Meeting May 19, 2026
Call to Order
The meeting of the Tennessee Valley Woodworkers was called to order at 6:30 pm by Vice President Gary Runyon.
Visitors
The Tennessee Valley Woodworkers welcomed visitor Lauren Williams, who traveled from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, to attend the evening’s proceedings.
Announcements
The club noted the David Sharp carving seminar, highlighting that Mr. Sharp is a power carver who demonstrated how to carve a mountain lion. He emphasized that the process begins entirely with the nose, as the width of the nose ultimately determines the proportions for the rest of the lion.
Members were also notified that the Henry Davis Shop sale is approaching, tentatively scheduled within the May to July timeframe. Items available for purchase will include a dust collector, a Rikon bandsaw, and a gluing bench.
Additionally, the club is considering a future program or seminar featuring Charles Brock, with Austin Chandler noted as a possible alternative; the club has not yet reached a final decision.
Lastly, the Susie Murphy Shop sale is coming up, though the exact date is still to be determined. This particular sale, which features power tools including a Central Machinery bandsaw, may be restricted to members and friends only.
Other Announcements
During the secondary announcement period, several members shared resources with the group. Vince Zaccardi brought in bowl blanks for anyone interested, Larry Wendland provided apple smoking wood, and Michael Zuccaro brought in machinist rules.
Vince Zaccardi also informed the club that the local fine arts center is a potential venue for members to showcase their work. He raised the question of whether the club could gather enough pieces to put a show together, suggesting next spring as a possibility for a seven-day exhibition. In a related note, he mentioned that a watercolor painting exhibit is coming to the Fine Arts Center starting June 20th for any members interested in that medium.
Show and Tell
The Show and Tell segment featured a diverse array of member projects.
Gary Runyon presented a support spindle used for spinning wool, which he crafted out of cherry wood for his wife using artisan tool stock and securing the end with CA glue. Mr. Runyon also showcased a Greene & Greene style table made from curly cherry. The piece featured veneered plywood sides, ebony plugs, and breadboard ends, following a design by Darryl Pert of California that Mr. Runyon learned to build by watching a video. He finished the table with a Georgian Cherry gel stain and fourteen coats of Armor All satin finish.
Michael and Brenda Zuccaro displayed a wedding tray made for their great-nephew. Crafted from walnut, the tray featured handles made from a ham bone, a padauk heart inlay with a holly diamond, and a French polish finish. Michael also showed a matching chest featuring an ambrosia maple top and shelf, a padauk heart inlay, and an inlaid handle.
Larry Wendland shared a bowl turned from Australian brown mallee wood, explaining that he used a face plate to turn it and a wedge block to balance the piece before finishing it with rattle-can lacquer.
Allen Odell exhibited several basswood carvings, including figures of a captain, a tree person, a gnome traveler, and a rebel soldier, all colored using colored pencils. Allen also showed an Alaskan diamond willow halibut hook crafted with an alder branch and a deer bone hook, alongside a smaller replica. Furthermore, he presented a gaff made for his son, utilizing a real gaff hook found on the beach mounted to diamond willow with whale baleen black dot inlays, a second gaff featuring a moose horn handle, and a spoon lure made from wood scraps.
Jeremiah Chamberlin showed a practice box made from scrap cherry wood, featuring hand-cut dovetails, a lathe-turned handle, and an orange shellac finish.
Ralph Elmore demonstrated a cell phone speaker turned from ambrosia maple, which amplifies sound as a megaphone when a phone is placed in the designated slot.
Karen Browning presented a live-edge cherry bowl and base turned entirely from a single piece of wood in 2003, finished with lacquer and wax.
Chuck Taylor concluded the segment by showing a figured maple box with a cherry top and a sliding internal drawer made for high school graduate girls, finished in satin lacquer. He also presented ambrosia maple pens turned for the male graduates, jokingly calling them “left-handed” pens because the names are engraved on the right side, finished with CA glue.
Program: Pen Turning with Larry Wendland
The evening’s main program was a presentation on pen turning delivered by Larry Wendland. He began with safety protocols, emphasizing the need for plenty of ventilation when using CA glue, as it is harmful to inhale CA glue fumes. He reminded members to wear safety goggles or a face shield, pull back long hair, and strictly avoid wearing leather gloves while operating the lathe. Moving on to equipment, Larry explained the use of a mandrel that fits a 7mm tube and noted the two different tailstocks available for a lathe: a live center or a hollow center. He cautioned that a live center can flex the mandrel, causing the pen to turn out-of-round. He recommended that beginners start with a basic pen kit, such as a Slimline, which comes in various gloss and satin finishes and contains two brass tubes, ends, a refill, and a twist mechanism.
Demonstrating the stock preparation, Larry showed how he lays out the tubes to determine where to cut the wood blank. He displayed various blanks, noting that while some are natural, he dyes and stabilizes softer woods using a resin vacuum chamber and baking them in an oven for two hours. He observed that resin blanks are becoming highly popular, though beginners should stick to hardwoods since they do not require resin stabilization. To assemble the components, he takes a tube, leaves an extra one-eighth of an inch of wood on each end of the blank, cuts it in half, and draws an alignment line to keep the grain matched. After scuffing the tube to roughen it, he presses it into sheet wax to create a plug that prevents glue from entering. Using an insertion tool, he pushes the tube into the wood blank after rolling it in medium CA glue, twisting it to ensure full coverage.
For the final shaping and assembly, Larry explained the use of a self-centering vise to hold the block on a drill press. He uses end mills to square the blank down to the brass tube, warning that over-cutting will make the pen too short to retract properly. He utilizes a tablesaw or bandsaw to cut the blank, places bushings on the ends and middle of a standard mandrel, and secures them with a nut, noting that bushings should be replaced every 100 pens or so due to wear. He turns and sands the wood at 1800 RPM, working through abrasive grits from 120 down to 600 until the wood matches the diameter of the bushings. For the finish, he applies thin CA glue using folded blue shop towels as a pad, creating a bead of glue and slowly walking it across the pen. He applies three to five coats, hitting it lightly with steel wool between applications, using activator spray to speed up drying, and utilizing acetone for easy cleanup. The pen is then polished using wet/dry pads from 800 to 2500 grit. Finally, the components are pressed together using a dedicated press, protecting the tip with a plastic bag. He advised care when pressing the twist mechanism so as not to over-insert the refill, and finished the process by applying paste wax over the final coat of CA glue, which is wiped clean after assembly. He noted that he buys most of his supplies from Penn State and Craft Supply, preferring medium CA glue or two-part epoxy (cleaned up with isopropyl alcohol) for setting the tubes, and thin CA glue for the final finish.
Meeting Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 8:00 pm. The next regular meeting is scheduled to take place at 6:30 pm on Tuesday, June 16th.