News / Articles

Committees and Volunteer Staff

Auction/Wood Sales Committee:   Wood Wrangler, Ed Jones, Jon Geisbush, Marilyn Bergevin

Web Master:  DJ Dimick

Communications Committee:  Chair, Jeff Foro, Webmaster, DJ Dimick; Sponsorships (open); Newsletter, Ted Lund, Photographer, Valerie Henschel, Web Content, (open); Librarian:  Robert Bindschadler,

Audio/Visual:  Mark Nebel, Robert Bindschadler, Lisa Brice

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Club Calendar	2
President’s Message	3
Meeting Time Change	3
Women in Turning	3
Programs—Turn-a-Thon	4
President’s Challenge	4
Open Shops	4
Summer Picnic	5
Website	5
Member Project	5-6
Library	6
Shop Tours	6
Wood Sales	6-7
Help Wanted	7
AAW Resources—Wood Toxicity	7-21

 

CLUB CALENDAR   July 18-20 Turn-a-thon, 961 East Fir St., Sequim August 5 Board Meeting via Zoom, 6:30 August 9 Summer Picnic, 11:30-2:30, 132 John Carl Road, Sequim August 15 Monthly Meeting and Demo, Mark Nebel, 10:00-1:30, GCC and Zoom September 2 Board Meeting via Zoom, 6:30 September 20 Monthly Meeting and Demo, Saleem Shafi, 10:00-1:30, GCC and Zoom October 7 Board Meeting via Zoom, 6:30 Oct. 21 (Tuesday) Monthly Meeting and Demo, Yann Marot, GCC and Zoom November 1-2 Port Townsend Woodworker’s Show November 4 Board Meeting via Zoom, 6:30 November 15 Monthly Meeting and Demo, Mike Gonyer, 10:00-1:30, GCC and Zoom December 2 Board Meeting via Zoom, 6:30 December 20 Holiday Party, 11:00-1:00

 

 

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Members of the Strait Turners Chapter of AAW:

In place of our regular meeting this month, we will be doing our annual Turn-a-Thon.  This is the fourth iteration of this event.  The first two were held in the parking lot at the Gardiner Community Center; and last year we did in just down the road at Birds of the Wild.  In none of those cases did we get much interest from the public.

The primary purpose of the event is to have fun with your fellow turners.  Also, we want to increase the public visibility of the club and stimulate interest in joining.  We will also have donated items for sale to the public.

This year’s Turn-a-Thon will be at the home of Jim Julian, at 961 East Fir Street in Sequim.  This is essentially across the street from the main entrance to Carrie Blake Park, the epicenter of the Lavender Festival.  Our Turn-a-thon will coincide with Lavender Weekend, July 18-20.  Jim’s home is on a primary route for foot traffic to and from the festival.  Parking is limited close to the park and hundreds of people have to park blocks away and walk along Fir Street or take the shuttle bus on that street.   We are much indebted to Jim for volunteering his home.

Brian Johnson is taking the lead in organizing the event, again.  You received his email asking for help staffing the event.  Please respond, if you have not done so.  The more turners in attendance, the more fun we will have.

Ted Lund, President, 2024-25

 

MEETING TIME CHANGE

Beginning with the August meeting, our starting time will be 10:30. GCC now has someone using the hall on Friday nights, prior to our meetings.  Mark and Bob have been starting setup for our meeting on Friday night.  Removing that option leaves them insufficient time to complete that work before 10:00.  The start of social time, before the meeting will now be 10:00.

 

WOMEN IN TURNING OPPORTUNITY

The deadline for applying for a $500 WIT scholarship is August 1, 2025.  See the May Newsletter for details.

 

 

PROGRAMS

Our event for July is the 4th annual Turn-a-Thon from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday, July 18, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, July 19, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, July 20. It will be at the home of Jim Julian at 961 E. Fir St, Sequim, WA. (There will not be a demonstration at the Gardiner Center this month). All members are invited to attend either to turn wood, sell donated items or just sit and visit. There should be a lot of Lavender Festival foot traffic passing by, so we anticipate quite a bit of interest from the general public.

We plan to set up 3 lathes in Jim’s driveway and turn a variety of items, most notably tops and weed pots. Wood will be provided. If you plan to turn, please bring your own turning tools to maintain accountability over the 3-day event.

This is a potential moneymaker for the club if we sell our donated items. Also, we hope to attract a few new members.

We could use a few more volunteers, especially on Friday. Also, we need volunteers to help deliver items and set up at Jim’s house on Thursday afternoon. Breakdown will begin at 3 p.m. on Sunday. Call Brian Johnson at info@straitturners.org if you can help.

