John Morris's Page

The Patriot Woodworker has announced it's first annual wood turning contest in partnership with Woodcraft's National Turn for Troops Event and Easy Wood Tools!

Head to the woodshop, fire up those lathes and get your turnings entered via photo email entry before the October 1st entry deadline!
All turning categories are entry eligible: Pens, bowls, vessels, hats, you name it, the more creative the better! Any turnings you have created in the last two years is eligible for entry. There is no limit to how many entries per person. One winner will be chosen each for 1st place, 2nd place, 3rd place and a People's Choice award will be given.

All entrants are encouraged to Join The Patriot Woodworker Woodworking Community but membership is not required to participate, we just want you to have fun!

The Rules:

• The Patriot Woodworker contest will officially begin August 18th.
• Winners will be announced on November 11th Veterans Day.
  
• You are required to submit 3 photos but if you would like you can submit more, the more photos the better for our judges to determine the overall quality and craftsmanship that went into the work.
• Please sign your art!
• All entries must be turned in by October 1st to thepatriotwoodworker@verizon.net email address.
• Please enter in the subject line, "Turning Contest Entry"

Information to be included with the photo is:

• Wood Specie(s) used
• Dimensions of turning, if you can please include an item in the photo for contextual purposes such as an orange or a ruler.
• Title your turning. For example, "Vessel in Walnut", "Bowl in Cherry Burl" etc.
• If segmented please include the count of segments used ie, 1200 piece segmented vase etc.
• Finish used.
• And for our machinery enthusiasts, what did you create your form on? Make and model of your lathe.
• And for our tool enthusiasts, what type of lathe tools did you use?

Judging:

Your artwork will be judged using the following criteria:

• Uniqueness, complexity, color, form, and finish.

The first round will be a photo judged contest to determine the top 3 finalists.

• Once the top three finalists are determined, they will be asked to ship in their wood turned work of art to The Patriot Woodworker for final judging.

NOTE: All top three finalist turnings received will be kept and not be returned. These items will be auctioned, where all proceeds will be donated to Homes For Our Troops. The Peoples Choice winner will also send in their turning to benefit Homes For Our Troops.
It's a win-win for everyone and important to state that you are directly contributing to this fine organization.

There will be a 3 person judging panel consisting of the following esteemed woodworkers:

Ben Bice, Product Development Manager for Woodcraft
Craig Jackson, owner and creator of Easy Wood Tools
Donna Jackson, owner and creator of Easy Wood Tools

Prizes: WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED NOVEMBER 11th Veterans Day.

The 1st place winning grand prize is a special 3 item set of Easy Wood Turning Tools consisting of the Easy Wood Mini Rougher, the Easy Wood Mini Detailer and the Easy Wood Mini Finisher.
The 2nd place prize will be an Easy Wood Mini Rougher.
The 3rd place prize will be an Easy Wood Mini Finisher.
A People's Choice award will be selected by The Patriot Woodworker members and the prize be an Easy Wood Mini Detailer.

All three tools will be shipped directly from Woodcraft to the Grand Prize winning entry.

The 2nd, 3rd and Peoples Choice winners will receive their tools from The Patriot Woodworker
courtesy of Easy Wood Tools.

These Made-in-the-USA, special winning tool prizes have been created exclusively for The Patriot Woodworker Turning Contest, and have Red, White and Blue colored handles. These one-of-a kind handles are autographed by Craig Jackson.

You have been called to action! An official final notice will be posted when this contest begins, Saturday, August 18th on The Patriot Woodworker Website and Woodcraft's Facebook Page.

For more information on the American made Easy Wood Tools, please visit these websites at Easy Wood Tools.com and Woodcraft.com.

"We take for granted at times the freedoms they preserve for us to live day in and day out, a free nation, unconsumed by threats, so that we may go about our daily lives in peace, with the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness...John Morris"

John Morris, founder, owner/operator and woodworking enthusiast of The Patriot Woodworker site stated, "The Patriot Woodworker would like to thank Woodcraft for their support, and of course Liz Matheny, Ben Bice, and Frank Byers of Woodcraft for their continued support of our efforts here." and "We would also like to thank the entire Jackson family at Easy Wood Tools for their support and contributions to The Patriot Woodworker. We are both humbled and honored that they have taken an interest in our endeavors here at The Patriot Woodworker to help our veterans returning home from war by making wood work and in turn, raising funds for our favorite causes that involve working with the American Veteran."

John quoted, "The American Veteran, they stood post, with rifle in hand, and they said, your not coming across my line tonight, and we Americans sleep well knowing the soldier is keeping the enemy off our shores. We take for granted at times the freedoms they preserve for us to live day in and day out, a free nation, unconsumed by threats, so that we may go about our daily lives in peace, with the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness. Thank you Veterans and thank you Active Duty for your service and continued sacrifices."
Check out all of John's woodworking endeavors here.

Also coming up as mentioned above, is the annual Pen Turn-A-Thon for Troops that Woodcraft puts on every year on Veterans Day weekend.

The Patriot Woodworker turning contest will be running concurrent with this Turn for Troops special event. For additional information on this event, please see The National Veterans Day Turn-a Thon blog written during the 2011 event at Woodcraft held at stores nationwide and on this Woodcraft website page.

So there you have it folks! Thank you for being here, and thank you in advance for your interest and participation!

All questions are welcomed in this Woodcraft post and The Patriot Woodworker site.
Remember, the official contest starting date is Saturday, August 18th, 2012, and the entry deadline is Monday, October 1st, 2012.

Thanks to John Morris and his team, all Proud Supporters of the Wounded Warrior Project and Homes For Our Troops for their patronage and affiliation with Woodcraft. We are proud to have you on our team.

Now let's make some sawdust and help our troops!...Frank