Meetings – Southern Maine Woodturners

First Wednesday of each month, 6:30pm, at Breakwater School

856 Brighton Ave
Portland, ME 04102

Come early to socialize. New members are always welcome!

Southern Maine Woodturners holds monthly meetings September – June.

June 5, 2024: Leon Lowell

An exploration of wood grain and tool presentation

May 1, 2024: Multi-Axis Turning with Al Mather

Al Mather of Maine Woodturners in China will educate us on multi-axis turning. Judging from the attached photos Al has certainly mastered the art as well as the mechanics of […]

Past: 2019 December Yankee Swap

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Past – Don Rawnsley 2019

Don will go over the basics of segmenting. How to set up a segmented vessel. How to lay out the vessel and plan the vessel to have enough material to […]

Past: Barbara Dill, Sept 2019

Barbara received a BS degree in Nursing from the University of Tennessee in 1968. Her career took her to Europe and to East Africa in the early 70’s and her […]

Past: Eric Johnson 2019

Our August business meeting will a little longer that normal. We will look at the changes to the bylaws that the bylaw committee made and will be available to you […]

Southern Maine Woodturners Newsletter June 29,2019 Nick Agar Demonstration Reminder In lieu of our regular July meeting, the club will be hosting Nick Agar for a full-day professional demonstration on […]

Past: Marcelle Durette, 2019

Marcelle is the principal woodturning instructor at the Homestead Woodworking School in Newmarket, New Hampshire. He is passionate and enthusiastic about woodturning. He will be demonstrating the process of making […]

Past: Peter Walen, 2019

Peter does impeccable work, ranging from textured bowls to artistic wood art. This is a demo that you don’t want to miss. Peter will demonstrate one of his textured wall […]

Past: Jeff Enck – 2019

Jeff will demonstrate what it takes to make a thin-wall-bowl that is suitable for piercing.

Past: Bill Housley – 2019

Bill is well known for his rose engine lathe. He will be demonstrating different wood coloring techniques that he has been exploring and experimenting with since his trip to Las […]

Past: Jacques Vesery – 2019

We are honored to feature world-renowned woodturner/artist Jacques Vessery to our club for an amazing full-day professional demonstration which should not be missed. Jacques lives in Damariscotta, ME and his […]

Past: Al Mather – 2019

Our January Demo will be Al Mather from the Maine Woodturners club. He will be demonstrating a demo that he describes as “Making the cut.” Al Mather will demonstrate and look at the similarities of cutting […]

December 5, 2018 – Yankee Swap

This meeting will be our annual Yankee Swap. The club officers wish you all happy holidays!

November 7, 2018 – Open Forum + Show and Tell

There will be a Question and Answer session instead of a demo after the business meeting. Bring your turning questions to ask other members and your turning experience to answer other […]

October 3, 2018 – Leon Lowell

The October meeting will feature Leon Lowell. He will be demonstrating how he makes hollow forms, including developing a form and getting a thin and uniform wall thickness.

September 5, 2018 – Adam Courtemanche

The September meeting will feature Adam Courtemanche demonstrating how to turn (canning) jar lids out of wood and Corian (the countertop material). This process involves a number of turning techniques […]

August 1, 2018 – Eric Johnson

The August meeting will feature Eric Johnson. He’ll demonstrate sharpening techniques. If you have a tool you’re having trouble sharpening, bring it to the meeting and get Eric’s advice.

July 4, 2018 – Cancelled. Enjoy the 4th!

The July 2018 meeting is cancelled due to the fourth of July holiday.

June 6, 2018 – Johnna Klukas

Johnna Klukas will show an easy-to-make shop-built for turning multi–center projects and will turn an example based on the function the jig provides. Links to documentation for the June demo on multi-axis […]

May 2, 2018 – Peter Asselyn

Peter Asselyn will demonstrate his approach to turning bowls from the inside out.

April 4, 2018 – Don Rawnsley

Don Rawnsley will demonstrate how to make a refrigerator stick pen and a magnet holder using contrasting wood (walnut and maple).

March 7, 2018 – Cancelled due to [another] snow storm

Unfortunately, for the second month in a row, this meeting was cancelled due to a storm storm.

