Showcase Presenters

Tom McLaughlin

Tom McLaughlin

Tom McLaughlin apprenticed in the early ’90s with Master Craftsman P.A. “Pug” Moore of Rocky Mount, NC. Over his 30+ year career he has designed and built a myriad of custom pieces for clients seeking to own pieces that are as much a work of art as they are functional.

As a 25-year member of the New Hampshire Furniture Masters, and former Chairman, his work has become recognizable for its dramatic use of figured wood, creating a sense of movement in each piece.

Tom can be seen on repeat episodes hosting Classic Woodworking with Fine Woodworking on PBS TV, and he’s a frequent contributor to Fine Woodworking magazine.

In 2016, Tom shifted his focus from commission work to teaching on his Epic Woodworking platform. He and his wife Kris enjoy furthering the craft by providing resources and instruction for all levels through a free weekly livestream called Shop Night Live on YouTube, Online courses, and In-shop classes at his shop in Canterbury, NH.

They also offer a community Membership experience called “The Neighborwood” which brings together woodworkers from all over the world with the goal of expanding skills and inspiring creativity.

Be sure to check out Shop Night Live, Thursdays at 7:30 pm ET. Each week Tom goes live from his Shop and demonstrates tips and techniques or walks viewers through a small project. It’s free. View each week at: epicwoodworking.com/snl. Can’t watch it live? There are over 200 episodes archived at the Epic Woodworking YouTube channel, check them out anytime!

Presentation

Grain Graphics
Tom McLaughlin will present on the concept of Grain Graphics, which explores various ways of handling and thinking about wood grain in order to enhance the visual impact of your projects. Photo examples and technique demonstrations will be included while considering creative directions using solid wood, veneers, and several finish treatments.

If you’ve yet to experience his teaching style, you’re in for a treat as he clearly delivers concepts for those at various levels of expertise to understand, with professional skill and a disarming humor. In addition, Tom is always glad to field questions throughout.

Tom McLaughlin woodwork

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Mike Bloomquist

Mike Bloomquist

Mike Bloomquist began carving in 1985 making fishing lures from shelving lumber.  Later, in 1994, he attended a woodcarving show sponsored by the Mohawk Valley Art and Woodcarving Association. Inspired by the variety and level of talent at that show, woodcarving reached “addiction“ level for him that year and now serves as an excellent example of a hobby gone horribly out of control.

While Mike started out in the Scandinavian Flat Plane style of woodcarving, his skills now encompass several forms including wildlife, folk art, fantasy, in-the-round and relief. His pieces have been ‘adopted’ for collections in Canada, England, Germany, Iceland, and across the United States. He began teaching and demonstrating woodcarving in 1995 and presently teaches at the “North East  Woodcarvers’ Roundup” (since 2002) and is an eight year veteran of the New England Woodcarvers’ Retreat.

He began writing for the MVAWA newsletter and the Woodcarvers’ Online Magazine.  He has three articles with Carving magazine and recently had his third article published in Wood Carving Illustrated.  His latest book “Carving a Cross Country Santa” was just released by Fox-Chapel Publishing. For more info, visit his website at www.woodendreamz.com  and/or his Facebook page.

Presentation:

Carvings that Move
Mike will demonstrate a process called automata, which is a mechanical way to make your carvings move much more than Whirligigs.

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Roy Cooley

Roy has restored 6 guide boats and made 5 guide boats. He was also the recipient of the People’s Choice Award in 2023 for his guide boat.

Presentation

Roy will talk of the history and construction of the Adirondack guide boat.

Roy Cooley canoe

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Harold Kaltenbach

Harold Kaltenbach house

Harold lives in Westmoreland NY, and has been carving for 25 years. He has been teaching carving techniques for the past 20 years. His favorite type of carving is whimsical houses and buildings which have amazing details.

Presentation

Gnome Homes from Barkwood

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Kyle Hall

Kyle has been building rustic furniture since 2010 and has entered many of his pieces in past Showcase events. He has been chainsaw carving since 2015 where he carves bears, eagles, moose, and owls. He is the owner of Hall’s Stick Furniture & Signs in Johnstown, NY and can be found on his YouTube Channel: Kyle Hall Woodworker.

