Calendar

Day 4 of the Cabarrus County Fair.  The fun continues.  The hours shown are the hours that the Fair is open and not necessarily the SPW hours.  Needed - 5 turners and at least 3 to support fundraising. To volunteer to fill any of the open support positions for these efforts, text or call Phil Goodman.  His telephone number is provided in the emails sent on the same topic.

Day 5 of the Cabarrus County Fair.  The fun continues.  The hours shown are the hours that the Fair is open and not necessarily the SPW hours.  Needed - 5 turners and at least 3 to support fundraising. To volunteer to fill any of the open support positions for these efforts, text or call Phil Goodman.  His telephone number is provided in the emails sent on the same topic.

Day 6 of the Cabarrus County Fair.  The fun continues.  The hours shown are the hours that the Fair is open and not necessarily the SPW hours.  Needed - 5 turners and at least 3 to support fundraising. To volunteer to fill any of the open support positions for these efforts, text or call Phil Goodman.  His telephone number is provided in the emails sent on the same topic.

Day 7 of the Cabarrus County Fair.  The fun continues.  The hours shown are the hours that the Fair is open and not necessarily the SPW hours.  Needed - 5 turners and at least 3 to support fundraising. To volunteer to fill any of the open support positions for these efforts, text or call Phil Goodman.  His telephone number is provided in the emails sent on the same topic.

Day 8 of the Cabarrus County Fair.  The fun continues.  The hours shown are the hours that the Fair is open and not necessarily the SPW hours.  Needed - 5 turners and at least 3 to support fundraising. To volunteer to fill any of the open support positions for these efforts, text or call Phil Goodman.  His telephone number is provided in the emails sent on the same topic.

Day 9 of the Cabarrus County Fair.  The fun continues.  This is it - last day.  We're close.  The hours shown are the hours that the Fair is open and not necessarily the SPW hours.  Needed - 5 turners and at least 3 to support fundraising. To volunteer to fill any of the open support positions for these efforts, text or call Phil Goodman.  His telephone number is provided in the emails sent on the same topic.

Support is needed to help move everything back to the studio at the end of the fair.  A decision will be made later on whether to do this immediately following the end of the fair, i.e., starting at midnight, ot to wait until the following morning. To volunteer to fill any of the open support positions for these efforts, text or call Phil Goodman.  His telephone number is provided in the emails sent on the same topic.

Join us for our Regular Monthly Meeting at the ClearWater Arts Center and Studios, where members and guests gather to immerse themselves in the art of turning, share projects, and enjoy the camaraderie of fellow enthusiasts.

Sam McDowell will be our guest demonstrator for the August meeting.  Sam lives in Statesville, NC and is a retired Air Force pilot and retired commercial airline pilot.  He now spends a lot of his time turning wood and sharing his knowledge with other woodturners. He has demonstrated at clubs around the country and has been a demonstrator at the N.C. Woodturners Symposium. For our demonstration, Sam will focus on turning green wood. He will explain a bit about the physiology of green wood, as well as how to harvest, cut and turn the wood. As part of his demonstration, he’ll bring his 26” battery-operated Echo chainsaw and will show us how to turn a log into a perfect blank for turning. He’ll then turn the green wood blank into a thin-walled bowl, avoiding the process normally used for turning green wood that involves rough-turning a bowl blank, followed by a long drying process before turning the rough blank to its final form.

Just like all our gatherings, if you're feeling unwell or exhibiting any symptoms of illness, we kindly request that you stay home. Many of our members are part of high-risk groups, and safeguarding everyone's health remains a top priority.

Are you curious about SPW but not yet a member? Drop by and explore the benefits of joining our vibrant community.

Whether you're investigating the craft to see what it is about, a novice seeking to improve your turning skills or broaden your turning portfolio, or a seasoned veteran, our meetings provide a welcoming space for all.

Join us for our Regular Monthly Meeting at the ClearWater Arts Center and Studios, where members and guests gather to immerse themselves in the art of turning, share projects, and enjoy the camaraderie of fellow enthusiasts. At a typical meeting, a guest woodturner provides a demonstration on some aspect of woodturning. Demonstrators may be from other regional clubs, national turning professionals, or experienced turners from our own club. Topics vary widely and might feature the proper use of a specific tool, making a specific turned item, equipment maintenance and use, and other similar areas of interest.

