August2006

Newsletter August 2006 Vol. 11 No. 8

Meeting Information: Saturday, August 26th, from 9 am to 4 pm

Stuart Batty: Bowls, Spheres, and Goblets

At Levi Mize Woodcraftsman's Shop

162 Aviador Street #17+18, Camarillo, CA 93010

Aviador Street is N. of the Camarillo Airport and is reached from the Central Ave. exit off of US 101: go S. and turn left on Ventura Blvd. then right on Aviador St. About three-quarters of the way to the dead end, on the left is a long building. Levi's shop is the last two doors on the left on the S. side of the building. Please park directly in front of or behind his shop or against the curb on the N. side of the building and not in front of other shops.

BRING YOUR OWN CHAIR OR SIT ON THE FLOOR

July as always was a busy month. The annual picnic at Jim Rinde's on the 8th was outstanding with over 60 members and spouses in attendance (photos below). There was great food in abundance and excellent show and tell pieces to discuss.

On July 15th Russ Babbitt held a special teaching session on making tops. See his description and photos in the Tops section of Projects . And to finish off the month we had a great all day demonstration by John Jordan on the 22nd.

The Judging for the Ventura County Fair took place on July 26th and the results are posted when the fair opens on August 2nd.

The August 26th meeting is an all day special demonstration by Stuart Batty who last visited us in 2004.

This year Stuart will be demonstrating:

        Turning a bowl with just a gouge
        How to free hand grind
        Sphere or Sphere Boxes
        Negative Rake scraping on very thin wall exotic bowls
        Very tall thin stem goblets
    The cost is $25 and RSVP's are necessary to reserve your spot. Contact Doug Eaton or Ron Lindsay (their email and phone are on the membership list sent to all members in June) or you can email them at RSVP, as we have limited seating and need an accurate count for lunches. Make checks out to Ron Lindsay and put "SBatty Demo" in the memo area.

Stuart is a second generation woodturner. He began turning at the age of 10, under the expert tutelage of his father Allan Batty, also an internationally recognized turner and teacher. Stuart joined the professional ranks at the age of 16, as spindle turner and teacher in his father’s workshop. At 18, he became the in-house teacher and woodturning demonstrator at Craft Supplies Ltd in England and a tool tester for Robert Sorby Tools.
    While working for Craft Supplies -UK, Stuart also help set up their first sawmill, as well as being their buyer for exotic woods. Stuart also went on to set up a further six sawmills in five African countries, which included Cameroon, Nigeria, Tanzania, South Africa and Madagascar.
    Stuart’s style of woodturning is a development of an orthodox British spindle turning style that he has developed to suit modern tools and steels. He uses very simple tools and grinds to create his pieces.
    Stuart has spent much of his time teaching the traditional skills he learned as an apprentice turner. He has demonstrated at over 55 international woodturning symposiums in 12 different countries.
    Stuart’s artwork is pure lathe made, so you will not see any carving or surface texturing in his work. He specializes in bowls with corners, deep thin bowls and tall very thin goblets, as well as a variety of boxes. His work has graced the front of many catalogs, is in the Whitehouse collection and has been sort after by many wood art collectors, as well as by many other woodturners who appreciate the turning skill in his work.

    Member Stephen Case-Pall sent in the following information: Did you know that the Center for Wood Anatomy Research, in Madison, Wisconsin, will identify a maximum of five wood samples per calendar year as a free public service to U.S. citizens?
    Wood identifications can take anywhere from 5 minutes to many hours, depending on the type of wood, the size and quality of the sample, the information provided with the sample, and several other factors. Generally, identifications will be completed 2-4 weeks following receipt of the sample for temperate woods and 2-6 weeks for tropical woods. Responses are hand-written on the letter sent with the request. Samples are held for 3 months and then discarded; small samples are often destroyed in the process and are not retained.
    You can contact them by sending an email to Alex Weidenhoeft, Botanist: acwieden@wisc.edu.

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Photos from the Picnic