Category: MAWt

MAWT July and August 2026 Newsletter September Meeting – There will NOT be a regular Monday evening meeting in September.  We have a weekend with Matt Monaco planned.  See the details below. German Fest – German Fest was July 24 to 26 at the Summerfest grounds.  Randy Shilling, Ray Kottke, Steve Fosticz, Mary Schwaller, Greg…

Bob Leonard presented his staved lidded bowl for the Beads of Courage program. Bob came very well prepared with several examples in various stages of completion.  Megan Hughes from Children’s Hospital, also spoke to the group. She had a short presentation for us on the Beads of Courage program for children going through cancer treatment.…

MAWT May 2026 Newsletter Our annual extended show and tell was the program for the May meeting. We had a wide variety of fantastic turned items.  There was sure to be something to inspire you in your turning journey.  At the June meeting, Bob Leonard will present his staved lidded bowl for the Beads of…

At our April meeting, Chris Kelliher presented his approach to turning offset mushrooms.  It was a fun and informative demo.  It was pretty exciting to see that mushroom spin in an eccentric circle while Chris was turning the offset stem.  Several people were holding their breath but the chuck held on and nothing went flying.…

MAWT March 2026 Newsletter Cindy Drozda did a remote demo from her Colorado shop. Her demo was on turning a Finial Star bowl from a piece of burl. Cindy demonstrated turning the bowl and saving the wood for the lid by parting it out of the bowl. Later, the bowl rim was cut into a…

Note: a separate email will be sent to the MAWT members with the contact information for the individuals identified below – this keeps their contact information from being harvested by spam-bots, etc. MAWT February 2026 Newsletter Dennis Motl did a presentation on dust collection and sanding.  There was a wealth of information on various ways…

MAWT January 2026 Newsletter Leigh White did a presentation and demo on turning an end grain natural edge bowl for our January meeting. It was very interesting and something I had never seen done before. At our February meeting, Dennis Motl will demonstrate and present on the topics of dust collection, sanding, and various sanding…

MAWT 2025 Annual Newsletter Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Announcement – The Washington Park Senior Center is looking for a volunteer to do a wood turning demonstration in their shop. Talk to Mary Schwaller if you are interested. —– The MAWT December newsletter is a review of our activities for the year. Looking back we…

Meetings Mark Trenier did a presentation and demo on turning a Nativity Scene.  As always, Mark was entertaining while showing how he goes about the turning.  He will also post a set of written instructions to our website. The video of Mark’s presentation is posted on the Demo Videos page of this website. Our next…

Meetings Mike Wendt presented Tree Physiology at our October meeting.  He shared some of what he has learned as an Arborist and instructor at MATC about trees and what causes various effects in the wood we use. Mike brought in samples of various defects and special effects in wood such as spalting and feathering. Our…

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Meetings Our next meeting is October 6. Mike Wendt will present on Tree Physiology.  He will share some of what he has learned as an Arborist about trees and what causes various effects in the wood we use. Our September meeting was  ‘Selling Your Work’.  George Wawrzyniak, Ron Zdroik, Tony Rozendaal and Kevin Seigworth shared…

Click on a link to open an PDF copy of the handout: Dirty Pour Lids Creating A Lidded Bowl

Meetings Sally Ault was here on July 19 and 20 for a Saturday demo on dirty pour lids and a Sunday hands on class on lidded bowls.  The demo on the dirty pour with paint was a lot of fun and the results were amazing to see.  Sally left the demo pieces with us and…

For 2025 we are asking that all members fill out the membership registration form shown below. This is so we can make sure our records of your phone numbers, addresses, etc. are current. There is also a liability waiver included on the form that you will sign. If you have not done so, please print…

Here are pictures from the February Workshop Day:

Leigh provided a sheet with photos and helpful tips for the February demonstration – click here.

Here are pictures from the February Meeting – If we have misidentified or forgotten the name of the artist for a particular piece feel free to reach out and let us know.

I saw this on Facebook for another subject and adapted it to our passion:

Our January 2025 MAWT meeting was conducted totally online based on the preference of our demonstrator.  I thought it went very well and Lyle Jamieson delivered some valuable woodturning wisdom accumulated over his many years of turning.  See additional information from Lyle on turning green wood below. Many thanks to Tony Rozendaal for his years…

Here are a few pictures of Mike Wendt’s give-away of the green ash in Hales Corners, from Sunday, December 8.

I recently discovered a problem with access to the Members Only pages on the MAWT Website. If you have recently been frustrated when trying to view members only pages, please give it another try. The problem started sometime in November 2024, so it has been going on for some time. I believe I have this…

I’m writing this the morning after the 2024 Holiday Party. We had a great time. I didn’t take a count but I think there were about 40 people or so in attendance. Suzy Hoffman did a great job on preparing the meat (pork and chicken) for the meal. There was plenty of good things to…

I cannot over emphasize how important this is to the board… it is not an exaggeration to say that keeping track of the membership is the largest challenge that the club’s officers face, and it all lands on the membership chairman. As the club has grown over the past few years, so this challenge seems…