Presentation

Kyle will be demonstrating his chainsaw process for making sculptures.

 

Kyle Hall table    Kyle Hall table

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Charlie James

Charlie took up woodworking in shop class while in high school. He taught woodworking in adult education classes as extra credit while still in high school. He always did woodworking of some type while doing other  jobs but after retiring he joined the Long Island Woodworkers (LIW) club. He took classes with Mario Rodriguez at (of all places!) Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City. It was a feeder class for students that were interested in working for museums repairing  and restoring antique furniture.

He has had quite a few of his tips published in Fine Woodworking magazine. He does demonstrations at the LIW club on many different types of woodworking such as working with veneer, and hide glue, cabinetmaking and making your own inlays as well as cutting in inlays or making jigs and tools from scrap wood and scrap steel. He was the winner of the Best of Show in Showcase 2023 for his tabletop desk with many hidden compartments and inlays.  He was also the winner of the People’s Choice award for Showcase 2016.

Presentation

Tool Making
Charlie will be showing how he makes his own tools, like card scrapers and chisels from recycled materials using spring steel and other scrap materials.

Charlie Jamese woodwork

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Barbara Raymond LaPrease

Barbara Raymond-LaPrease

Barbara Raymond-LaPrease is a member, secretary, newsletter editor and webmaster for the Woodworkers of Central New York (WWCNY). Barbara started scrolling around 1997 after Dale Whistler visited the Syracuse club to demo scrolling. Her first scroll saw needed to be clamped to a workbench to prevent it from bouncing and used only pinned blades. Her husband, Charlie, bought her a Delta 16” VS saw for Christmas that year and the rest is history! Several years later, she added a 26” RBI to her saw collection so she’d have the throat depth for large puzzles. In 2008, her husband bought her an Excalibur after they tried them at a Canadian show. 

Barbara doesn’t necessarily specialize in any one type of scrolled art. One day it could be jewelry like earrings or necklaces whereas the next day she could be cutting detailed ornaments, pictures, boxes, or puzzles. Sometimes she combines her various talents, adding beaded accents to scrolled pieces. Barbara creates whatever she feels like with most items given as gifts, donated for raffles, or donated for club charitable sales. 

Attending Showcase yearly since 2003, Barbara and her husband Charlie also routinely enter their projects for judging. She demonstrated faux marbling at Showcase in 2009. She and Charlie live on an 8-acre property outside Baldwinsville, NY where they host many of WWCNY’s events. They acquired a WoodMizer in 2022 so she has an endless supply of wood in addition to the collection they already had. The club’s workshop is in their large garage. If you attend the NYS Fair, you can find her in the club’s 300 square-foot demonstration area in the Witter Agricultural Museum where she and fellow club members demonstrate non-electrified woodworking throughout the Fair.

Presentations

Introduction to Scrolling
We all need to start somewhere, and this session will focus on the basics of scrolling – equipment, blades, applying patterns, where to find patterns and other basic skills. 

Tips & Tricks for the Scrollers
Once one gets the scrolling bug, they want more, and as with any woodworking, there are many tips and tricks that make life easier. This session will provide attendees with many tips collected over the years from a variety of people.

Puzzle Making
These days, parents want to provide hand-made wooden toys for their children rather than mass-produced ones. Although there are many types of wooden toys, the type that provides the most education are puzzles. There are also many types of puzzles – mostly for children but also many for adults. The scroll saw is probably the best tool to use to create puzzles! Each type has its own unique characteristics and pitfalls. This session takes the attendee through the different types of puzzles, concerns with each type, the materials, finishing, and the different blades and other accessories used when creating puzzles. Many different samples will be available in each category of puzzles, whether they be for kids of different ages or adults.

