December 2024 Chairman's Report
Wow, Christmas is almost here! I guess I should be more politically correct, so Happy Holidays! But since this club’s mission is to keep politics out, Merry Christmas! Does everyone have their turned Christmas gifts ready and wrapped? If not, you still have several days left. If you are like me, you work better under pressure.
I want to remind you of our annual box and ornament exchange to be held on Saturday, December 21st at the Bethel Park Community Center located at 5151 Park Ave, Bethel Park, PA 15102. The doors to this venue will not open until 9am, so do not plan on arriving early, since we cannot set up until after 9. Additionally, this “meeting” is only open to members and their families. Contact me if there are any questions.
Volunteers Needed
Meeting donuts – Do you enjoy the provided donuts with the morning coffee? I think most do. We need someone to stop, pay for our donut order, and deliver to Woodcraft on the morning of our meetings and help clean up when meeting is over. You will be reimbursed for the cost of the donuts. We have been asking for a volunteer for this for months, now. If no one steps up, there will be no more donuts. Sorry, but….
Financial Audit – Our club’s bylaws state that a financial audit be done yearly by a non-board member. We need someone to work with Rob to get this done in early January.
Forum Moderator - We are considering starting a forum on our website. To do that, one or more moderators would be needed depending on how much traffic the forum generates. This person(s) need not be present at all meetings or be a member of the board and can do this remotely.
Audio/Visual - We could use some help at the meetings setting up and knocking down the A/V equipment. Also help is needed converting raw video of demonstrations into a finished product.
Webmaster - We are in need of someone to take over the website duties. This person will need to be present at most club meetings and become a board member.
Demonstrators – Although we are working on bringing in more “professional” demonstrators, we could use some members to step up and demonstrate.
If you are interested in helping us out in any of these positions, see me or any of the board members.
Programming
I want to thank Craig Smith for his insightful demonstration in November on box making. I think everyone present learned something new. 36 members and 2 guests were present for this program. After lunch, 6 members worked with Craig to learn more about making boxes during the hands-on session. This was a perfect event leading up to our December box exchange.
December 21st:
As mentioned earlier in this report, this will be Turners Anonymous's annual Christmas ornament and box exchange. This year we have booked the Bethel Park Community Center located at 5151 Park Avenue, Bethel Park, Pa, 5102 Spouses/Partners and Children/Grandchildren are welcome. Bring some sweets to share. Besides exchanging ornaments and boxes, we will also be having out regular raffle, a Chinese auction and a silent auction for the donated PSI lathe and accessories. Again, this is for members and family only.
January 18th:
January is the month our bylaws say we hold our annual business meeting. On the agenda is a financial report and the nomination and election of Board members. Our bylaws mandate that one third of our board be voted on every three years. This should not take too long and afterwards we will open the meeting up to the members to ask questions. There is enough experience in the group to address almost anything. The sky's the limit. We will focus on some of the items requested by the members in our survey to be demonstrated, such as different types of cuts, using the skew chisel, using and sharpening of carbide tools, and shop/lathe safety. If time permits, we will give a quick demonstration of what's available on our new website.
February 15th:
Nick Wolfgang will cover the basics of using epoxy resin for woodworking projects, with a demo of how to make blanks. The session will cover techniques like mixing, pouring, and finishing, as well as creative ways to add color and depth to your work. Safety will be a key focus, including tips on proper ventilation, protective gear, and safe handling of materials.
April 26th:
NOTE – our “regular” meeting day of the third Saturday this month (April 19th) is the day before Easter. The board decided that it be best to move the meeting date and settled on April 26.
We are firming up arrangements to bring in Danielle Barbour to demonstrate her methods for making “skew-turned flowers”. Danielle’s work is featured on the inside cover of the October 2024 American Woodturner magazine. After lunch Danielle will teach a class featuring her techniques.
Programming for March and May has not been finalized yet. I contacted Trent Bosch about him doing an IRD (Interactive Remote Demo) and he replied he was not currently doing demos, citing family considerations. We recently discovered that the AAW has a database of demonstrators available for live and remote sessions to see what is available to us for future meetings. We have been in contact with other clubs on their experiences with IRDs. Kim is still talking with the Butler Area Woodturners and the Indiana club to see if we can make a "demonstrator swap". Another possibility under discussion is to have a member demonstrate top (spinning) making, along with a hands-on session.
Membership:
Currently we have 79 regular and 4 family members for a total of 83 members. This includes 4 lifetime memberships. We also have a list of approximately 30 names of people who signed up as interested in our club at our various demos this year. I am hopeful some of these folks will join. In fact, we picked up 6 new members this year due to these demo efforts.
Renewal notices were sent out by our club management software on December 2nd to those who have not renewed. A number of you have renewed already, so a big thanks to you! Another renewal notice will go on December 23rd. We have initiated the ability to pay online for your convenience. As always you can pay by cash or check in-person at any meeting. If you choose to mail in a check, send it to Rob Martin, our treasurer. You can find his mailing address in the members area of our website in the FAQ, Club Information section.
Membership Cards: Rob will be making 2025 membership cards available for those who have renewed. The plan is to hand out to those present at the December meeting and mail the remainder. Please make sure you update us with your correct mailing address. This can be done via the website or contact me to update.
For members not renewed by the end of January 2025, your access to the members area of the website will be restricted to renewing only, and you will no longer receive club emails. If you choose not to renew, can you please let us know why you have come to that decision?
Nametags:
With help from Dave Weber, we made and delivered around a dozen new name tags. I have requests for 5 more and am in the process to have made. Anyone else needing a club nametag, let us know.
Club Express:
We launched Club Express club management software in July. This software has made life easier for the board members that were manually entering and maintaining club records. The website offers a lot of information to our members. Our website has seen approximately 200 hits a month since launch, including approximately 60 logins a month. But it is distressing to me to see that 28 of you have never logged in. If you have looked at the website, we would like your input about content and any info you would like to see added or changed.
Charitable Activities:
This year club members have made and donated around 20 wig stands and 4 Beads of Courage boxes. We would like to keep up with these worthwhile endeavors as we go forward. Specs for both projects are available on our website. If you are not able to make these, please consider donating blanks to those members who can make them. The wig stands require 3 blanks, a 12” long by 2” square post and 2 blanks 2” thick, one 4” and one 5” in diameter.
See you at the next meeting, and Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays,
Tom Shortall
Chairman