The May meeting was certainly the place to see how much fun a Hands-On-Workshop could be. In past years, HOWs would be held at member's workshops as an opportunity for newer members to get some one-on-one instruction in some aspect of turning. This year, the club extended the season, and included something new- the mini-HOW.
Bryan Richardson and Matt Overton thought it would be good to extrapolate that Hands-On experience into the regular meetings by having a couple of stations set up to show smaller groups some element of turning and even get them to hold the tools and try it out. It seems to be a big hit! This is our second try, and by all accounts quite successful.
The mini-HOWs in May were conducted by Linford Sine, Ron Durr and Matt Overton. Linford, a master with the skew chisel, brought his in and demonstrated just how easy it was to use. and to rove his point he got many to come up to the lathe and try it themselves.
Ron Durr demonstrated an inside out Angel- the perfect Christmas ornament. Quite a challenge, but Ron was up to it! A little catch eventually sent that angel to Heaven, but no matter, like all angels it was perfect- as is Ron!
At the last minute, Matt Overton came to the rescue and provided the membership with a third venue: a how-to on making a salt and pepper shaker with a CrushGrind® mechanism. Matt pointed to some "ears" or lugs on the mechanism that he said folks will tell you to cut off, but are essential if you want the mechanism to lock in place without epoxy. Complete with (dissying) handouts and specialty tools, Matt made it all look easy.
We were also treated to some of the latest work of our members. I'll be posting these pictures over the next few days...so come back later for the rest of the story.
