Demonstration:

Michael Gaule, an experienced woodturner who joined the Guild recently, will demonstrate his technique for turning rolling pins.

Directions:
From Madisonville: west 5 miles on Hwy 22 to Hwy 1085; north 0.5 mile to Brewster Ave; turn right, 300 yds to Whispering Timbers, turn right; turn right at Pine Avenue (first corner); 124 is first house on left.
From Covington: I-12 west to exit 57; 0.5 mile north to Hwy 1085; 3.8 miles southwest to Brewster Ave; turn left, 300 yds to Whispering Timbers.

Paul Robin and Gerard St. Romain enthusiastically hosted a disappointingly low number of Guild members at their respective shops on May 22. Ten members and one guest, Cham Mehaffey, spent about 45 minutes exploring each of the shops, located in the Folsom area.

About 5 miles north of Folsom, Robin's 20'x30' shop and attached greenhouse is nestled behind his home's deck/patio area, and adjacent to his garden. The rear double doors, which provide ventilation with assistance from a four-foot diameter cooling fan, look out over a peaceful, partially wooded five-acre landscape (which has to be a calming influence if his woodworking goes awry).

While the interior houses his bandsaw, chopsaw, and smaller tools, his lathe is located outdoors, under the shelter of an overhanging roof. This location gives Robin plenty of space in which to dodge the inevitable unexpected missiles that a woodturner encounters.

Robin explained his shop and showed some of his latest turned bowls, then demonstrated a way to make economical 1-1/2" diameter sanding "disks" that can be attached (glue or velcro) to a rubber probe to be used for sanding work pieces on the lathe. His trick is to use a hole saw as a "cookie cutter" to cut out three to five small sanding disks from the larger 5" diameter disks that are sold commercially.

About 2 miles south of Folsom, Romain's 20'x20' shop is attached to his house (and its HVAC), with a connecting washroom and adjoining office for design work. This compact shop is filled with a splendid assortment of machinery, most of it new because of the Romains' decision to not move to the Carolinas after Romain had sold most of his older equipment (very convenient excuse to buy new toys).

Romain has just completed an ambitious project to install an elaborate dust collection system modeled after a layout shown in Shop Notes magazine. A special feature of the system is a very convenient central manifold (photo above right) with shutoff gates for eight pieces of equipment and a transparent cover so any plugging can be clearly seen. The 2-1/2" diameter flexible plastic connecting hoses are also transparent, and the entire system is grounded with copper wire to prevent dust explosions from static charges. The remotely-controlled JDS Dust Collector has a 1-1/2 hp motor and a dust bag that retains particles larger than one micron. Complementing the dust collector is a ceiling mounted JDS air filtration system that removes particles greater than five microns and can recirculate the air in the shop in less than five minutes.

Romain's specialty is, as most members know, miniature three-dimensional replicas of house facades, and he showed us several lining the walls of his design room. He also showed a recent piece of work he has proposed to enter in the St. Tammany Art Festival -- an incredibly realistic looking anvil, made from tupelo gum and cypress. The surface was painted flat black, topped with hand-rubbed silicon graphite, a bit of aluminum spray, and then a seal coat.

It was a great pleasure to see these two shops and experience the deserved pride that Robin and Romain showed in their layouts and accomplishments. Both of these shops should be considered as prospective sites for upcoming meetings, if only to expose them to the many members who were unable to attend.

Thanks very much, Paul and Gerard, for a most enjoyable evening!