Woodturning Association Award Funds for New Lathe, Tools

Many are familiar with the beautiful, turned wooden bowls created by Al Warren ’51, former Olney Friends School teacher of biology, earth science, wood shop, and driver’s education.

Warren taught at Olney in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He visited campus in April in celebration of a grant newly received for a lathe and some additional wood-working tools for the shop in the Henderson Building.

Receipt of the $1,000 grant from the American Association of Woodturners will allow the present wood-working teacher, Vic Peacock, to retire one of the school’s three lathes, for which parts can no longer be obtained. The new lathe is quieter than the one it is replacing. It has an electronic control to vary the speed of the turning, rather than requiring manual belt changes.

Warren demonstrated his woodturning skills on the new lathe for several classes, including Box Making, Geometry, and Conceptual Physics. On display, the very next day, were multicolored, variegated bowls he had made from box elder. The bowls will cure three to four months on the shelf before being finished on the lathe.

Students at Olney may sign up for a variety of classes in practical skills, on such topics as wood working, gardening, and personal finances.

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