Dedicated to promoting woodturning in Southern Utah through educational demos, classes & fellowship between members. "Learning Through Turning"
Our Club Meetings are both in person and on Zoom the 2nd Saturday of each month at 9 am. In person is at Cedar City High School (703 W 600 S Cedar City, UT 84720) in the woodshop classroom (North Side of Building, use the back door by the large dust collector). The link to the Zoom meeting will be emailed to members prior to meeting. Visit our website at https://www.southernutahwoodturners.com. Email us at suwtclub@gmail.com
Message From the President
Fellow SUW Woodturners,
Our first meeting of 2022 kicked off with a good turnout and another great raffle. I'm sure we all enjoyed Ken Kofeod's poem as he described what we have all experienced in this hobby.
Ken Ragsdale gave a terrific demonstration of his tips and tricks for inlaying stone into our turnings.
Our platter project is off to a good start with several members taking multiple blanks to turn. Remember the finished platters need to be completed and returned at the February 12th meeting.
Finally, I want to compliment each and every member who attended for wearing a mask. While it's uncomfortable and unfortunate, it is necessary at this time as it allows the club to continue meeting in person.
Until the next meeting, happy and safe turning. -- Jerry Keller - President
Officers & Contacts
Special Notices
Please join the new SUWT Facebook Group! Here's the link to the Private Group on Facebook. You can use Facebook to share what you're working on, ask questions, encourage others, and learn about upcoming meetings and events. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1026604004489417/
We are making the application for membership to Southern Utah Woodturners available on our website as well as including with the newsletter mailing as a separate attachment. Please mail form, with dues check ($30) for 2022, to Glenn Pearson at the address on the application so he may update our records for the membership roster.
Turquois Inlay
Presented by Ken Ragsdale
Ken Showed us how to do a turquois inlay. While you can get fake turquois from Michaels or other hobby shops, if you want real turquois you have to go to Kingman Turquois: https://www.kingmanturquoise.com/shop
You can also find turquois through Easy Inlay: https://www.easyinlay.com/
Craft Supply has powders that glow in the dark as well.
Before using CA glue to affix the turquois, you need to laydown some sanding sealer so that the CA glue doesn't stain your wood.
Take a pinch of turquois and place in wood. Then, very carefully, brush or use an exacto knife to remove any extra turquois to save for later as it is expensive.
Drip the CA glue onto the turquois to affix it to the piece. Just a few drops will suffice.
In this month's Tips and Tricks, Leon guides us through Characteristics of Wood.
Jerry Keller also demonstrated how we will be turning the platters for the Cedar City Chamber of Commerce.
Websites, Tools & Products Discussed
Kingman Turquois: https://www.kingmanturquoise.com/shop
Easy Inlay: https://www.easyinlay.com/
Zinsser Shellac Spray: Lowe's
Show and Tell
Members of the club are encouraged to submit photos and a description of the species and design of their work. Please submit these to Aaron Bryan at woodturnergeek@gmail.com no later than the 20th of each month.
Gallery
Tips and Tricks
Characteristics of Wood By Leon Olson
Once when I was teaching, I asked a beginning woodworking class to name the characteristics of wood. There was dead silence. I asked my teacher’s assistant to take a piece of desert ironwood and just touch it quickly against the 16” disc sander. The disc sander was at least 30 feet away and he took the opportunity to simply hold the desert ironwood against the disc sander until someone yelled “SMELL, can we leave now?” We did actually move out onto the lawn. They eventually got their revenge.
So why are the characteristics of wood important to woodturners? When I turn eggs, I do not like to use a finish of any kind. I usually use hard, dense heavy woods that produce a beautiful finish with the natural luster of the wood. If I need a wood that is extremely stable, I use dry mesquite. If I am going to turn something that is difficult to turn, I want a wood that has a uniform texture. I will never turn another offset egg cup out of honey locust again. If I want try something I use a really soft fast cutting wood like aspen. If I want it to cut fast and easy but have a nice finish, I use silver maple. If I am making a tooling fixture, I use something that is tough like Ipe, Cebil or Curupay. If I need it to slide against another surface, I use Verawood. Slowly I have collected all those woods and more.
When I travel, I check for places that sell wood along our route but I have to know what woods cost so that I recognize a good price. We even have some rare woods near us. Mountain mahogany is a very nice hard heavy wood that grows locally. The hard part is to get it without flaws. If you travel you need to know what grows in the areas you travel through. Occasionally there will be a rare tree growing in our area that is very nice for woodturning. Trees like Norfolk pine or Cook pine turn beautifully.
For me the worst place to buy wood is Woodcraft, however I do buy wood from them. They occasionally have hard to get woods like camel thorn, leadwood, quebracho (which translates as axe breaker) and other rare woods. I got the quebracho when I wanted to turn tops. I wanted the tip of the top to be extremely hard and tough. I used katalox for the spinning disc because it is so heavy.
If you know the characteristics of different woods you can pick the ones that have the characteristics that are important to you. If you don’t know them then check the characteristics on wood-database.com You can even search for woods by the characteristics you want.
If you have questions on this month's Tips & Tricks, email Leon Olson at leonolson@aol.com.
Why We Live in Southern Utah
January 2022 Club Attendees - Both in Person and via Zoom
Lyman Abbott, Will Arcularius, Steve Ashworth, Roger Bender, Jeff Blonder, Karl Bradshaw, Aaron Bryan, KC Bryan, Kim Christopherson, Locke Ettinger, Jack Gunn, Ross Henshaw, Gary Jaeger, Vern Jensen, Jerry Keller, Ken Kofoed, Sean Lovell, Karl McMullin, Mark Nelson, Leon Olson, Joe Peacock, Glenn Pearson, Jim Pope, Ken Ragsdale, Bret Smith, Bob Stringham, Bill Vincent, Eric Walker, Don Wilson, Chuck Zimmerman, Bill Zollinger
Items for Sale by Members
Please submit items for sale to Aaron Bryan (woodturnergeek@gmail.com) before the 20th of the month to be included in the newsletter. If you have sold an item listed in the newsletter, please notify Aaron so he can remove it.
Please see attachments to the Newsletter email to see additional items for sale.
For Sale by Will Arcularius, 805-712-2174, arcwerks@scinternet.net
1) Makita Compound Sliding Miter Saw, 12", Model LS1214FL. Excellent Condition. Price: $345
2) Robert Sorby Thread Cutting System. Never Used. Have both the 16 TPI and 20 TPI cutters. See page 20 in Craft Supply Catalog. Sells for $129.95 - Will take $85.
For Sale by Bob Hansen, 928-347-5718, Nova Mercury Variable Speed Mini Lathe with bed extension, 1/2 HP, 8" swing over bed; 14" swing outboard. $300. For more info contact Bob directly.
