Fostering the enjoyment and
skill of woodworking
Who We Are
Founded in 1982, non-profit WOW provides education 
to those interested in woodworking.
Who We Serve
We embrace individuals from beginners to advanced woodworkers. Whether you’re just starting out, have a business making custom furniture, or are looking for some woodworking friends to talk shop, WOW is for you!
Our Meetings
We normally meet the 2nd Saturday of October, December, February, and April. We also have informative virtual Zoom meetings during the months we’re not meeting in person.
We also have member shop tours, toy making workshops, and monthly pizza nights.
Other Benefits to Club Members?
Members are also eligible for discounts at local lumber dealers and hardware stores.
How to Join?
Please click here! Join us for some fun! New members are always welcome!
Past club meetings
Ernie Conover, hand tools and hand tool joinery
Ernie demystified hand tools and hand joinery. He gave a primer on hand tools covering marking gauges, scribers, try and combination squares, bevel, bench planes, back and panel saws, chisels, and mallets.
He showed how to hand cut through, half-blind, and secret dovetails as well as simple and haunched mortise and tenon joints.
Rich Sisken
Club member Rich Sisken talked about Japanese decorative panels. Decorative panels are easy and fun to make. In Japanese it’s called Kumiko and screens are called Shoji. In Arabic it’s called Mashrabiya. Both traditions are well over 1000 years old and have produced fascinating patterns that require no specialty tools to produce.
Seventeen different patterns were shown, along with the jigs (also easy to make) used to produce them. The minimum tool set is a few chisels, a fine tooth saw, and some jigs. They can be used as decorative panels in furniture or lamps, or just as art pieces.
Gary Terborg, scroll saw techniques
Our featured speaker was club member Gary Terborg demonstrating scroll saw techniques.
Gary gave a PowerPoint presentation called “Scroll Saw Tips and Techniques ” that he used along with actual demonstrations on the scroll saw. Gary cut a couple of 3D items for the demo. Gary does some incredible scroll saw work.
Doug Glessner, veneering
Doug is a talented craftsman and an expert in veneering. In a reprise of his veneering demo from last year, Doug showed us some basics of veneering for projects. He then demonstrated how to deal with warped pieces commonly found in burls and wavy-pattered veneers. He also showed us how and when to apply edge banding to the work, including how to make our own banding. He finally demonstrated how to make a curved panel for a door or lid. It was an excellent presentation.
Bill Penz, dust collection
Dennis Sullivan, turning end-grain boxes
Richard Boitnott, muzzleloader rifle builder and shooter
Our November 2022 virtual meeting featured Richard Boitnott, a longtime muzzleloader rifle builder and shooter. He developed and perfected his craft starting in the 1960s. His expertise has provided him with many opportunities to build custom consignment rifles, including building replicas for the 2003 Lewis and Clark reenactment. The replicas included 8 boat guns weighing 43 pounds each, five 1803 Harper’s Ferry rifles, and one flint pistol. Richard gave us a fascinating glimpse into a different and unique aspect of woodworking.
Barry Gross, nationally known pen-turner
Our virtual meeting for September 2022 featured nationally prominent pen-turner Barry Gross. Barry did a live demo of how to turn a beautiful pen from beginning to end. He discussed pen blank selection from kiln-dried wood, stabilized wood, and acrylics. He also talked about drilling techniques and which types of glue to use for the pen tubes in different materials. He then showed us how to square up the pen blank and which tools to use for turning it round. He had many suggestions for best results, finishing techniques, and assembly.
Barry’s website can be found at: www.bgartforms.com/
Rob Millard, museum-quality reproductions furniture from the Federal period
Our April meeting is right around the corner. Our presenter will be our own WOW member Rob Millard. Rob specializes in museum-quality reproductions of furniture from the Federal period and has contributed articles to Popular Woodworking Magazine, Fine Woodworking Magazine, and the Journal of the Society of American Period Furniture Makers. A piece of his work was displayed at the White House in 1999.
For the April meeting, Rob will demonstrate how to build a dovetailed drawer. Be sure to tune in and learn from one of the best.
