About Front Range Woodturners

We are the Denver area chapter of the AAW (American Association of Woodturners) serving woodturners throughout Colorado’s Front Range.

Our Meetings

We meet on the first Tuesday of every month from 6:15 PM to 9:00 PM in the basement of Rockler Woodworking and Hardware, 2553 S Colorado Blvd, Denver, 80222.

Visitors are welcome to join us at one of our meetings to see what we are all about.

Upcoming Demonstrations

January – Stuart Batty – Volcano Bowl  

           
Stuart Batty is a third-generation apprentice woodturner with over four decades of professional turning experience. Under the expert tutelage of his father, Allan Batty, a world-renowned master spindle turner, Stuart began woodturning at 10. By the age of 16, Stuart had become an accomplished production spindle turner and instructor and had gained wide notoriety for his technical proficiency and teaching abilities.

Through years of production turning and teaching hands-on woodturning classes, Stuart developed a unique style of the European push-cut technique. His style uses fewer tools and simple grinds to produce large-volume cuts without torn grain, low physical effort, and ready-to-sand surfaces. Stuart has pioneered many techniques and terminologies that all woodturners use today, such as the push-cut, pull-cut, negative rake scraping, 40/40, and bottom bowl gouge grinds.

Stuart’s early work included balustrades and newel posts for Royal and Stately British Homes. Stuart’s art pieces are pure turned thin work emphasizing detail and crisp edges made from denser woods. One such piece is in the White House Permanent Collection.

Stuart now focuses on teaching classes to help students improve their woodturning technique. Stuart specializes in taking woodturners to the next level, which includes many of the well-known international turners who wanted to improve efficiency on a lathe.

Volcano Bowl
In this demonstration, Stuart will make a Volcano shaped bowl from a rectangular wood block. Stuart has specialized in making various winged bowls since he was a teenager and originally developed his Negative Rake Scraping technique specifically for finishing the wings of these types of bowls.

Stuart will use a combination of his 40/40 and bottom bowl grinds to shape the bowl, followed by Negative Rake Scraping technique create a finished surface on the wings of the bowl.

Stuart also developed the Vortex Tool specifically for Volcano bowls to create the lowest cut angle possible (Only 20 Degrees) for where the base of the bowl meets the wings.

This is an advanced project and Stuart will cover safety while turning bowls with wings and
broken surface intermittent cutting. He will also show how to jam chuck the bowl to remove the tenon and finish off the base.

Demonstrators scheduled for 2025:

Jan – Stuart Batty – Volcano Bowl
Feb – Roberto Ferrer – Fluted Bowl, Antiquity (also teaching two classes: Fluted Bowl-Antiquity and Shavings and Milk Paint
Mar – Kevin Jesequel (AAW’s Professional Outreach Program (POP) 2024 POP Showcase Artist) Hollow Form with a Finger Tip Opening. Kevin is also teaching a class the next day.
Apr – 
May – 
Jun – 
Jul – 
Aug – Kirk DeHeer
Sep – Raleigh Lockhart – Nested Lidded Box
Oct – Cindy Drozda – Banksia Pod Ornament (IRD)
Nov – Heather Marusiak (AAW’s Professional Outreach Program (POP) 2024 POP Showcase Artist)
Dec – Holiday Party

Member Benefits

• Library – The Front Range Woodturners has an extensive collection of books, magazines, and videos available for members to check out at no cost.
• Demonstrations – Each monthly meeting features an exciting demo given by one of our club members or a professional turner. When available we also offer a full day hands-on class with these renowned turners at a nominal cost.
• Wood Raffle – Members can bring some of their excess wood to a meeting to be raffled off.  You can never have too much wood!
• Group Buy – Do you want to save money?  We have vendor discounts with Internet suppliers, local suppliers, tool and steel suppliers and wood suppliers. Through our deals with these vendors our members can easily earn back the cost of membership!
• Ladies of the Lathe – All female members of the FRW, aged 18 or older, are invited to join the Ladies of the Lathe. LOTL is intended to provide a comfortable, easy-paced, and non-threatening environment for women to learn and advance their skills in turning.
• Mentoring – Members have access to several programs to help increase their woodturning skills. Group sessions are held monthly and one-on-one mentoring on various topics can be arranged with experienced FRW volunteers.
• PHEOG – The Pete Holtus Educational Opportunity Grant program provides grant money to members through an application process. Applicants may request money for woodturning related classes, workshops, or symposium fees.