Spring 2023 Woodturning Class

February 12th Update - This is the first in a weekly mailing to our students and instructors, and to the membership of our sponsoring organization, the Cape Atlantic Wood Turners Club provide a synopsis of the evening, photos of the work completed during that time, and other pertinent information. 

Thursday marked the beginning of another semester of woodturning class at the Cape May tech school.   We have seven students: four new and three returning. 

The first lesson was in spindle turning.   Bottle stoppers make an ideal place for new turners to begin and for those returning to get back into the groove.   The results shown here will vouch for that.

This week's project will also focus on spindle turning, with pens being the project for the evening.

The class will run for eight consecutive Thursdays.   The last class will be March 30.  I'm certain that some very interesting projects remain to be seen. 

February 19th Update - Although the results of our second class, pen turning, were quite amazing, the real highlight of the evening was watching our turners become more comfortable with the lathe and develop skills as the evening progressed.  The picture is only a sampling of the evening's results.   The pens were a combination of different species of wood, and a few were embellished with burned-in lines.  

This week's topic will take us away from spindle turning as we move on to bowl turning.   We will start with the basics, and then explore a few of the possibilities as skills continue to be developed.  

The instructors and I are looking forward to another great evening this week,

March 12th Update - Happy Daylight Saving Time.

Our fifth class of the semester was a busy one.  Our turners were ankle deep in chips, creating lidded bowls, laminated bowls, footed bowls, a vase, and a unique bottle stopper that is a gift for a loved one.   Maple, mahogany, alder, korina, and even a multi-species lamination.  The photos say it all.   Our next class will be more individual projects.  I'm sure it will be another very productive evening.

March 26th Update - Our seventh class of the semester was a busy one.  Everyone is busy as we approach the coming week, our last class of the semester.

You can see a variety of small bowls in several different woods, from bird's eye maple to bubinga with a small section of sap wood as an interesting feature.  A vase is also pictured.  It is mahogany, about eight inches tall, with burned in lines as accents.   Some of the lines were burned in with the usual wire, while others were done with a small piece of Formica laminate held against the wood to generate the required friction.   This was especially handy on those lines that would have rejected the wire.  

This coming Thursday will be the last class of the semester.   It will be interesting to see the final products and how far our turners have come in eight short weeks.