February 7, 2018 – Cancelled due to snow storm

Unfortunately this month’s meeting was cancelled due to a storm storm.

January 3, 2017 – Dale Stewart

This month ’s demonstration will feature Dale Stewart. Ever wondered what to do with scraps of exotic woods that just aren’t big enough for much beyond the scrap bin? Learn […]

December 6, 2017 – Holiday Party

The executive board of the Southern Maine Woodturners would like to wish all the membership a safe and wonderful Holiday Season and may 2018 provide you all with great health […]

November 1, 2017 – Tom Kovalcik

Tom Kovalcik, President of the Seacoast Woodturners in Newington, NH, will be our demonstrator in November. His demo will be on making and applying food-safe oil and wax finishes.

October 4, 2017 – Eric Johnson

Eric Johnson will demonstrate turning Christmas ornaments. Eric’s demo is geared toward beginners and spindle turning focusing on tool control and tool selection. He will show the anatomy of a tool […]

September 9, 2017 – Andy Chen

Andy Chen will demonstrate the use of Corian and segmented wood turning techniques to build one-of-a-kind pieces.

August 2, 2017 – Roland Martin

Our August 2 meeting starts at 6:30 PM and usually ends at 8:30 or so. Come early to socialize, bring your latest turning for show and tell, and buy your raffle tickets. […]

June 7, 2017 – Eric Johnson

Our demonstrator is Eric Johnson, who will be showing us how to make a ring holder. He says that “this is a great skill builder and incorporates the use of […]

May 3, 2017 – Mark Irving

There are many ways to turn a natural edge bowl. I will focus on turning one from half a log, creating a familiar “banana” shaped bowl. We will talk about […]

April 5, 2017 – Damon Harmon

In this demonstration Damon will focus on advice and tips in giving demonstrations. Damon Harmon has been researching the resources on doing demonstrations that are at the AAW website and […]

March 1, 2017 – Johnna Klukas

Metal inlay powders are an easy way to spice up your turnings, but there are a few tricks to using them successfully. Johnna Klukas will demonstrate some techniques for using […]

February 1, 2017 – Bill Housley

A different approach to making pepper mills, by Bill Housley: A couple of years ago at Totally Turning I attended a rotation of pepper mills. The presenter made his mills […]

January 4, 2017 – Mark Irving

Mark Irving will demonstrate turning natural-edge bowls. This type of demonstration has been sought by many of our members and Mark is most certainly qualified to teach this and any […]

December 7, 2016 – Holiday Party

It’s December, and that means it’s time for our annual Yankee Swap meeting! Bring a small gift (suggested value around $20), wrapped in some manner. Gifts can be something you […]

November 2, 2016 – Lucille Morgan

Our November 2nd meeting will start at 6:30 pm and end at approx. 8:30 pm. Please come early to socialize, buy your raffle tickets, and bring in your latest turning for the […]

October 5, 2016 – Open Forum

The October meeting will feature an open forum instead of a formal demo. Bring a turning problem, project or tool that you’d like to get some advice on. There have been several […]

September 7, 2016 – Dan Scott

Dan Scott will demonstrate turning finials. It’s been a while since we’ve had a turner demonstrating finials, and Dan will show us how he does them. Dan is hoping for […]

August 3, 2016 – Johnna Klukas

Johnna Klukas presents Off-Center Turning! Off-center turning, also called eccentric turning, is quite useful for decorating pendants, box lids, bottle stoppers, etc. There are a number of commercially available jigs that help […]

Patrick Johnson of Australia – All Day Demos

The Southern Maine Woodturners will be hosting an all-day demo by Australian woodturner Patrick Johnson on Saturday, July 2nd at Rockler Woodworking and Hardware on Gorham Rd, South Portland, Maine from 9 AM […]

June 25, 2016 – Rockler Woodworking Show

Tyler Bernier would like to announce that on June 25th, Rockler Woodworking is having an in-store Woodworking Show. Tyler is in hopes that members of the Southern Maine Woodturners could come […]

May 4, 2016 – Damon Harmon

Our May 4th demonstration will feature Damon Harmon! Damon will demonstrate the effective and proper use of the six basic turning tools.