look. Work will begin on this immediately!
If any club member has thoughts or ideas on what the club can do in support of these 4 activities, please contact any of the board members. We would love your thoughts and ideas.
Outside of club business, I learned a very important lesson about always being aware of your surroundings. I have been trying to find more time to work on getting the shop up and running, turn a few things, and get back in the groove of being creative, but there always seems to be some distraction that gets in the way.
On the last of the unseasonably warm days that we had in February, I was out in the garage, enjoying the 50-degree weather, trying to process some of the wood that has been stacking up. I had just finished making my first attempt at a circle cutting jig and was eager to try it out. I started with a small piece of cherry, got the center pegged and started the cut. It worked perfect, for about the first quarter of the cut, then the bandsaw blade came off the wheels with a loud bank and I was dead in the water. I sighed, made a mental note that I needed to replace the bandsaw blades as soon as I can find where I packed away the new ones and set about getting the blade back on the wheels.
Once the saw was working, I restarted the cut. The saw easily slid through the existing cut, then after about an inch into the wood, the blade came off the wheels again. This time, I wasn’t quite as calm and I will admit at least one bad word was mumbled out loud as I waited for the saw to spin down. Another 10 minutes was wasted by getting the blade out of the cut, coaxing the blade back on the wheels, tightening the tension on the blade, and making sure the guides were in the proper place. I flipped the saw back on and started the cut for the third time. About halfway through the blank, I realized the blade was drifting at will through the wood.
As I started to reduce pressure on the cut, the same loud bang happened for the third time. This time, I said things – many things – that in my younger days would have made my father proud and caused my mother to come running with a fresh bar of dial soap! As I stood there, fuming over what to try next, I heard laughter coming from behind me. I turned to see the mailman, smiling broadly, holding out a stack of the day’s bills, junk mail, and packages for my daughter. I was so embarrassed! Still smiling, he said, “having a little problem with your bandsaw?” I said yes and apologized for the string of obscenities that had bypassed all my filters as I could feel my cheeks start to redden.
Turns out, he does some woodworking, too, is no stranger to having the tools abandon you right at the most critical point and was more amused than offended. As he walked away, I made a series of mental notes: Watch my temper, control my choice of words better, and my new mailman has a supernatural catlike ability to walk through fallen leaves without making a sound.
Until next month, thanks for reading.
Mark