For this meeting, Darryl Jones, noted woodturner and demonstrator from Spartanburg SC, will demonstrate how to turn and carve a sphere.  Darryl is a woodworker, woodturner, content creator, instructor, and the founder of Dread Knot Woodshop.  A longtime woodworker, Darryl was introduced to woodturning a few years ago and has been exploring the craft ever since.  Some of his favorite turning projects include hollow forms, finials, and lidded boxes, but he is also willing to take a shot at new, challenging projects when given the opportunity.  Darryl has worked with several vendors in roles such as brand ambassador, instructor, demonstrator, and as a member of product development teams.  He has been brand ambassador for Robert Sorby for several years, traveling throughout the country and demonstrating their line of tools.  Darryl has provided demonstrations for the club previously, and his demos are always interesting and very informative.  Darryl always provides sufficient detail in his demonstrations to enable members to give it a try.

Just like all our gatherings, if you're feeling unwell or exhibiting any symptoms of illness, we kindly request that you stay home. Many of our members are part of high-risk groups, and safeguarding everyone's health remains a top priority.

Are you curious about SPW but not yet a member? Drop by and explore the benefits of joining our vibrant community.

Whether you're investigating the craft to see what it is about, a novice seeking to improve your turning skills or broaden your turning portfolio, or a seasoned veteran, our meetings provide a welcoming space for all.

Join us for our Regular Monthly Meeting at the ClearWater Arts Center and Studios, where members and guests gather to immerse themselves in the art of turning, share projects, and enjoy the camaraderie of fellow enthusiasts. At a typical meeting, a guest woodturner provides a demonstration on some aspect of woodturning. Demonstrators may be from other regional clubs, national turning professionals, or experienced turners from our own club. Topics vary widely and might feature the proper use of a specific tool, making a specific turned item, equipment maintenance and use, and other similar areas of interest.

For this meeting, the demonstration will be provided by SPW member and Director Harold Kemplen on the topic of how to make a wooden snowman, complete with a clear ball filled with sparkle lights.  For anyone who attended the Christmas gathering and gift exchange last year, you will remember that Harold brought one of these snowmen as his Secret Santa exchange gift, and it was very popular and changed hands several times.  Harold also made two of the snowmen for one of the raffle prizes at the recent Cabarrus County Fair, where again it was very popular.  It’s that time of the year and Christmas will be sneaking up on us.  This snowman will make a nice ornament to display on the mantel or a very nice gift for someone special.  So, come and join us for what should be a great meeting and a great demonstration.  The meeting is open to the public.

On the same day, starting at 1:00, we will have a workshop at the studio on the same topic.  All materials will be provided, and a small fee will be charged to cover their costs.  You can reserve your spot by visiting the workshop notice posted on the calendar, and from there you can register and, if you wish, you can also pay the workshop fee.  Alternatively, you can pay the fee at the meeting or workshop.  To meet insurance requirements, participation in the workshop is limited to members.

Just like all our gatherings, if you're feeling unwell or exhibiting any symptoms of illness, we kindly request that you stay home. Many of our members are part of high-risk groups, and safeguarding everyone's health remains a top priority.

Are you curious about SPW but not yet a member? Drop by and explore the benefits of joining our vibrant community.

Whether you're investigating the craft to see what it is about, a novice seeking to improve your turning skills or broaden your turning portfolio, or a seasoned veteran, our meetings provide a welcoming space for all.

The approach we will followed for the August workshop is a bit of an experiment, and we are anxious to see how well it works.  Richard Findley is a well-known British woodturner, demonstrator, tool maker, and content creator.  We tried to get Richard to present the topic "Turn a Better Bowl" via Interactive Remote Demonstration, i.e., via the internet, but he is in such high demand that he is fully booked for most of next year.  However, he has produced a YouTube 4-segment video series also entitled "Turn a Better Bowl" and granted SPW permission to use it as a teaching tool.  The idea is that we will show the series from top to bottom, with breaks at appropriate points for all participants to implement the information presented to that point in the video.  Once the participants have completed their bowls to that point, we will return to the video until the next appropriate break point.  We will repeat this process through completion so that each participant should take home a nice, Richard Findley bowl.

Some SPW members have watched this series and agree that the approach to bowl-turning that Richard advocates and presents in the video series is excellent and that Richard is an exceptional teacher.  While he will not be present to answer questions and assist, experienced SPW members will be present at the workshop to assume this role.

The 4-segment series runs a bit more than 2 hours, and it is very unlikely that we will be able to complete it in its entirety in the normal 3-hour workshop; consequently, the workshop has been extended to end at 5:00, thereby providing 4 hours to complete it.  If that is still not sufficient time, we will decide as a group whether to continue or agree a time to assemble again to complete the project.  We think this will prove to be an excellent format, provide exceptional instruction and encouraging the participants to work together to fully understand and implement the instructions.  It should be very rewarding and build a team approach, and it should be fun.

