General Questions

Members,

My apology for double email, but this forum allows for reply's....if ya have a comment, respond to this Forum- General Questions. Thx

I talked with Marla the Fair manager, this afternoon. The club will get an invite next week with additional information. I suggested we turn Friday and Saturday. Mid morning to 4 or 5 pm. There will be Eukele band on the stage for an hour, not sure which day...we take a break, get some ice cream from the dairy bar and enjoy the music, eh!

Will need several turners during the days, possibly turning in shifts, make small items, no sanding, and throw out to the crowd. Kid love tops! Makem! Other ideas, honey dippers, spurtles, if green wood available, make flower heads. Bring coloring materials. Bring your own source of wood. I'll contact Tim at Bat Factory for tops wood donation as in last summer. Will have our club banner and marketing materials. How bout membership deal for balance of 2026- might help with recruitment?? Weigh in board folks.

I will bring or have someone bring the club's 10" Jet lathe and chuck. I'll bring my Jet 10" lathe and chuck. 3 or 4 lathes will be sufficient for the allotted space if members want to bring their own. Please bring tools, wood, favorite chuck, etc.

More info to follow. Possibly a shift signup type sheet, maybe something online? For certain, a paper sign-up sheet at next club meeting.

Our web event calendar has fair identified for Friday July 17 and Saturday July 18.

Please mark your personal calendar and help out if you can. And, hey, it's a really good time.

Thanks.

Bob Raasch, 2026 Fair event coordinator

Bob Raasch

Fair update!

Good news. We have been invited.

Please consider helping out, place on your calendar. Our schedule is 11am -5pm on Friday July 17 and Saturday July 18. . At 5 pm on Friday, a Ukulele group will be playing on the stage, so we need to be done. On Sat we can extend if we desire.

Would be great to have 4 hour blocks if possible. I will bring a paper "volunteer turner" signup sheet at the next club meeting on May 16. Bring your own turning tools and wood blanks for 10' lathes. If you have a small traveling lathe, please consider bringing it.

The July club meeting is Sat, 18th. I will stop by briefly to pick up club banner, electrical cords, clubs 10'' Jet lathe and Nova chuck kit, etc. Also, have some scraper type carbide cutter tools to bring. If you are planning on coming both days, take your tools with you at the end of your shift.

Also, please consider bringing a few items for the fair's show-n-tell table to showcase your work. If you can't turn, please consider "shmoozing" with the onlookers.

If you desire, send me you hours preference for Frid and Sat.

Start makin some tops to give to the kiddos, don't have to be Fancy Dancy. Last year we gave out over a hundred tops.

Thank you.

Bob Raasch, 2026 Fair event coordinator

Bob (RG) Raasch

Interstate Fair update.

The fair demo event is not far away- Friday July 17-

Sat July 18. I will have the Sign-up sheet at the June meeting, thus far only 1 person has committed on paper- a few verbal offers of help. We need several more to make this a success. Our commitment is turning from 11 am to 5 pm.

A priority is making tops to give away to kids. If 15 of the club's 33 members make 5 tops each we will have 75 made by the Getgo. Please bring to the July club meeting on July 11. I will take them to the fair. Again, this year I will ask for a wood donation from the Bat Brothers for tops timber, which will be cutoffs from their bats production line.

I plan to have a kids area sectioned on one of the tables for kiddos can color their tops. We will provide crayons, magic makers, paint pens. The kiddos may need the assistance of an adult to help with that.

If you want some ideas on what to make, consider small items you can turn out in a few minutes to give out to the crowd, spin tops, honey dippers, garden diggers, maybe stick pens, etc. require minimal timber. No sanding is permitted. No selling is permitted.

Logistics- the West gate opens at 9am. If you can arrive between 9:30-10am, you should be able to park close to New Youth Exhibit Building, to unload lathes/tools, wood, etc. Consider bringing a few items for the show-n-tell display table to wow the crowd! We need a few club cheer leaders to talk up the club to the audience which is usually on the move, so grab em and chat!

The youth exhibit building is close to the Dairy Bar, which serves delightful cold ice cream for your enjoyment during those hot July fair days.

