To say “inclement weather for the season” would be a slight understatement as the Hub City Turners made their way to the Shell Lake gazebo for their annual retreat. On Wednesday evening, prior to our arrival, Shell Lake experienced severe weather with dangerous winds downing of 30+ trees in Memorial Regional Park. An ancient maple tree near the Train Museum adjacent to our camping area also was a victim to the weather and had to be removed.
As we arrived on Thursday morning, the temperature was a damp 16 degrees with fairly strong winds under an overcast sky. Undeterred however; lathes were set up, projects undertaken, friendships rekindled and sawdust created.
Due to the brisk breeze, the tarps surrounding the gazebo were patched, tied down and reinforced. They stayed that way for the remainder of our stay, otherwise the turners would have been subject to torrential saw dust storms…
Tools and expertise was shared, and Al Jardine introduced us to his latest creation; a homemade Rose Engine.
Many of us spent a good deal of time watching this device create artistic designs on square wooden blocks. It was like a wood carving Spirograph™ with many optional adjustments.
Amazing! Al also attempted to create a design on an edged bowl, with a modicum of success.
Paul Schroeder adds embellishments to a turned bowl.
A great Thank You to Steve Penn, who thoughtfully brought his propane fireplace… I for one fully appreciated the pleasure of sitting in front of this heat source when the temperature was 6°C with close to 100% humidity. A wonderful warm up before I made the mad dash to my tent and into my arctic sleeping bag!
Friday brought out the sun and the temperature rose to a nice 21 degrees, but the wind was still fierce.
In total we had 13 lathes and one Rose Engine. For the most part, these machines were engaged all day long.
We had a quite a few visitors on Friday and there was a lot of interaction between turners sharing experience and helping the less experienced.
Dave Lennox tutored Dallas Molland on pen making, Mel Genge helped me turn a cored bowl for the first time and Michael Humble was just a non-stop prolific turner manufacturing project after project…
Dallas Molland fashions a pen
Saturday was once again a grey day with the threat of all day rain that never materialized.
Mel Genge was the “Salesman of the Retreat” with his bread saws, rolling pins and spatulas. We joked that he’d be eating steak that night at the restaurant!
Al Jardine once again revived the “Legend of the Snerk” and members got underway creating it’s intricate parts…
Robin Reynolds was the ultimate winner in the “Snerk Sweepstakes” and will be giving our creation a wonderful home.
Sunday rolled around and I think we were all a bit played out. We packed up fairly early compared to last year, but looking back now, the retreat was a success.
Thanks to Paul Schroeder for doing the prep work with the Shell Lake Village folks allowing us to take over the gazebo for four days and also providing those traditional Saturday cinnamon buns!
A monumental thanks to Sharon Genge for the coffee. Cold Morning…Hot Coffee…An angel with a coffee pot!
And lastly thanks to all the members that participated and came up to cheer us on. Next year…It will be warmer…right?!
The above diatribe courtesy Peter Downing