This is a members-only workshop due to insurance requirements.  There is a small fee to cover the cost of materials.  To register, just follow this link:

https://spwoodturners.com/product/workshop-turn-better-bowls-with-richard-findley/

SPW is going on a road trip.  West Penn Hardwoods in Conover, North Carolina is well-known for its vast inventory of domestic and imported, exotic hardwoods.  Of particular interest to the woodturning community is the warehouse full of turning blanks – everything from pen blanks to large bowl blanks, from plain grain to highly figured to the crazy structure of burls, from domestic oak, maple, cherry, and walnut to imports such as Bubinga, Cocobolo, Gombeira, and African Blackwood, and from inexpensive to some of the rarest and most costly woods in the world.  They also have all or most of the same woods in dimensional lumber and large slabs.

The trip will be on Saturday, September 5, 2026 and the tour starts at 10:00.  Plan to arrive a bit early to make sure you don’t miss any of the tour.  Members wishing to carpool can meet at the studio to leave at 8:40, latest, to complete the 1 hour and 15 minute journey in time for the tour.  At the completion of the tour, ample time will be provided to do some shopping before departing around noon.  If you want to join the carpool, please sign up by following the link below.  Or you can sign up at our next meeting on August 22.  We need this information so that we can properly plan for cars and drivers.  Some attendees may want to also visit Klingspor while in the area – they are located less that 10 minutes from West Penn Hardwoods.  Some may wish to stop for lunch after the tour.  Some may want to do both.  Carpools will be arranged accordingly.

Register for carpooling:
Cost: No fee
Options: Lunch (on your own) and Klingspor visit
Limit: None, but need carpool reservation for planning purposes

Include me in the carpool!>>>https://spwoodturners.com/product/carpool-to-west-penn-hardwoods-conover-nc/

For the August workshop , we experimented with a new approach in which we followed video instructions provided by Richard Findley, a well-known British woodturner, demonstrator, tool maker, and content creator.  We tried to get Richard to present the topic "Turn a Better Bowl" via Interactive Remote Demonstration, i.e., via the internet, but he is in such high demand that he is fully booked for most of the next year.  However, he has produced a YouTube 4-segment video series also entitled "Turn a Better Bowl" and granted SPW permission to use it as a teaching tool.  We progressed through the workshop by watching a segment of the video, then stopping to allow all participants to implement the information presented to that point in the video.  Once the participants completed their bowls to that point, we returned to the video until the next appropriate break point.  This turned out to be a slower process than anticipated, and we were unable to complete the project.  So, this month we will pick up where we left off and continue the process through completion so that each participant should take home a nice, Richard Findley bowl.

Some SPW members have watched this series and agree that the approach to bowl-turning that Richard advocates and presents in the video series is excellent and that Richard is an exceptional teacher.  While he will not be present to answer questions and assist, experienced SPW members will be present at the workshop to assume this role.

This is a members-only workshop due to insurance requirements.  There was a small fee to cover the cost of materials, so there will be no additional fee to complete the project.  Since this workshop is a continuation, the workshop will be limited to those who participated in Part I in August.  However, there are other lathes still available for open turning for anyone wishing to join the group.  No additional registration is required.

The August Workshop, "Turn a Better Bowl" with Richard Findley, did not get us to the end of the project.  We were able to move everyone along to the point at which they had completed the outside of the bowl, but with insufficient time remaining to complete it and, as a group, we elected to stop and come back to it at a later time.  We are getting the group together during open turning on October 10 for Turn a Better Bowl with Richard Findley, Part Dos, and will pick up where we left off in August.  We will still have spots available for open turning for anyone interested.  Assuming the 8 participants in Part 1 all attend Part Dos, we should still be able to accommodate 3 or 4 members for open turning.

Each participant will make a lighted snowman with turned wooden pedestal, head, hat, and nose under the expert guidance of our own SPW-member Harold Kemplen.  Each participant will receive a kit containing the wood blanks needed for the four wooden components plus the clear sphere for the body, the lights that go inside it, and a switched control with the needed battery.  This will be a fun project, and each turner should go home with a unique Christmas ornament to set on the mantle or to give as a gift to someone special.  The fee is $30.00 to cover the cost of the materials.

Register Now!  Spots are limited!!

https://spwoodturners.com/product/workshop-make-a-lighted-snowman/