About Us
What is woodturning?
Woodturning is a “branch” of woodworking in which a piece of wood is spun on a lathe and carved with sharp tools held against it. It is a craft with a history dating back thousands of years. It has gained interest and popularity with the advent of modern machines and tools and visibility via online videos. Woodturners enjoy making things like bowls, platters, cups, goblets, vases, hollow forms, balls, kitchen items, toys, figures, bottle stoppers, and pens, to name just some of the forms, and artistic woodturning is becoming increasingly popular as a decorative art. Perhaps surprisingly, not everything we make need be round. We generally make use of already-downed, local wood that would otherwise be chipped for a landfill or burned in fireplaces. For many beginners, the curls of wood flowing off the spinning wood draw them quickly into the vortex of imagination and practice from which there may be no escape. Some of our members have been active in the club for the past seventeen years, and counting.
Our Club
Montgomery County Woodturners (MCW), based at the Woodworkers Club (and Woodcraft store) in Rockville, MD, was formed in 2007, as a chapter of the national American Association of Woodturners organization. We typically have about 70 members. Our goals are sharing, teaching, outreach, and introducing new people to our passion. We meet monthly on a Thursday evening to show each other what we’re working on, to plan events, trade pieces, share wood, and to attend a live demonstration by a local or visiting master turner who makes chips fly before our eyes (and sometimes into our laps). These demonstrations are aimed at all skill levels. We also make and donate Pens for the Troops and teach woodturning to Warriors in Transition. You may find displays of our work in the display cases of various Montgomery County Public Libraries. We are a very diverse group of all ages and genders and from all walks of life. Our skill levels in woodturning range from beginner to professional. Among all craft artists, woodturners have a reputation for being the most sharing and caring. We are very friendly and also enjoy yearly picnics and potlucks, as well as demonstrating what we do at outside activities like the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair, the Gas & Steam Show, the Woodcraft Oktoberfest, and other events.
Join Us
We invite you to come to a meeting as our guest to see what it’s all about. Introduce yourself and tell us your interests. We can tell you what you need to know and what equipment you need to have to get started safely, and we can help guide you along the path. Please look further through our website for more details. Here you will see meeting information, past newsletters, photo albums of our previous meetings, and much more. Please plan to join us and get sucked into the vortex.