Need Ideas for club demo's

[Roger Turnbough]

The title pretty much says it all. We have done all the usual suspects recently. We need something new and fresh. Y'all got any ideas?

Roger

[Thom Sturgill]

Well you didn't say what the usual suspects are so - bottom hollowing cutting out and replacing the bottom of a long necked HF.
Multi-axis turning like some of the boxes shown recently - only need a little geometry layout and nerves.

[Marty Eargle]

Kind of difficult to say without knowing more about your body of work.

I say the best bet is to teach what you know. Demos on the fundamentals of form, finishing, and presentation can be just is important as a demo on a specific kind of piece. If your club members do a lot of hollow forms, there are a lot of people that don't know about the golden ratio and how it can enhance the form of a piece.

[Richard Allen]

Bowls






Bowl shapes




Rim design




Foot design




End grain bowls


Boxes






Basic box




Fitting a lid




Multi Species boxes




Side grain boxes (lidded bowls)




Finials or handles




Threading


Hollow Forms






End grain hollow forms




Southwest hollow forms




Side Grain hollow forms




Thin walled hollow forms




Beaded hollow forms




Rim design




Foot design




Ellsworth shaped hollow forms




River rock shaped hollow forms


Platters






Shallow platters




Deep platters




Rim design




Rim - body interface design




Foot design


Segmented work






Hollow forms




Open segmented




Segmented bowls




Multi species bowls




Stave work


Multi axis work






Spindles




Boxes




Bowls




Mounting techniques


Ornamental work






Using a rose engine lathe




Indexing




Ornamental Turning Device




Sorby OTD


Crafts






Pens




Bottle stoppers




Small bowls




Boxes


Spindles






Chair legs




Table legs




Stretchers




Candle sticks


Equipment






Lathes




Chucks




Gouges




Tool steel




Scrapers




Hollowing tools




Making tools




Jigs


Photography






Cameras




Photo booths




Taking pictures of shiny surfaces




Improvements in pictures


Marketing






Craft shows




Displaying your work




Pricing your work




Working with Galleries




Producing gallery level work


Other disciplines






Wood burning




Coloring




Metal leafing




Carving




Piercing




Sand Blasting


Wood






Domestic woods




Latin American woods




South American woods




African Woods




European Woods




Asian woods




Southeast Asia woods




Australian wood


Symposiums






The month before and the week after the national symposium




The week before and the week after a symposium other than the national AAW symposium


Gifts






What to make for gifts




Birthdays




Wedding




Christmas




For another turner




For wood giver (someone who has given you some wood)


Sanding






Hand sanding




Sandpaper brands




Inertial sanders




Power sanding




Special sanding circumstances


Finishing






Oil finish




Film finish




Lacquer




Varnish




Epoxy




Buffing

[Wally Dickerman]

A demo on tool sharpening is always popular. I've done it a couple of times at our club. There is nothing more important in woodturning than knowing how to sharpen tools.

I brought in my grinder, My 1 inch belt sander with a fresh blue zircon belt, and a board to draw pictures. I use the belt sander with a 60 grit belt for reshaping tools. Cuts much faster than a coarse grinder and it runs cool. Blue zircon will outlast al. oxide belts by at least 10 times.

I asked members to bring in a tool to be sharpened or reshaped.

[Bill White]

Sharpening?
Well darn! He beat me to it.
Bill

[Jim Underwood]

I always thought a demonstration on methods of workholding might be interesting. That could run all the way through traditional methods like drive centers and face plates, to glue chucks and jam chucks, on to home made chucks (like the longworth and donut) to scroll chucks and vacuum chucks, not to mention steadys, like string steadys, board steadys and wheeled steadys...

[bob edwards]

I always find an evening spent on the basics is appreciated by all. Some of us have bee turning for so long we forget to explain why we do a certain thing. Why do I anchor the tool and plant my feet that way. Why do I grind a certain angle on my bowl gouge. Why do I always start a project between centers. I could go on and on but you get the idea. This not only dose this bring out different opinions and makes for lively discussions.

[Josh Bowman]

Nick Cook, came to ours and turned a lamp, it's fairly big, but didn't take long, he also showed how to use scraps to turn coffee scoops, and a "magic" salt shaker. If showed a lot of basics as well as some work holding stuff. Really enjoyed it.

[Roger Turnbough]

Thanks guys for all the great ideas. Its usually a last minute scramble to come up with a topic for the meeting. I Really appreciate the advise.

Roger

[Curt Fuller]

If you're able to operate a chainsaw in your demo area then a demonstration on harvesting your own wood and preparing blanks is usually pretty helpful. Lot's of beginners seem to be unaware of just how much beautiful wood is at their fingertips if they learn what parts of a tree hold the good stuff.

[Scott Hackler]

From log to bowl would be a good demo and a demo on shapes and profiles (golden mean ratio).

[Thomas Canfield]

I have done a demo a couple of times called "Bowl Turning for Beginners, by a Beginner". I explained a couple of different mountings and my preference of worm screw in chuck to start turning the outside and tenon on bottom, how to then reverse and tun the inside using a green blank. I encourage using green wood for beginners since it is easier to turn, less dust, and the long streaming shavings really get one hooked. I then take a dried green turning that has gone oval and show how to true up the tenon and start the outside using the expanded jaws of chuck as jam and live center. The bowl is then reversed and outside finished and inside turned. The bowl is then revered again and using a jam with rubber shelf liner pad and live center turn off the majority of the tenon for smooth or recessed bottom and then cut off nub for sanding. All the steps can be expanded, but it is a simple demo to try to encourage some of the newer turners to take a chance and turn a bowl.

I cannot emphasize enough the using green wood for beginners, and turning rough bowls allows for learning tool techniques that can be further refined when going to dry and finished products, rather than try for the art show product on the first try.