State College woodturning club offers camaraderie, ways to give back to community

For those looking for a new hobby as well as a way to give back to your community, look no further than a local club partaking in the niche pastime of woodturning.

Nittany Valley Woodturners is a nonprofit organization based in the State College area that allows members to learn the basics of woodturning, a craft where a chunk of wood is placed onto a lathe to make it spin, similar in nature to pottery. As the wood turns, chisel-like cutting tools shape and carve the piece into bowls, pots, boxes and more.

The club, which is part of the American Association of Woodturners, meets monthly at Mount Nittany Middle School’s workshop. When the first meeting was held in fall 2009, there were only about six people there. Now, it’s up to about 50 and growing.

“It’s a very addicting hobby,” said Reg Goeke, president of the Nittany Valley Woodturners. “Once people try it, they just can’t seem to stop. It’s a great deal of fun for people who really enjoy doing that sort of thing.”

Members range of all ages and demographics, from high school and college students to seniors.

During the monthly meetings, the group will auction off pieces of wood to turn as well as hold a “show and tell” of projects that members have been working on, along with demonstrations either from members within the club themselves or from outside guests.

Each member of the group has a specialty they like to focus on; a majority of the members specialize in various kinds of bowls, but other members turn boxes and pots.

“I think about woodturning as more ... creative, finding or seeing a shape in that log and then seeing if you can pull it out by turning a big part of the log away,” Goeke said.

Goeke said that a large aspect of the woodturners club is giving back to the community, which they are able to do in many different ways.

Over its decade tenure, the club has received multiple grants from the American Association of Woodturners to purchase about six or seven lathes that can be used during club meetings as well as to offer weeklong instructional classes for adults and school-aged students.

“Our classes always fill up immediately,” Goeke said. “Students come usually with no experience at all, and they usually make three, four five projects during the course of that instruction.”

The club also donates many of the items they make at meetings to local nonprofits as well as to small shops in the area.

The nonprofit they’ve worked with the most, Goeke said, is Housing Transitions, which provides housing programs and supportive services to those in need throughout Centre County. The woodturners donate pieces of woodwork to Housing Transitions’ silent auctions.

And after a tree was downed near the Boal Mansion in Boalsburg after a severe storm in May 2017, members of the club came out to help cut up the wood and haul it away. The club then made bowls and pens out of the downed tree wood and donated them back to the Boal Mansion.

“Most of us had so many bowls at home, it was a delight to have a place for somebody else to enjoy them,” Goeke said.

They have also donated pieces to cancer survivors through the Play for P.I.N.K., an organization that raises money for breast cancer awareness and research.

“When you just really enjoy turning, it’s great fun to be able to do something for others as well,” Goeke said.

Another initiative the club is taking is a new AAW program called “Women in Turning,” with the goal of drawing more women into the hobby.

The Nittany Valley Woodturners are also looking for a more permanent home to have a place to keep their lathes instead of moving them in and out every time they have to meet, as well as offering more space for the growing group.

“We’re being crowded out,” Goeke said. “We hardly have enough stools for everyone.”

The club has been in talks with Discovery Space in State College on possibly moving into a new makerspace coming soon to the property called The Rivet.

Goeke encourages people to just show up for a meeting and experience the camaraderie for themselves. For more information on Nittany Valley Woodturners, visit www. nittanyvalleywoodturners.org.

This story was originally published May 3, 2019 at 10:03 AM.