November 2024 Chairman Report
Where has the time gone? Veterans Day is here, Thanksgiving is just around the corner and the Holidays are close behind. Time is definitely flying by.
I hope those that attended our sawmill tour enjoyed it as much as I did. We received a lot of positive comments about our road trip. For those of you who couldn't attend, you missed a very informative tour.
Volunteers Needed
Any club is only as good as its volunteer staff. Your Board of Directors are all volunteers and spend a fair amount of time working for the club. Besides running the meetings and authoring this monthly report, I have also been acting as the Membership committee, the A/V guy, and the Webmaster. Andrew is the Vice-Chairman and is taking over the raffle prize procurement. Kim is handling the Instant Gallery and is taking over the programming. We could use some assistance.
Meeting donuts - We need someone to stop, pay for our donut order and deliver to Woodcraft on the morning of our meetings. You will be reimbursed for the cost of the donuts. Shouldn't take more than 20 additional minutes to your meeting morning.
Forum Moderator - We are considering starting a forum within our website. To do that, one or more moderators would be needed depending on how much traffic the forum generates.
Audio/Visual - We could use some help at the meetings setting up and knocking down the A/V equipment. Also help needed converting raw video of demonstrations into a finished product.
Webmaster - Our webmaster Jay has moved away, and we are in need of someone to take over the website duties.
Demonstrators - We could use some new ideas. I know we have a lot of talent in this club, and we would like you to share with us. I know it is hard to get up in front of a group and speak, I struggle with it sometimes. Lots of people are afraid of making mistakes, but how many videos have you watched where the demonstrator blew something up? You call it a "design change" or a "learning experience" and move on. If you think you may want to demonstrate, but are hesitant, we will help and coach you. The AAW website has a pretty large section dedicated to making better demonstrators.
The club is a 501(3)(c) nonprofit corporation. Our charter says, in part, that we promote our craft and provide instruction. We do this by going out and doing demos. This year we did the Westmorland Festival, the Fair in the Park and helped out the Turn Pens for Troops at Woodcraft. The club gained several new members from these. Next year we plan on doing several more shows to promote and grow the club. It seems that the same small group of members comes out to demonstrate. We really could use more of you to help out with these activities.
If you are interested in helping us out in any of these positions, see me or any of the board members.
Programming
November 16th - For our November meeting, local woodturner Craig Smith will help us to get a leg up on the December box exchange by doing a demonstration on turning end grain boxes. This demonstration will focus on some of the basic keys to safely and successfully turn your box. Topics will include the differences between end grain and side grain boxes, the proper order of operations, getting the type of fit on the lid that you want, and jamb chucking to complete the bottom of the box body.
After lunch, we plan to clear the decks and set up several more lathes for a hands-on session to give interested members the chance to try out some of the techniques on their own box. Craig will be around for this session and some of the more experienced turners will be around, too. Hopefully this will provide an opportunity for anyone/everyone who are interested to try making their own end grain box. Lunch is not being provided.
December 21st - Turners Anonymous's annual Christmas ornament and box exchange. This year we have booked the Bethel Park Community Center located at 5151 Park Avenue, Bethel Park, Pa 15102. Spouses/Partners and Children/Grandchildren are welcome. Bring some sweets to share. Besides exchanging ornaments and boxes, we will also be having out regular raffle, a Chinese auction and a silent auction for the donated PSI lathe and accessories. Tickets for the two auctions can be purchased at both the November and December meetings. Please put your name on the tickets if you do not plan on being at the December meeting.
January 18th - January is the month our bylaws say we hold our annual business meeting. This should not take too long and afterwards we will open the meeting up to the members to ask questions. There is enough experience in the group to address almost anything. The sky's the limit. Bring in a piece you need advice on how to proceed or fix to get answers. Or bring in something you made just starting out and a recent piece to show everyone how much you have progressed. If time permits, we will give a quick demonstration of what's available on our new website.
February 15th - Nick Wolfgang will cover the basics of using epoxy resin for woodworking projects, with a demo of how to make blanks. The session will cover techniques like mixing, pouring, and finishing, as well as creative ways to add color and depth to your work. Safety will be a key focus, including tips on proper ventilation, protective gear, and safe handling of materials.
Programming for the rest of the year has not been finalized yet. I am in contact with Trent Bosch about him doing an IRD (Interactive Remote Demo). We are looking at several other possibilities for IRDs. Kim is talking with the Butler Area Woodturners and the Indiana club to see if we can make a "demonstrator swap". More to come.
Some of the pens made at the Pens for Troops event at Woodcraft. Thanks to all that helped make the event a success.
Things to Come:
Rob and I are working on setting up the ability to pay dues online with a credit card. We have hit a couple of snags but are working through them and hopefully this feature will be up and running very soon. Our survey results told us that some of you want this option. For those who did not want this, well, you can still do cash or check.
Thanks to Dave Weber who is laser engraving nametags for those of you who asked for them. We still need to put a finish on them and get the magnets attached so they may not be available at this next meeting. Anyone else who wants a name tag, let me know.
Our club management software will be auto-sending reminders of membership renewals in several weeks. If you have already renewed, thank you and you should not get any notices. Reminder that regular membership dues are now $40 for the year. Family membership is $60.
We are looking at adding more higher value items to be included in our monthly raffles and will begin a trial in January to see if this generates more interest.
Lastly, the board has been considering ways to grow the club and bring in younger members. One idea is to promote the club via social media, aka Facebook. If we should do this, we would need someone to post on the club's Facebook page several times a week to establish the media presence. Let us know your thoughts on this. Also, if you have any additional ideas how we can attract younger people to become turners, we would like to hear them.
See you at the next meeting,
Tom Shortall
Chairman