Turn With Independence

   Hope everyone is doing well. Spring is upon us finally. Time to think about what projects you are going to do for the summer. As far as the club, we have Chip Siskey coming this month doing wide rimmed shallow bowl with an embellished rim. His demos are always very educational. I know the last few meetings we did the dual formats of in-person and zoom. I feel though the zoom meetings are not presenting the meetings as they should do to the lack of proper video equipment needed to present in this format. It served us well for the pre-recorded demos. Those of you doing the zoom give me feedback on what you think.

     Mel got an email from Klingspor’s wanting an updated members list so we can get discounts from ordering from them. So, this is requiring us to update the membership list. If you have not paid your dues for 2022 you need to do that to get the benefits of being a part of this club. Please check out the box about the Klingspor discount in this newsletter for more info.
 
     Make sure to bring your show & tell or demo projects to the meeting or send pictures to Mel Bryan so you can have a chance to win the drawing for a Metro gift card. If you have anything you would like to bring for raffle for the club that would be greatly appreciated. We are discussing about the annual creativity contest for this year. If you have ideas on what you think it should be let me know. We will need to release information on that soon to give everyone a chance to get a project completed by November judging.
    Remember we are going to have some positions opening up in the club soon and we need members to step up and help fill these positions. Officers will put out a list of these positions soon. Everyone have a safe and creative week and see you all at the monthly meeting.
  
      Everyone be safe and have fun.

• We have begun holding meetings both publicly and online. Please refer to the "Upcoming Meeting" box for further information.
• Be sure to check on our website for the current status and information on club activities.  The address is; independencewoodturners.org   (Ref. the following article about the website.). 
• Members, please join us on Facebook where you can see what others are doing and you can post your own projects and artwork. 
• As a reminder, the membership dues became $20 a year beginning January 2020, and only emailed newsletters will be sent. Dues payments being collected now will go for the 2022 year's dues. They may be paid by either; sending a check to Mel Bryan, Treasurer with the check made out to "Independence Woodturners" at; 204 NW Redwing Dr., Lee's Summit, Mo. 64063. Or you may pay by PayPal by either one of two options. You may renew your dues by going to the web address, PayPal.me/indepwoodturners or via our website. To pay, using the website, as a member, sign in to our website, Independencewoodturners.org, using the userid you were given when you joined. Once you sign in, go to the "Members Only" tab and click on "Financial". If you've misplaced your id or have trouble, please contact either Ron Bruno or Mel Bryan for assistance.
• The officers would very much like to hear from you, the members, any thoughts and ideas you might have as to what you would like to see from the club within the abilities, guidelines and purposes of the club. Therefore, feel free to contact any officer with your input. You can use any of the officers' email addresses listed above or the club email address; indepwoodturners@gmail.com 
• There are many ways you can contribute to the life of our club. A really good way is to partake in the Open Shop by bringing a project or turning and get a lathe going. Another  way is to submit your woodturning tips also for the newsletter. (Refer to the article later.) Of course there are many other ways to put your enthusiasm into action. You can ask any officer for direction. There are many practical ways to be involved. A simple way to help is to come early to the meeting and help set up the room for the meeting and/or stay afterwards and help clean up. Either or both are appreciated. 

Our Last Meeting

          Mike Thomas shared with us last month how to make a nice decorative pen with only a Bic Pen filler rather than using a purchased pen kit.
 

     These pens give you the freedom to make them into many different types such as a desk pen, pocket pen, utility pen, fancy or plain restricted only by the length of the Bic filler.   The Bic pen filler is about 5 inches long (unless you snip it off a little).  Mike made a long pen like a desk pen which could be used as a "refrigerator" pen or 'telephone' pen that was about 8 or 10 inches long.
        Mike took a 3/4 x 3/4 piece of wood about 10 inches long, mounted in a chuck so that the end could be drilled. He drilled an 1/8 inch hole the depth of the filler, drilled a 5/32 counter bore for the base of the filler then brought up the tail center and finished turning.  Shape and details can be a plan or a surprise; whatever you desire. Mike turned a bead about 4 inches up from the nib end to function as a stop when placed in the pen holder. The pen holder is simply a piece with a hole drilled through then turned to your desires, rare earth magnets glued into the back side and it can be place on any metal surface to keep the pen convenient. 

Thank you, Mike, for sharing this clever, crafty piece of turning.
 

  

       Unfortunately, the video of this demonstration is not available yet on YouTube. Different technical issues appeared this time and hopefully will be overcome later.   

   Videos of all previous demonstrations are available online on YouTube.    They are on our YouTube channel  Independence Woodturners. After clicking on the link, you can access any video by clicking on it's link or go to the "Playlists" tab and find them by demonstrator.