If you plan to attend the Turn-a-Thon and are coming from out of town, please allow plenty of time before your shift to get there. Traffic during the event will be very heavy. There is parking (for club members) behind Jim’s house. It is accessed in the alley between Fir St. and Alder St. Jim suggests that if you have items to deliver, drive to the front, drop off the items and then drive around to the back to park.

Hope to see you there.

By Brian Johnson

 

PRESIDENT’S CHALLENGE

For July bring bud vases/weed pots to give away at the Turn-a-Thon.

For August, turn something long and thin, as demonstrated by Tim Larson last month.

 

OPEN SHOPS

Please contact Brian Johnson, to sign up or talk about hosting an Open Shop of your own. 

 

 

 

SUMMER PICNIC

My husband Ken and I are happy to host the Strait Turner Summer Picnic on Saturday, August 9 from 11:30 am to 2:30 pm. We live in Sequim at 132 John Carl Rd. We have plenty of parking along the fence in front of our house and in the driveway.

We have seating for 25; but it would be helpful if some of you can bring a lawn chair. The club will be providing hamburgers and hot dogs. Please sign up for an item to bring to share on the Google sheet link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MNgrgcbX6_2XhZPXZTU6riNyZ7f_KgZY/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=101610929576879951399&rtpof=true&sd=true. Just click on the link and type your name next to the item you will bring. If you have any trouble signing up on the google sheet, just send me an email with the item you choose to bring. 

We look forward to seeing you on August 9. Let me know if you have any questions. Please RSVP to me via text, 661-472-5820, or email, marilynbergevin0513@gmail.com. 

Marilyn Bergevin

 

WEBSITE

Great progress is being make on the new Website. The team of Fred and Kathy Hershman and Marilyn Bergevin have been seeking help from members in redesigning our logo and providing photos.  If you have ideas for them, contact Marilyn.

 

MEMBER PROJECT

Our club recently obtained a Siberian Elm tree for turning.  This is beautiful wood; but, like the fruitwoods, Madrone, and others, it tends to warp and crack substantially during drying.  One way to deal with such tendencies is to turn the wood thin while green and dry carefully.  This article describes my recent experience doing this with the Siberian Elm.  Starting with a half-round of green wood, I turned a bowl about 7 inches wide and 2 deep.  It was turned about 1/8” thick and sanded to 320 grit.  Then I coated it liberally with my go-to finish, mineral oil and beeswax (4 to 1 volumetric).  Then it was placed in a microwave for one minute.  Then it was turned over and microwaved for another minute.  This was all done immediately after turning. 

The microwave turned much of the water in the wood into pressurized steam.  The pressure forced much of this steam out of the wood.  As the wood cooled, the liquified finish was drawn into the wood, replacing some of the lost water.  The bowl was now warped, as expected, now 6 ½ inches long and 5 3/4 inches wide.  The bottom of the bowl was no longer flat.  Also, processing had raised the grain of the wood.

Once the wood had cooled, I placed it into two brown paper bags, to limit the drying rate.  I was unable to get back to it for about a week.  When the bags were opened, the bowl was at 11% moisture, which I consider dry in our climate.  I then hand-sanded the bowl with 180 and 320 grit sandpaper.  Next, I used a stationary belt sander to flatten the bowl bottom to where it woold not rock when placed on a flat surface.  The final step was finishing again with the mineral oil and beeswax finish. 

The pith goes through one end of the bowl and no cracking has occurred anywhere on the bowl.  Although I did some things differently from what I have done in the past, I am very pleased with the result.

By Ted Lund

 

STRAIT TURNERS LIBRARY

Please remember to return the items you have checked out of the club library.  Also, take a look at what is available to check out at the next meeting.  This is a treasure trove of information for the woodturner.  Contact info@straitturners.org, if you have any questions about the library or want to donate to it.

 

SHOP TOURS

The Port Angeles Shop Tour has been cancelled do to lack of volunteer hosts.

 

Please contact Antoinette if anyone needs a cheering up. She will be happy to oblige.

info@straitturners.org.

 

 

WOOD AND TOOL AUCTION

Thank you all for your support of the auction last month.  You raised $337 to help us pay for quality demonstrations and other club activities. 

There will be no auction at the Turn-a-Thon.  Please plan to bring some quality wood or tools to the August meeting.

If a community member or anyone else needs a tree removed, they can contact Ed Jones, who will organize volunteers to help cut and transport the wood. Members are encouraged to support the effort by assisting Ed with cutting and hauling when needed. If you're willing to lend a hand, please reach out to Ed.

