Club Activities

January 26th
"Sharpening"

Lyle Solem and Duff Bement Present Sharpening
--with participation from the audience

Grinding, sometimes a mystery to new turners, is an essential skill that must be mastered in order to turn with confidence and satisfaction. Lyle covered grinders, types of grinding wheels, grinding jigs, grinding angles, types of grinds, and setup aids for repeating that single-faucet fingernail or Ellsworth grind.

Duff, using a home made grinder-honer with a set of composition wheels obtained from Grizzly, showed us that power homing is a much quicker way to keep tools super sharp than hand honing -- making it more likely that you will fine-tune your tools while you turn.

John Thorson demonstrated using a diamond card hone to hone a gouge. He also showed how he prepares a scraper with the diamond card hone, followed by a burnishing tool, to create a burr that enables him to scrape off ribbons of shavings rather than dust.

A discussion on how to tell if an edge is sharp concluded the presentation.

Click here for Show and Tell Items from the January 26th meeting.

Welcome to the Zumbro Valley Woodturners' Home Page

We are a club of novice, intermediate, and experienced woodturners who enjoy turning wood, helping fellow members improve their skills, and encouraging non-members to learn the skill of woodturning.

Like many woodturning clubs, we hold monthly meetings where equipment is available for demonstrations and hands-on learning, and our lending library of woodturning books and videos is available to all members. After a very brief business meeting, usually a club member, but occasionally a visiting "dignitary," will give a presentation or a demonstration on a topic such as wood harvesting and preparation, wood species and properties, tool selection, tool sharpening, tool making, lathes and accessories, gluing up and bandsawing blanks, finishing, painting, burning, displaying, pricing, photographing, and oh, yes, turning techniques for platters, bowls, vases, boxes, spindles, ornaments, and more. A meeting also usually has a show and tell session and sometimes a wood raffle.

Some of us have turnings for sale in galleries or sell at craft shows. Some of us turn only for personal use or for presents for our friends and relatives. All of us turn for pleasure and the joy of accomplishment.

Club membership is by household and dues is $20 annually payable at the start of each calendar year. High school and college students interested in woodturning are invited to be student members at no charge. To serve on the ZVW Board of Directors, a club member must also be a member of the American Association of Woodturners.

If you think you may be interested in woodturning, drop by one of our meetings shown in the right side bar. Visitors are always welcome.

Enhance your woodturnings with carvings. Learn to carve, or improve your carving skills at our SE Minnesota carving club.

Our parent organization, The American Association of Woodturners, welcomes visitors to its web site. To learn more about our parent organization, click on the logo below.

The Zumbro Valley Woodturners meet on the last Thursday of every month except December. In December there is no regular meeting. Other exceptions are posted below.

2012 Calendar

January 26, 6:30-8:30 pm, Duff Bement and Lyle Solem, "Sharpening"
Meet at The New Haven Town Hall
February 23, 6:30-8:30 pm, Merle Peterson, "Inside/Out Turning"
Meet at The New Haven Town Hall

March 24 and 25, 10 am - 4 pm, ZVW Woodturners Demonstrate at the Rochester Woodcarvers 36th Annual Show

March 29, 6:30-8:30 pm, Tim Sullivan, "Goblets"
Meet at The New Haven Town Hall

The Zumbro Valley Woodturners' Logo