Due to the COVID-19 Shelter-in-Place rules, in person Sawdust Sessions are, at the very least, unwise. Being unwilling to abandon the practice of kibitzing with fellow club members about woodturning topics, we have continued to hold the meetings, virtually, using Zoom meeting software, from the comforts of our individual bunkers.

​

For those unfamiliar with Sawdust Sessions, we have to confess that it is a misleading name, a misnomer, an oxymoron, as there is seldom if ever any sawdust created or harmed during these gatherings. Participants come to share recent turnings, tools or techniques, to ask questions about difficulties experienced. It is a much more interactive experience than Show-N-Tell at monthly meetings. We often share our problem pieces or mistakes, asking for helpful suggestions, if not sympathy. There may be constructive comments offered related to a turning being shown. The discussion topic may take unexpected twists and turns at the whim of the group. Occasionally there is a theme to a meeting, in addition to whatever each individual would like to discuss.

​

Typically these meetings have been relatively small compared to our monthly meetings. I hold a meeting 2 weeks after the SVW monthly meeting, on the 3rd Wed. of the month, and have restarted the meetings using Zoom. With an e-meeting we don’t get to pass each piece around the room, touch, feel, smell and taste each piece. OK that taste thing was only once. The online meetings are not, dare I say, as intimate as physically held meetings.

​

​

Mike Lanahan