Zumbro Valley Woodturners Programs

2011 Programs

January 26th
"Sharpening"

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

Lyle Solem at a vintage grinder with modern white wheels.

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 Bement with his home made grinding-honing system.

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.

Duff applies grinding compound to the left wheel. The right wheel is the honing wheel.

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.

Summaries of earlier programs can be found in the ZVW Repository

ZVW Mentors Program

One of our club's objectives is to enhance our members' woodturning knowledge and skills. To further this objective, the Zumbro Valley Woodturners has a mentors program. This program encourages a ZVW member to have a one-on-one learning experience with a ZVW woodturner who may have considerable skill in a particular area.

The ZVW members in the following table have volunteered to assist other members in learning more about specific woodturning techniques. Any ZVW member who feels confident in any particular woodturning area is welcome to volunteer to be a mentor.

	Bill Beckman 507-732-4226 Zumbrota, MN	Pens
	Dave Dunn 507-282-2157 Rochester, MN	Small Items, Surface Enhancements
	Dennis Holt 507-288-6026 Rochester MN	Small Items
	Irv Miller 507-288-9030 Pine Island, MN	Turning Fundamentals, Skew, Spindle Turning, Multiples
	Lyle Solem 507-289-7501 Rochester MN	All Areas of Turning, Jigs & Fixtures, Small Items
	Mel Turcanik 507-374-7029 Dodge Center, MN	All Areas of Turning, Finishing
	Todd VanDeWalker 507-269-3911 Rochester, MN	Pens

A member who desires assistance in improving a skill, or help with a project, contacts one of the above individuals. A mutually convenient time and place is then arranged for one or more discussion and instruction sessions. This might be in the member's shop with the member using his own lathe and tools, or at the mentor's shop. More than one member may participate in a session if it is agreeable with the mentor.