November 2011

To Kawartha Woodturners Guild Members:

Our first meeting in our new venue at The Canadian Canoe Museum was held on November 1. The venue received excellent reviews from those present and the facilities suited our needs well. We will get more comfortable with the set up with every meeting, but it has proven to be a good move.

We are storing our big lathe, audio/visual equipment and our vacuum on-site. The balance of our equipment and assets were moved from LiftLock Storage to Andy Stevenson's shop on Fourth Line in late November. Thank you, Andy!

In addition, St. John the Baptist Anglican Church in Lakefield replaced the chairs in their parish hall and offered us their old chairs at no cost. They're in good shape and the price was right. We have no need for them immediately, but they will be needed when we have our own facility. Andy Stevenson again came to our rescue and has them in his barn.

Our November meeting as noted above was held at The Canadian Canoe Museum on Tuesday, November 1. Doug McGrath from London ON demonstrated coring techniques using the One Way system and provided excellent insight into the set up and use of the system as well as the design considerations involved.

At our meeting on December 6, our demonstrator will be Shawn Herman, who will show us how to turn Singapore balls.

Coffee break at the November meeting was provided by David Saunders. Thank you, David! At the December meeting, coffee break will be provided by Ray Young and John Gibbons. No one has yet volunteered for the January meeting, so please consider doing your part by signing up next Tuesday.

On Saturday, November 12, we hosted a special all-day demonstration by Kurt Hertzog, one of the premier turners in North America (http://www.kurthertzog.com). Kurt demonstrated sharpening techniques and the use of the different tools, as well as turning of pens and ornaments. It was an outstanding demonstration and everyone there went home with more than one “$40 tip”. Kurt enjoyed his visit with us. He was very complementary of our Guild and Danny Foster's catering (he wants Danny at all his demonstrations!).

Kurt has offered that, if we hold a competition for Christmas ornaments and send him a picture of the winning entry, he will send one of his ornaments to the winner. As a result, Janna Brinkman is working on holding a competition for ornaments in February.

On November 22, the KWG tree was decorated for the Festival of Trees at The Venue on George Street. As always, the tree looked great with all the ornaments turned by members. Thanks to Janna Brinkman and John Moffat for a great set up job. If you provided ornaments for the tree, don't forget to bring your draw tickets to the December meeting as Janna will be making the draw for the Easy Finishing tool.

We are pleased to welcome Gord Pearson to the role of Treasurer on the KWG Board. Gord has performed this role with other organizations and we are pleased to have him on the Executive.

Peter Steenwyck of Artistic Wood & Tool Supply Inc. has graciously donated a Thompson Lathe Tools 5/8” Bowl Gouge tool and handle for a draw at our December meeting. This will be a special draw separate from the draw table with tickets at 1 for $2.00 or 3 for $5.00. In addition, look for a few surprises on our regular draw table.

Don't forget that there is a competition at the December meeting for turning flowers as demonstrated by Morris Young at our October meeting.

I look forward to seeing you on Tuesday, December 6 at the Canadian Canoe Museum! If you have any questions or if I can help in any way, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thanks,
Lorne Hamilton