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.  Due to Covid-19, in-person meetings were cancelled, and we’ve been having Zoom virtual meetings, with live demos, where participants can ask questions real-time, from the comfort of their homes.

Also on hold are member shop tours, toy making workshops, and monthly pizza nights.  We look forward to these once life returns to normal!

We’re pleased to announce that we’ll be meeting live again starting in October.  Stay tuned for more on what’s planned for our meetings for 2021-22.

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!

Our Meetings

March 2023 Meeting

Dust collection expert Bill Penz is a veteran cabinetmaker, inventor, and retired engineer who, among many other things, invented the cyclone-based dust collection system used in most commercial and hobbyist woodworking shops throughout the U.S. 

In this Zoom meeting of the Western Ohio Woodworkers, Bill gives a thorough discussion of dust collection for all of us who work with wood. 

Also, we had a nice variety of pieces for Project Corner!

January 2023 Meeting

Our January Zoom meeting featured club member Dennis Sullivan. Turning end-grain boxes is relatively easy and is great practice for learning spindle-turning techniques. In this Zoom meeting demo, working from his own shop, Dennis showed a variety of boxes he has made using these techniques and took viewers step-by-step through how to make a bullet box, one of his favorites.
 
The meeting also included Project Corner, with nice projects from several members.

November 2022 Meeting

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.

September 2022 Meeting

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/

April Meeting

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.

January Meeting

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!

December Meeting

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

November Meeting

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.

October Meeting

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.

September Meeting

Our Saturday, September 12, featured presenter will be Urbn Timber out of Columbus, Ohio.  Urbn Timber specializes in turning sustainably salvages 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

August Meeting

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