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Charlie LaPrease

Charles La-Prease

A woodworker since the 1980s and woodturner since 1995, Charlie LaPrease is one of Woodworkers of Central New York mentors as well as leaders. At both club workshops and public demonstrations you will see Charlie patiently working with new turners to help them understand not only how the equipment works but the correct way to turn. During the annual NYS Fair his choice is to turn on the replica spring pole lathe but switches to the treadle lathe as needed. In addition to traditional shop equipment, Charlie owns two lathes, a Powermatic 3520B and a Oneway 2436 after starting on a Craftsman tube-type lathe. Retired, Charlie is also a captain in the local fire department as well as fire commissioner for the fire district.

Presentation

Introduction to Woodturning
This session will focus on the basics of woodturning including equipment, tools, chucks, and basic skills. This will be a great session for those that are considering woodturning but are not sure whether it is for them or not.

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Scott Oliver

Scott Oliver

Scott Oliver started his craft journey as a blacksmith working with metal for over 13 years. While getting his M.F.A. in metals at The Rochester Institute of Technology – School of American Crafts, he discovered the joys of working wood with hand tools as well as machines. During the pandemic he further researched and practiced these techniques and inspired by Curtis Buchanan and Drew Langsner, built himself a shave horse to dive deeper into drawknife and shave horse techniques.

Having moved to the Albany area in March 2020, Scott works for NYSERDA helping bring energy efficiency and climate change solutions to low income New Yorkers.

He is a frequent demonstrator in the NWA. Hand Tools S.I.G. where he shares his lifelong love of teaching.

Presentation

Sharpening
Sharpening odd tools like spokeshaves, drawknives and carving scorps.

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Raymond Puffer

Ray Puffer

Ray is a woodturner living in the Albany, NY area. He has been an avid woodworker for more than 60 years, and he has produced a broad variety of pieces ranging from custom designed grandfather clocks and furniture to antique reproductions, guitars and banjos, and award winning artistic and functional turnings. His turnings have been featured in American Woodturner magazine. Ray is a member of the Northeast Woodworkers Association, the Adirondack Woodturners Association, and the American Association of Woodturners. 

He is a Registered Professional Engineer. He served a career as an Army officer, followed by a second career teaching engineering and leading industrial automation research programs at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY.

Ray is a frequent demonstrator at regional woodturning clubs and woodturning symposiums, and he teaches woodturning to individuals in his home shop. He exhibits and sells his work in regional art galleries and shows.

Presentation

Surface embellishment  techniques: Gilding, Patination, and Inlay
In this demonstration I will present three of the embellishment techniques that I use in my shop. While I mostly use these techniques with my wood turnings, they apply just as well to any form of woodworking.  I will demonstrate how I apply these three embellishment techniques during the session, and discuss the materials used, sources of supply, and how to get compliments on your woodworking projects.

        

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Frost White

Frost White

Frost is a woodworker living in Craryville New York. He is currently the Secretary of the Berkshire Woodworkers Guild, a very supportive group of woodworkers primarily in Berkshire County MA and Columbia County NY.

After retiring Frost decided to focus his efforts on woodworking and wanted to break away from the traditional western focus of woodworkers. Luckily, Frost’s sister is a very accomplished curator of Asian and especially Chinese art. She had exposed him to some of the most iconic pieces of Chinese furniture and they really intrigued him in terms of both their form and construction and he decided to focus his efforts on trying to emulate both the classical Chinese furniture form and construction in his work. At that time there were no western woodworkers that he could find that did the kind of work that Frost was interested in so he did what he had done so many times in his career and started from scratch.

Several months of study followed by an equal amount of time trying to figure out how to reliably make various complex Chinese joinery Frost built his first reproduction of a classical Ming Chinese cabinet. Since then, Frost has built a number of reproductions of classical Chinese furniture and has incorporated both the esthetic and construction into contemporary furniture.

Presentation

Classical Chinese Furniture: Simple Designs, Complex Construction
Frost will present an overview of classical Chinese furniture and construction focusing on several iconic examples that incorporate both the simplicity of the design and the variety of complex joinery used in their construction. He will discuss in detail the ubiquitous triple miter, triple mortise and tenon corner joint found in much classical Chinese furniture and will demonstrate the jigs and methodology he uses to reliably and reproducibly make this corner in both reproductions and contemporary pieces.

Frost White cabinet      Frost White cabinet

Frost White table      Frost White cabinet