Badger Woodturners Calendar Centers May on Mentoring, Shop Sale, Technique

Mentoring is the headline in May

Badger Woodturners puts its strongest card on the table first: mentoring. The club’s May 5 meeting, titled *Mentoring May showcasing our student mentoring programs*, ran from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Madison College, Room 141, 2125 Commercial Ave. in Madison, and it was built around student work from the club’s programs at West High School and Johnson Creek Community Center.

That matters because this is not a throwaway calendar note. Badger Woodturners says its youth programs reach more than 200 students, and the May meeting gives club members a direct look at what that pipeline is producing. If you want to understand where the club is investing energy this spring, start there: the pieces on the tables, the student projects, and the mentoring structure behind them tell you more about the club’s priorities than a standard demo night ever could.

Why this meeting is the one to pay attention to

For turners, a mentoring night is useful because it shows the craft in motion. The club says its youth instruction includes Madison West High School, Jefferson County 4-H, and home-schooled young adults, and it looks each year for members willing to volunteer in classrooms and teach woodturning. That gives the May meeting real weight. It is not just a presentation of finished objects, but a look at how new turners are being introduced to gouges, grain, safety, and the rhythm of the lathe in a structured setting.

Badger Woodturners also says the mentoring programs at West High School and Johnson Creek Community Center will be showing student works. That detail is the practical hook. Student pieces reveal what is being taught, what the students are ready to attempt, and how the club is moving from basic instruction into projects that carry a little more ambition. For anyone who wants to see the next generation of turners before they become regular demonstrators, this is the room to be in.

The club’s structure makes the mentoring focus even more meaningful

Badger Woodturners has been around since early 2000, and the calendar fits the pattern of a club that keeps its educational cycle moving. The group meets the first Tuesday of each month at Madison College, and it describes itself as a not-for-profit organization that exists to bring together people from all backgrounds to enjoy and learn woodturning. It also offers a monthly demonstration, a library, and a list of mentors willing to help with different turning projects.

That combination is exactly why the mentoring meeting stands out. In a club like this, learning does not happen in one lane. It happens in the classroom, at the lathe, across the library table, and through the mentor network that helps newer turners get unstuck when a bowl goes out of round or a spindle cut does not behave. The club says guests are welcome at no charge, and dues are only $30 a year, which keeps the doorway open for people who want in without a big commitment barrier.

The Loren Hatleberg shop sale is the month’s most practical stop

If the mentoring meeting shows where the club is building the future, the Loren Hatleberg shop sale shows where turners can make a useful stop right now. The sale was listed for May 8 and May 9, giving members a short window to look for tools, supplies, and anything else that can improve time at the lathe or in the shop.

There is also a local-history angle here. Badger Woodturners previously listed a *Shop Tour - Loren Hatleberg’s Shop* event dated March 13, 2021, which suggests Hatleberg’s shop has already been part of the club’s hands-on culture. That makes the sale feel less like a random clear-out and more like an extension of a familiar turning space. For Madison-area turners, that is the kind of stop that can turn into both a purchase and a conversation about how a shop is organized, what gets used, and what actually earns bench space.

The calendar does not turn the sale into a catalog, but the value is easy to see. A shop sale gives members a chance to find equipment or supplies with a turner’s eye, and it puts the emphasis on practical access rather than abstract interest. In a month centered on teaching, that matters, because shop sales often fill the gap between learning a technique and building the setup that makes the technique easier to repeat.

What June is already signaling

The May calendar also points ahead to the club’s June meeting, and that preview says a lot about how Badger Woodturners thinks about progression. June is centered on jigs and fixtures, working with pewter, and a website update. Those are not random topics. Jigs and fixtures are the kind of shop improvements that make repeated work more accurate and less frustrating, while pewter brings a mixed-material angle that pushes turners beyond plain wood.

That mix suggests the club is moving from mentoring into refinement. May is about showing student work and reinforcing the mentoring pipeline. June shifts toward the tools and techniques that help turners get more consistent, more efficient, and a little more adventurous. If you want the club’s spring learning cycle in one line, it is this: teach the next turner, stock the shop, then tighten the process.

A club calendar that behaves like a roadmap

Badger Woodturners has also promoted an annual woodcarving and woodturning show and sale with demonstrations, holiday shopping, and a raffle, so the May calendar fits a larger pattern of education plus public-facing activity. The club is not simply filling dates. It is building continuity between classroom mentoring, monthly meetings, shop visits, and technique development.

That is why this May matters for Madison-area turners. The mentoring meeting shows where the future is being built, the Loren Hatleberg sale gives the month a tangible shop-side payoff, and the June preview shows the club is already moving toward more advanced setup and mixed-media work. For anyone tracking the local craft scene, this is a calendar that says Badger Woodturners is keeping the bench active, the learning steady, and the next project close at hand.