 

HELP WANTED!

Hosts for Open Shop Events—Can you host a small number of members in your shop for a session on some aspect of turning?  If so, contact Brian Johnson.

Sponsorship Coordinator—Someone to recruit, communicate with, and document our Sponsors.  A new Sponsorship program has been approved by the Board.  We just need someone to put this in front of potential sponsors.

 

AAW

We are a chapter of the American Association of Woodturners.  Members are encouraged to join AAW to access the huge selection of resources there for turners.  Free trial memberships are available at the Membership Landing Page. See the AAW Webpage, https://www.woodturner.org/, for information like this:

Wood Allergies and Toxicity

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

by Eric Meier

“Not to omit any one of them, the yew is similar to these other trees in general appearance . . . It is an ascertained fact that travellers’ vessels, made in Gaul of this wood, for the purpose of holding wine, have caused the death of those who used them.”

–Pliny the Elder, from Naturalis Historia, ca. 77 AD

Looking at the above quotation, (taken from a writing nearly two thousand years old), ought to bring—at the very least—a small bit of respect and attention to the matter of safety as it pertains to wood toxicity. If this subject has been known and reported as “ascertained fact” since ancient history, how much more ought we to take heed in modern times, considering that we have so many more well-developed means of communication and testing?

 

A turned yew bowl by Steve Earis

 

Wood Toxicity and Allergen Chart

Below you’ll find a chart of various wood species, along with their reported effects and properties. The information on this chart has been compiled from many sources, with references given at the bottom. When viewing the chart, please keep the following in mind:

Just because any given wood is not listed on the chart, does not mean that it is completely safe to use. It simply means that adverse reactions have not been reported as of yet. (The wood may be very obscure or unknown.) One helpful thing to do if you have confirmed that you’re allergic to a specific species of wood, is to check for related species (listed at the end of each wood profile page). Many times, a wood in a particular genus will share similar allergic compounds with other related woods, resulting in cross-reactions.) For example, Cocobolo is in the Dalbergia genus, and is also closely related to other woods such as Kingwood, Tulipwood, Honduran Rosewood, etc. Also, you may notice two wood types that sound like they’re related, such as Black Cherry (Prunus genus) and Brazilian Cherry (Hymenaea genus), but they are actually quite unrelated.

All inhaled wood dust is hazardous to your long-term health. This chart simply lists specific woods that can aggravate symptoms through allergic reactions, or woods that are outright toxic in and of themselves. However, all woods produce fine dust when worked, which in turn can damage your lungs and cause a number of other adverse health reactions. (This particular health issue—and the unhealthy buildup of such dusts in small woodworking or hobbyist shops—has been dealt with at length on Bill Pentz’ website.)

A common question: is this wood safe to use as a plate/bowl/cutting board/etc.? Despite the very long list of woods below, very few woods are actually toxic in and of themselves. But what a great number of woods do have the potential to do is cause allergic reactions in sensitive individuals. This risk for finished wood projects is greatly lessened (but not eliminated) with the application of a food-safe finish. In the end, using almost any wood is a calculated risk, and the question boils down to this: how much of a potential risk am I comfortable with? 1 in 10? 1 in 1,000? 1 in 1,000,000? (The last two columns did not transfer correctly from the original.  See this website for the original data: https://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/wood-allergies-and-toxicity/.)

 

What is a Sensitizer?

You’ve probably already heard the term desensitized—usually in reference to violent movies or images—meaning that we start off as naturally being sensitive to something, and upon more and frequent exposure, we become less and less sensitive to its effects.

Well, with some woods that have been classified as being a sensitizer, the opposite is true: the more we are exposed to a wood’s sawdust or other fine particles, the more sensitive we get to its exposure, and the more severe and adverse the reactions become.

If you ever have an allergic reaction to any wood that has been identified as a sensitizer, use extreme caution in handling or using that species (and related species) in future instances. Some have reactions so severe that they simply have had to stop and discontinue using certain wood species altogether. (Cocobolo is notorious in this regard.)

What is HP?

Hypersensitivity pneumonitis (also called extrinsic allergic alveolitis, EAA) is an inflammation of the alveoli within the lung caused by hypersensitivity to inhaled organic dusts. HP on PubMedHealth.

What is NPC?

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma, or sometimes called nasopharyngeal cancer. Basically, it is a cancer of the upper area of the pharynx or “throat,” where the nasal passages and auditory tubes join the remainder of the upper respiratory tract. NPC on MayoClinic.com.