Ron Brown and his neighbor Chris Woodall treated the audience by demonstrating really fast ways to create hollow lidded acorns.  After rounding the blanks, Ron used a forstner bit to hollow out the inside of the acorn cap.  He then switched to the bottom and repeated the process using a core box router bit to create the hollowed base.  He then went on to shape the outside, fit the top and bottom, and then used a knurling tool to create a texture on the cap.  Chris then showed how to use thread chasing tools to create an acorn with a screw-on top.  Based on the group interest in threading wood, Ron and Chris agreed to pursue development of a future fee  based class dedicated to teaching wood threading.  After details are worked out, the newsletter and web site will contain information about the class.

Leon demonstrated turning small end grain bowls with decorative enhancements. These bowls do not have a flat bottom so they lean over and rock when touched. Leon showed how to burn the rim with a torch and tecture the inside of the bowls. He then covered the inside with metal leaf. This produced a nice looking little bowl.

Ken entertained the audience starting with an "Antiques Roadshow" style interactive discussion about the table full of old tool specimens brought in by the audience.  He continued with a presentation of the large variety of planes, drills, and saws that he brought for discussion. For each tool, he said a few words about the history and the evolution of the tool.  There were so many tools and not a power cord in sight.  The craftsmanship of the english tools made them look like pieces of furniture.  His favorite tools were modern versions of some of the old masters, a Veritas low angle bevel up block plane, and a high tech dovetail saw where the first 3" of teeth had no set for starting the cut in endgrain (all of his router based dovetail jigs are back in the box after giving up on the adjustments.)

Gerry Jones gave a multi-media presentaion of what he has learned about wooden outdoor furniture.  He began with selection of woods and why each would be used for an application.  He emphasized how to design the articles to keep weather out of the end grain of the wood.  Gerry then went on to explain a number of effective means of jointery and fastening the articles.  Lastly Gerry took us on a virtual tour of the various structures he built in his back yard along with detailed in progress pictures of how the bridge and pergola were built.  The tour really emphasized how to use design to integrate function into the form.

Mike began the class by talking about typical spindles like balusters, furniture legs, and knobs. He continued by covering the typical lathe equipment and tools that might be used in spindle turning. He then covered how to prepare a piece of wood including layout work to achieve the desired result. Mike demonstrated typical spindle features like pommels, beads, and coves. During the demo, he covered safety and the variety of measurement tools that a turner might want to have on hand. He concluded with demonstrating the various cutting tools a turner might use during spindle turning.

Gwinnett Woodworkers participated in "The Wood Working Show" at the North Atlanta Trade Center March 9-11 2012.  This show is the premier annual woodworking show for Georgia.  Alongside a host of tool vendors and other woodworking clubs, GWA scrollers were making scroll saw picture puzzles of show attendees and the turners were making spinning tops to give away to the children.  Hans Meier was doing what Hans does best.... drawing a crowd to watch him make 3D puzzles.  In addition, we were demonstrating the Carter Products "Hollow Roller" on a lathe.  With all of the activities going on at once, we frequently had crowds that were quite thick.  When the crowds were less thick, we were able to engage the show attendees to answer questions about a variety of woodworking topics and interest them in club activities.

David began by showing several full size paper patterns of the solid body electric guitars he has designed. After the shape of the outer body is decided, the electronics has to be chosen and recesses have to be located for the pickups, controls, and jacks.  Next the wood is selected based on the desires of the end user for the tonal quality, weight, and finish.  All of the paper patterns eventually become wooden templates that are then used with routers equipped with pattern bits to shape the body and create the reliefs for all of the imbedded electronics.  He finished up by showing 2 of his finished electric guitars that were simply stunning.  Thanks to David for sharing his passion with us.

Suzie Tindall treated the audience to a multimedia presentation of how she sets out to apply finish to a project.  She explained that the process starts with the design and is factored in with the desired result.  Suzie emphasized that 1/3 of a project's time allocation should be dedicated to finishing.  She showed a number of the different products and techniques that she uses to achieve the stunning pieces that she showed at the end of her presentation.  Of particular interest, was a power point shop tour that emphasized the shop made paint booths that she had constructed.

Today we were treated to a shop tour of Pierce and Pierce Architectural moldings by Scott Parr (managing partner) and some of his staff.  Pierce and Pierce makes hundreds of styles of stock moldings out of primarily 5 species of hardwoods.  The tour started with the area where incoming lumber is sorted and sawn to sizes for their stock moldings.  At this point, Scott disclosed to the audience that some of the wood has too much figure to be used for molding and is set aside until another use is found for it.  Many of the audience volunteered to help with his challenge.  It waits at this stage for orders to cut a molding profile into the stock in inventory.  The next stop on the tour was the tool room where molding knives are cut and maintained.  The machine floor was the next stop where there were many highly automated machines that would cut highly complex moldings in a single pass.  Of particular interest, was a CNC molding machine that cut all 4 sides of a complex 12" red oak crown molding in a single pass through the machine.  The tour finished up with a lengthy discussion of the operation of the custom shop where more traditional woodworking shop equipment is used to make custom doors, cabinets, and even furniture.  For one customer they even made some custom caskets. The conclusion of the tour was a visit to the custom shop's hardwood scrap pile where Scott turned the group loose to take what they wanted.  In a very few minutes, all that remained was saw dust.

Kim Muthersbough demonstrated how to make an heirloom pepper mill from a 12" long cherry blank.       He took the time to keep the novice wood turners involved in the basics.  Kim’s presentation walked the group through the Nick Cook style pepper mill production process. Along the way, he provided pointers on basic turning techniques, guidelines for safe turning, and some tips to make that finished mill a true treasure.