CAT recognizes that Safety is of utmost importance in any activity involving tools and machinery. We have developed these guidelines for a safe and enjoyable experience at any CAT sponsored event. Please read and adhere to these guidelines. If you recognize a safety issue or unsafe behavior, please bring this to the attention of the […]
I first started “turning” (and by that I mean gouging or scraping wood) over 30 years ago as an adjunct to my flat woodworking. Who knew that tools weren’t sharp off the shelf, or that the tools were designed to cut and not scrape. It wasn’t until I joined a woodturning club and started taking […]
As we seem to have missed Winter and head into Spring in February my snow thrower sits forlorn in my garage. However, I have wood to turn rather than snow to throw, and that’s a good thing. For some reason my mind “turned” to thoughts about a simple but important thing: drive centers. Like […]
Luelle and I just checked another one off our Bucket List… sailing through the Panama Canal. We left from LA and stopped along the way down the coast to Panama, Cabo San Lucas, Acapulco, Costa Rica and a few more. The Panama Canal was awesome, but mainly because I had read Path Between The Seas, […]
Tom Wirsing was born in Roanoke, Virginia, in the Shenandoah Valley, an historic center of American furniture building and woodturning. Tom’s dad was an expert on American period furniture and had a well-equipped workshop which included a lathe. Tom began turning wood as a young boy. After graduating from Roanoke College with a degree in […]
CAT had the privilege of hosting Stuart Batty for the August 13th demonstration. Attendees saw the magic of the 40-40 Batty grind for turning both bowls and “between center” pieces. Those who attended the one-day workshop on August 16th took it one step further—perfecting their bowl turning technique and learning to free hand grind their […]
Wood turning can be many things to many people. Not very many of us make a full time living from it; some want to make a little to augment another income source. Others of us will be happy if we can just make enough to buy our next tool. Those who do not sell, soon […]
For those of you who know me, “Ritual” would not seem like a topic which I would choose to write about. Ritual has the connotation of doing something the same way every time. This seems to go against one of the mainstays of introductory advice to new turners… that, “There are many ways to get […]
We not only had a great June presentation by a Hawaiian, but enjoyed a sweet treat—chocolate covered macadamia nuts. Andy Cole presented a natural edge bowl coring demonstration using a Hawaiian mahogany bowl blank. This is also called a side grain coring technique. Andy prefers using the Kelton-McNaughton coring system because of the versatility that […]
Several of us were just at the AAW Annual Symposium in Pittsburgh. For all the first timers, it was mind blowing. Even for the veterans, the amount and quality of the Instant Gallery—which is like a gigantic Show and Tell—never ceases to amaze. There were dozens of demonstrations all day long from the best talent […]
