Woodturning for Beginners: Make Spinning Tops

Learn the techniques needed to turn a wooden tops with carbide scrapers. All materials provided! 👉 Sign up for [Woodturning for Beginners: Make Spinning Tops](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/learning-wood-lathes-lets-make-tops-registration-1986168157425?aff=meetup) ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ In this hands-on class, you’ll learn the foundational skills of woodturning by creating your own wooden tops. Perfect for beginners or anyone looking to sharpen their lathe skills, this course covers everything you need to know to safely and confidently shape wood on the lathe. We’ll begin with a safety overview and an introduction to the tools you’ll be using, including carbide scrapers and chucks. You’ll learn how to mount a blank, rough shape the profile, form the tip and stem, and refine the top using modern turning techniques. Along the way, we’ll talk about grain orientation, tool control, speed settings, and how to avoid common pitfalls like tear-out, imbalance, and catches. By the end of the session, you’ll walk away with a couple your own hand-turned tops and a solid foundation in spindle turning techniques. All materials and safety gear are provided. Whether you’re new to the lathe or looking to build confidence with curved forms, this class is a great entry point into the world of woodturning. No prior experience needed for this course, all supplies and materials are provided. Please wear comfortable well-fitted clothing, close-toed shoes, put your hair up, and be prepared to get a little dirty! ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 0:00 – 0:15 \| Welcome & Safety Overview * Instructor and student introductions * Overview of class goals and what you'll make (spinning tops) * Shop safety basics * Lathe operation fundamentals * Tool handling * PPE (face shields, appropriate clothing, hearing protection if needed) **0:15 – 0:30 \| Tools\, Wood & Lathe…