Buckeye Wood Turners

I travelled up to Clinton, Ohio to Camp Y-Noah on Saturday to attend my first meeting of the Buckeye Wood Workers and Woodturners. The group meets on the third Saturday of each month and combines a short business meeting with a demonstration by group members or visiting demonstrators. They have a show table of members' turning work and photograph each piece for display on their "Gallery" section of their web site.
This month's demonstration was about pen turning by club member, Bob Taylor. His presentation was full of information and technique suggestions. Most interesting to me was his use of some unusual materials - corn cobs, shredded currency, and denim fabric - to make blanks for pens. I learned a lot about using CA glue in finishing a pen blank as well as micromesh for wet sanding acrylics.
Since wood turning is most often a solo hobby, it was nice to be with a group who enjoys the same activity and willingly shares a lot of information with each other.
Following the morning meeting there is often a hands-on activity for members to try out skills. The club has a large Powermatic lathe and many Jet min-lathes for these meetings. It really impressed me as a group seriously devoted to wood turning.
I am looking forward to returning next month when an internationally known turner, Cindy Drozda, will be presenting a members-only demonstration. (If you want to see some beautiful turnings, follow that last link)