Calendar

This is a very important meeting at which we will hold the election of Officers and Directors.  In addition, fellow SPW member Ric Erkes will provide a demonstration on making and embellishing weed pots, and in the afternoon, Ric will also lead a workshop on the same topic – embellished weed pots.  For those who have had the opportunity to attend a workshop led by Ric, you know that he will not only get you to the end of the project, but he will also improve your turning skills in the process.  See separate calendar event for additional information and to register for the workshop.

BUT WAIT, THERE IS MORE.  Ric has also thrown up a challenge.  For every weed pot made by members and donated for our county fair fundraising efforts, Ric will match it with a donated weed pot that he makes.  Folks, this is truly a win-win – a great demo, a workshop led by one of the best, and a way to support the club by making a matched-gift weed pot for the good of the club.  Come out and share in the fun.

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.

When SPW moves to the County Fair, it is a major undertaking.  We move 5 lathes, one of which is the large Powermatic.  Plus, we must take anything else that we can possibly need while at the Fair - drill press, shop vacs, sharpening system, wood for turning, power chords, hand tools, tables, chairs, and on and on.  And we move all of the masterpieces that our members have turned for our fundraising efforts at the fair.  This is done by preparing everything and staging it on the Wednesday before the fair opens, pack and move Thursday, and set everything up in our booth.  And then show up on Friday to kick off our efforts.  So, this first day is for preparing and staging the equipment.  Just his that Save My Spot button to volunteer to help out.

When SPW moves to the County Fair, it is a major undertaking.  We move 5 lathes, one of which is the large Powermatic.  Plus, we must take anything else that we can possibly need while at the Fair - drill press, shop vacs, sharpening system, wood for turning, power chords, hand tools, tables, chairs, and on and on.  And we move all of the masterpieces that our members have turned for our fundraising efforts at the fair.  This is done by preparing everything and staging it on the Wednesday before the fair opens, pack and move Thursday, and set everything up in our booth.  And then show up on Friday to kick off our efforts.  This second day is for loading and moving the equipment and setting everything up at the fair.  Just his that Save My Spot button to volunteer to help out.  Let's get an early start to beat the heat - 8:00.

Day 1 of the Cabarrus County Fair.  Let the fun begin.  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.  Push that Reserve My Spot button at the bottom of the page to volunteer to help on Day 1.

Day 2 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.  Push that Reserve My Spot button at the bottom of the page to volunteer to help on Day 2.

Day 3 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.  Push that Reserve My Spot button at the bottom of the page to volunteer to help on Day 3.

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.  Push that Reserve My Spot button at the bottom of the page to volunteer to help on Day 4.

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.  Push that Reserve My Spot button at the bottom of the page to volunteer to help on Day 5.

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.  Push that Reserve My Spot button at the bottom of the page to volunteer to help on Day 6.

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.  Push that Reserve My Spot button at the bottom of the page to volunteer to help on Day 7.

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.  Push that Reserve My Spot button at the bottom of the page to volunteer to help on Day 8.

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.  Push that Reserve My Spot button at the bottom of the page to volunteer to help on Day 9.

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.  You can volunteer to help by hitting the Reserve My Spot button, below.

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, there will not be a demonstration.  Rather, the meeting will be a round table discussion on a number of topics: favorite tools, jigs/fixtures, wood finishing, pyrography and carving.  Several of our expert turners will form the panel of assigned discussion leaders.  After some introductory remarks from each, the meeting will be open for discussion.  

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.

This meeting will be internally driven.  We will have an open discussion on favorite tools, jigs/fixtures, wood finishing, pyrography and carving.  We will have assigned discussion leaders but it will basically be a round-table discussion.

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/