Brazos Valley Woodturners Monthly Newsletter

NOTES FROM THE PRESIDENT

Brazos Valley Woodturners is a fortunate club to have such talented members. Joel Crabbe did an excellent job in February with his demonstration on turning cone-shaped boxes. These little boxes can be turned into Christmas decorations or can stand alone as boxes that happen to be cone-shaped. James Shinkle presented our Safety Minute and we learned some important techniques for using our band saws and chain saws.

Another member that I want to recognize for his efforts toward supporting the club is Tom Dean. He approached Wood World in Dallas and negotiated the purchase of a full-sized Jet lathe for $1550 (and these funds were donated by various members of the club who happen to be heroes, as well). The purchase price is basically an “at cost” price. I hope all of you plan to be at our March meeting, as we will all participate in the assembly of the machine then take a turn or two at christening it by turning on the new acquisition.

In addition, Tom talked with the folks at Genco where we keep our money and with a little pull that he has with the powers that be, was able to get us a checking account at no cost. Some of you may know that we’ve had a savings account but have to maintain $1000 in that account to qualify for the free checking. That is not always possible. So, “Thank you,” Tom, for exercising a little “pull.”

And, lastly, Tom has also been working to get the paperwork started for our organization to become a non-profit educational organization. We can then save a sizable amount on any club purchases that we make. Wheew! Tom has been a busy BVW member, and we all thank him.

For those of you who are coffee drinkers, we invite you to bring your own tippy cup from home. The Waco water is beyond awful and the old pipes at TSTC have added to the problem. The coffee, basically, tastes like mud, and so we’ve decided made the administrative decision to serve juice instead.

The coming warm weather (I’m told that it really is on the way) has some great possibilities for Woodturners. We are still looking at having turning shows at various sites throughout the area to highlight woodturning as art and function. TSTC is having woodworking classes this summer and we will be looking for BVW members to teach woodturning in some of those classes. The Community Art Center in Temple has classes for kids and there is a possibility that some of our members could teach woodturning to those kids.

We haven’t had a President’s Challenge in a while, so let’s plan to have one at our April meeting. I would like for members to prepare a collaborative piece in which at least two people work on the turning. It can be a piece that is turned only, turned and burned, turned and carved, turned and dyed, etc. Be creative and have fun working together on the project.

See you Saturday, and remember to bring a tool or two and a piece of wood so that you can help christen the new lathe.

Janice