Day 305: Monthly meeting

The June monthly meeting of the Arizona Woodturners Association was this afternoon.  I had to attend a planning meeting before that and made a side trip to Woodcraft after it was over so most of my day was spent on woodturning stuff but I had less than 10 minutes actual shop time.

The meeting went pretty well.  Our scheduled demonstrator backed out a couple of days ago so I had to scramble to get another demonstrator on short notice.  Another club member (Ed) agreed to step in and do a pen demo.  We haven't had a pen demo in about a year so it was pretty good timing.  Ed turned a closed ended Baron in Invisavue Acrylic identical to this one except red,  He ran out of time right at the end and didn't get to finish the custom finial but he walked us through the last couple of steps verbally.



Results for the 'Natural Edge' President's challenge were presented.  There were quite a few piece there, probably 15 or so total, most of which were Mesquite because that's what we get most of locally.  There was also a piece of Olive, some Live Oak, a couple of pieces of Maple Burl, and I had some Plum a Eucalyptus Burl, and my Box Elder Burl pen.  Next month's President's Challenge assignment was given.  In honor of Ed's demo it's going to be 'Pens'.  I'm encouraging everyone to use alternative materials such as the Invisavue that Ed used but all pens are welcome.

 I took 8 piece of wood from my woodpile along with about a dozen pieces from the woman who is liquidating her shop.  I ended up getting 3 small pieces from the 50/50 raffle, a small piece of really nice Birdseye Maple and a couple of pieces of hard maple.  I also bought 3 small pieces at Woodcraft from their bargain bin.  Lastly I bought a second handle for my micro hollowing tools so I don't have to change bits quite as often.  Sorby has some really nice small anodized aluminum handles for their micro system for just $20.  I'd like to pick up a 3rd one eventually.