Spring Evenings: Beginning Woodturning

Wednesdays ~ April 8, 15, 22, 29
6:00pm-9:00pm

Woodturning is a truly satisfying craft, and the raw materials to produce useful, gorgeous and unique objects are all around us. This four-session class will introduce you to the lathe and the tools used to shape a basic piece of wood into a unique, attractive and useful object. The class will show the basic functions of a lathe and the various tools that are used to shape wood. The safe use of the lathe and tools will be emphasized to allow participants to use the equipment safely and with confidence. The importance of using sharp tools will be emphasized and various sharpening methods will be demonstrated and taught. The first portion of the class will work with square material and show how to use a spindle roughing gouge to make the piece round. We will then use the spindle gouge and skew to begin to learn to turn shapes into the round spindles. We will practice on scrap pine to learn to use the tools and practice shaping your work. Once you are comfortable with the process, we will move to making a usable object. Finally, we will use a small bowl blank to turn a small bowl. This section will introduce the use of a bowl gouge and will include learning how to mount the blank on the lathe. You will learn to make sure the blank is round, how to shape the outside and to turn the bowl around and remount it to finish the inside. By the end of the workshop, you’ll not only understand how to use the lathe and tools safely—you’ll feel confident, inspired, and ready to keep creating.