Fair home page

Fair schedule

An interesting article is in the latest AAW journal, June 2026, Woodturners Chatter section, by Ken Vasko of the Nittany Valley Woodturners, on their club's community Outreach at Pennsylvania State Parks......maybe food for thought for future adventures for CRW. If you're a member, take a look.

In closing,

For some unknown reason, the club express forums server did not deliver this message sent last evening.

New addition to video resources page

After some searching, I found some videos of CRW member, professional turner and wood carver Marv Meyer demonstrating some of his craft on YouTube. These are placed on the club's video resources page. Enjoy.

Thank you.

Bob Raasch, 2026 Fair event coordinator

and, speaking of tops, from LumenCarver.art dowel string top (at back of table) | Videos & Movies on Vimeo might be a bit much for the fair.....but????

Nother one for ya Making Color Tops | Videos & Movies on Vimeo and another dancing ballerina tops | Videos & Movies on Vimeo

Bob (RG) Raasch

As you may be aware if you've tried to access this site recently, the Club Express webserver, systemwide (all their sites) has been painfully slow to nonexistent the last several days. They assured me their system was not hacked, but experiencing a systemwide slowdown and is working to resolve the issues.

It appears to be working better this afternoon. However, still noticing some glitches on the admin side.

Now to the point.

Wig stands.

I delivered 2 wig stands, collected at the May meeting to the cancer center Wed. Taylor informed me they were down to 1 or 2. So, my broken record plea, "if ya have the time and resources, please make 1 and bring to the June meeting next Saturday". Don't have to be fancy-dancy. They are simply utilitarian turnings that help to make the days of cancer patients with hair loss a little better and show our collective humanity and engagement.

Tops for the county fair.

As mentioned in the past, fair turner demonstrators often make tops for the kiddos to give away. As we continue in that vain, please make some, even if you cannot join us for the event. 5 tops made by 15 members=75 ready made by the GETGO, and an easy task. Fancy-dancy or not is okay. Don't feel compelled to color or embellish. Bring what ya have to the next meeting, I'll collect and have ready to go. Our usual proficiency test for the kiddos is, if they can spin it, it's there's. And they always enjoy showing us their skill 😉

My goal is to have 1 person to be at the tops table to help the kiddos color their tops if they desire-it's the finishing touch that makes the tops their own! I will have coloring supplies for that; crayons, color pencils and magic markers.

We will be making tops and small items to give away. I will contact 3 Brothers Bat Factory for tops donation timber once again. Bring timber you'd like to turn and your sharp tools to the fair.

The fair signup sheet will be at Saturday's meeting once again. Fair demo is July 17 and 18- 11am to 5pm. Keep the date.

We look forward to seeing a large crowd next Saturday at Luther to enjoy Jack Fitzpatrick's presentation on transferring images to wood.

Coffee provided, free will offering to offset coffee costs. Donuts, fruit or other to share would be delightful.

Have website related questions? The web team will answer your questions or help with you individually with your problems.

Bye for now. -raasch

Bob Raasch

We are located in the 4H building. From the West entrance, go past the bathrooms and it isbthe first building on the right

Kris

Club will need to decide -

1. Is this the "July Meeting"?
2. If we still have a regular meeting....is it week before?
3. or week after?

Aaron Gesicki

Coulee Region Woodturners

Or do we have the regular meeting on Saturday July 18, maybe a turner or two at the fair during that time, then other turners descend on the fair after the Saturday meeting? Something to discuss and decide at the June meeting. John

John, hopefully you have a demo lined up for July. If so, carry on as usual.

Saturday is the second day of our commitment. My vote would be to have a couple of turners at the start, but not necessary. I will be there for sure by 10:30. I believe they close the gate to auto traffic to the building by 10 or so to bring in equipment, however.

edit --I will pick up club's 10" lathe, chuck, ext cords, banner, first aid kit and such prior to fair event.

thanks

Bob (RG) Raasch

I can help. I won't be a turner as I'm not confident enough to "perform" in front of people. I'll help wherever else it is needed.

Terry

Thanx Terry for offering, maybe as a club cheerleader? 1 or both days?

Bob (RG) Raasch