Corridor Woodturners Kicks Off 2026 With Offset Turning Demo and New Projects

Brad Davis brought offset turning to the Marion High School wood shop this month, demonstrating the technique for turning a box with offset axes at the Corridor Woodturners March meeting. The demonstration has already shaped the club's next challenge: members are asked to bring a multi-axis turning, with or without a twist, to the April 9 meeting for the Project of the Month review.

The demo anchored a March 12 program on offset turning, one of the more technically demanding disciplines in the lathe room, where the workpiece is deliberately mounted off-center to produce asymmetrical forms that a standard axis setup simply cannot achieve. Davis's box with offset axes gave members a concrete example to study before they head to their own shops.

Corridor Woodturners, a local chapter of the American Association of Woodturners serving the Cedar Rapids and Marion, Iowa metro area, updated its March 2026 newsletter page to publicize the demonstration and the April assignment. The club's site carries a March 14, 2026 update stamp on the newsletter page, while an earlier report noted a March 8 update; both dates appear in the available records.

The April 9 Project of the Month follows the club's standard meeting rhythm. Corridor gathers every second Thursday at 6:30 PM at the Marion High School wood shop, with sessions running roughly two hours. The format moves from announcements and raffle ticket sales through a show-and-tell photography session and the featured demonstration, then circles back after a short break for members to discuss their pieces, review Project of the Month submissions, and draw raffle winners. Guests are always welcome.

Looking ahead, the club lists both April 9 and May 14 meetings as TBD on the schedule, meaning the featured demonstrations for those evenings are still being arranged. The April 9 gathering will at minimum give multi-axis turnings their moment on the bench, with members showing whatever they managed to pull off, twist included or not.