Central Virginia Woodturners swap tools, tips and tricks at June meeting

Central Virginia Woodturners turned its June 16 meeting into a roomful of shop fixes, tool hacks and hard-won lessons, with members invited to bring the ideas, tools and stories they use to make woodturning easier. The night’s program, Tools, Tips and Tricks, was set up less like a lecture than a peer-to-peer exchange, the kind of session where a small improvement at one lathe can save time, improve safety or solve a problem for everyone else.

The meeting was listed as an in-person demonstration at the Crimora Community Center, with Zoom accessibility available for members who could not make it in person. That fit the club’s regular rhythm: Central Virginia Woodturners holds its monthly meetings on the third Tuesday from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m., then follows that with smaller hands-on opportunities that keep the conversation going between formal demos.

Those hands-on sessions are a major part of the club’s identity. Skill Center and Mentoring Sessions are held on the second Saturday of each month from 9 a.m. to noon, and Drop-In Saturday takes place on the fourth Saturday for turners of all skill levels. New and prospective members are always welcome at the Skill Center, where no experience is necessary, new turners get a safety orientation and a chance to turn an object, and mentors are usually available one-on-one. Members can also request specific mentoring in advance so the club can line up enough help.

The club says it serves turners across the Shenandoah Valley, including Charlottesville, Staunton and Harrisonburg, and it describes itself as a registered chapter of the American Association of Woodturners. The national organization says it is dedicated to advancing the art and craft of woodturning through education, with member access to educational portals, publications, videos and safety resources. For a local chapter, that larger network helps explain why practical sharing and mentoring sit at the center of so much of the work.

CVW’s shop resources also carry a bit of history. The club says Hal Green’s widow donated a PowerMatic lathe to the club, and a January 2020 newsletter said the gift also included chucks, tools and a Lyle Jamieson hollowing tool system. The club’s donation page asks supporters to consider giving to the HUGS Foundation. On a night built around tools, tips and tricks, that kind of equipment and support gave the meeting a fitting backdrop: a club built on people helping one another turn better.