What is always amazing is that there is always such a wide variety of finished pieces – there are never two pieces alike! Sure, you’re saying that everyone is different but the thing is that we all start with the same type and sized piece of wood. Pretty incredible, we’d say!
The rules for this yearly event are quite simple – to have fun and turn anything of your choice using the block of wood (you can even use additional wood to accentuate your piece) . Did we mention to have fun? 🙂 Yes, it’s all about the fun.
And fun it is. From the time we get the block of wood and place it in our shop it sits there, beckoning us (threatening us? 🙂 ), demanding from our every waking moment the question – “What will I turn this block into?”. Then we wait for it to speak to us… we wait… and wait… and wait… Then, if the lathe gods are smiling and the wind is blowing just right, at the very last minute it does speak to us and it’s a mad scramble to get our pieces finished on time (sometimes the finish is even still wet when it’s brought in! 🙂 ). Ah, finally, it’s done, woodturning bliss. Oh, there are some that the wood speaks to immediately but do they really get to enjoy the anguish and turmoil that this block of wooden fun brings? LOL!
Seriously, the Fun Turn is a great opportunity to try something different, perhaps even turn something that you wouldn’t normally turn. This, of course, can take your skills to another level.The biggest enjoyment I get is just by participating in the camaraderie of this event. Yep, it really is a lot of fun. It really is.
We believe that we all outdid ourselves again this year. Here, see for yourself:
As you can see in the above photos that in addition to the Fun Turn pieces there was also a variety of other pieces brought in for Show and Tell. All these pieces made for a lengthy (in a good way!) presentation by the membership as they showed their turnings and explained their inspiration and challenges they met while making them.
Following this, Guild member Don Allen gave an excellent presentation on the ways of repairing and accentuating the positive when errors or problems occur with turned pieces. This included using a variety of fillers such as CA and PVC glues with filings such as brass and sawdust, the use of inserts, plugs and more. The highlight was with some turnings that members brought in specifically to show their solutions as well as the ones brought in looking for solution suggestions. As you can imagine, lots of discussion ensued with many great ideas and solutions explained and offered. These included the use of bronze powders as a filler, finding cheap brass powder from key making shops, the use of Future floor wax as a wood hardener for punky wood, understanding the compression and tension of wood and the use of Quickwood, an epoxy based wood putty.
This was a fantastic session that easily demonstrated the power and benefits of being a part of the Guild. There’s so much information, so much available help! Thanks, Don!
There were also a couple of important announcements made at this meeting. The Guild Executive Nominating Committee asked for those that are interested in taking on roles in next year’s Guild executive to contact them. This is being done in preparation for the AGM in June. We were also made aware of an upcoming woodturning exhibition that will focus on woodturning in Nova Scotia. This will be a joint effort between the Nova Woodturners Guild and the Nova Scotia College Art & Design. This sounds like it will be a great show with lots of possibilities and benefits for the Guild. Active participation in both of these announced items will undoubtedly yield overwhelmingly positive results.
The Fun Turn meetings are always my favorite meetings (and they’re all great but this one was over the top!) because there is so much participation. This leads to a lot of enjoyable chit chat, lots of laughter and all round good fellowship, plus a lot of tips and great ideas. With 36 members attending this month’s meeting we guess we’re not the only one that feels this way. 😉
Back to the shop…