Gordon Galloway and Marshall Stearns, finishing wood projects
Our Western Ohio Woodworkers’ meeting for Saturday, January 9, 2021, will 
feature two veteran club members, and is entitled “Fascinating Finishes.” Gordon Galloway will demonstrate how to achieve the classic mission finish for oak furniture. 
Then Marshall Stearns will show us how he achieves an amazing iridescent high-gloss finish on turned pieces (although his method will also work on flat projects). The secret to the delicate, shimmering colors is all in the application.
As always, our meeting will include Project Corner. You won’t want to miss our first meeting of the New Year!
Scott Phillips and Mitch McCabe, wooden toy contest, Ansonia Lumber Company
Scott Phillips and Mitch McCabe, both members of Western Ohio Woodworkers, hosted December’s WOW’s virtual meeting. The meeting spotlighted the 27th annual Wooden Toy Contest held at Ansonia Lumber Company in Ansonia, Ohio. For 27 years craftsmen have been bringing the wooden toy creations to be given away to needy children at Christmas time. 
A local organization called Operation Christmas Cheer collects all of the entries and distributes the toys. Scott Phillips has been the judge since the start and has certainly added his charm and charisma. He usually plays with all the toys, which, I guess, is his perk for judging. Of course, this is the first year that the judging was done without an audience. 
After the toy contest, a virtual tour was taken of the Ansonia Lumber Company. It has been in the same location since 1909 and is owned and operated by the fourth generation of the Klipstine family. Anson, Ohio, is located in rural Darke County, so agriculture plays an important part in the products and services they sell. But it doesn’t stop there. New homes, additions, decks, garages, pergolas, pavilions, kitchen, and bath cabinets are just some of the product lines that are part of their sales mix. Another key part of the lumber company’s success is its custom woodworking shop.
Visit their website at https://ansonialumber.com
Dan Weissman, WOW scholarship recipient
Our November meeting featured Dan Weissman who was awarded the WOW scholarship in 2020.
Dan gave a virtual tour of the North Bennett Street School, showed some of his completed furniture projects, and interviewed some of the other students at North Bennett Street. The meeting opened with Project Corner and concluded with a question-and-answer session with Dan.
Gary Terborg, tips and tricks with the scroll saw
The October 10th meeting featured presenter Gary Terborg. Gary is a long-time WOW member and an
accomplished woodworker. Gary taught woodturning and scroll sawing at Woodcraft for over 17 years. His presentation focused on tips and tricks when scroll sawing, as well as featuring some of his more recent scroll sawing projects.
Urbn Timber, salvaged trees into live-edge wood slabs & solid hardwood furniture
Our Saturday, September 12, featured presenter will be Urbn Timber out of Columbus, Ohio. Urbn Timber specializes in turning sustainably salvaged trees into live-edge wood slabs & solid hardwood furniture. They collaborate with Columbus arborists to salvage trees that have been removed due to storm damage, potential hazard, new construction, disease, or death. In addition to selling live-edge hardwood slabs and hardwood furniture, they provide slab surfacing, design and fabrication for custom live-edge furniture, and metal fabrication designs to complement live-edge furniture. They also present a variety of in-house classes ranging from epoxy basics to resin and wood art to coffee table building. 
The presentation for our Zoom meeting will focus on processes for using epoxy in the furniture-making process.
We look forward to seeing you there! Check your email for the Zoom invite!
For more information and to see some of their other beautiful work, go to their website at www.urbntimber.co
Mike Harman, Shaper Origin
On Saturday, August 8, we had our first Zoom presentation! Members were able to attend on their phone, computer, or mobile device and watch WOW member Mike Harman demonstrate his Shaper Origin, the world’s first handheld CNC machine. The Shaper Origin is a tool combining CNC precision with the portability of a handheld router. Mike demonstrated how to set up the machine as well as used it to cut out a sign with his shop logo. We also got to see the other amazing products he has made with this handy machine which is soon to be on many woodworkers’ Christmas lists
If you were unable to attend Saturday’s meeting, check out the member’s only section (coming soon) for a link to watch the video.
You can check out Mike’s YouTube channel to see him work on this beautiful table using Shaper Origin.
https://youtu.be/EhsnBzWAmnk