About Us
Located at the south end of San Francisco Bay, Silicon Valley Woodturners has been around since 1997. With over sixty members, we're a pretty diverse group of turners who share a passion for woodturning AND a willingness to share - ideas, techniques, etc..
and everything in between.
With "formal" meetings the first Wednesday of the month, usually including a demonstration or presenation, and informal Sawdust Sessions each Wednesday night in between, there are plenty of opportunities for newbies to get help from, experienced turners, exchange ideas & techniques, time for informal critques of members' pieces and visits by folks from other turning clubs in the area.
Member Barbara Jones shows how she turns small - really, really, really small.
Four times a year there's also an opportunity to spend a Saturday or Sunday with one of the many prominent wood turners and watch them demonstrate their special works and techniques, with plenty of time for Q&A. With two video cameras trained on the work, and two large monitors displaying every detail, there's no need to crowd around the lathe in order to see EXACTLY what's going on. If you've seen their work in one of the turning magazines, they've probably either done a demonstration at our club or are on the list of future demonstratiors.
Recognize any of these names?
Alan Lacer
Bonnie Klein
Binh Pho
Chris Stott
Francoise Escoulen
Graeme Priddle
Johannes Michael
Martin Pidjen
Neil Scobie
Trent Bosch
Then there are the Wood Finders of the group, the ones with a network of contacts with anyone who cuts trees or lumber who generously bring in fresh cuts of all manner of nice turnable wood and "scraps" of maple, oak, teak - recently Santos Mahogany - to share.
The club also has an extensive DVD library, a "tools and things lending library". Oh - there are also books on woodworking, mainly about turning. We salso have several tool maker members who are known to make small batches of special tools for our members at very reasonable prices.
Unlike other clubs that meet at local rec centers, schools, armories and the like, Silicon Valley Woodturners is blessed with a dedicated space set up specifically for wood turning - Rich Johnson's spacious, well equipted studio (click here to tour Rich's LatheArt studio) Close that window when you're done)
As you can see, being a member of Silicon Valley Woodturners has LOTS of benefits
If you find any dead links or have questions or comments about our site or suggestions for improving it - please contact our site Webmaster