Wilmington Area Woodturners participate in national competition

 Wilmington Area Woodturners Association (WAWA) is an organization of woodturners from counties throughout southeastern North Carolina and northeastern South Carolina. Seventeen members of WAWA came together to develop, design and build the chapter’s second entry in the Chapter Collaborative Challenge, shown and judged at the AAW National Conference June 17-20. 

Several Brunswick residents are members of the group.

On Saturday night, June 19, at the American Association of Woodturners (AAW) National Symposium in Hartford, Conn., WAWA became the first North Carolina AAW chapter to win Best in Show for its entry in the Chapter Collaborative Challenge. More than 330 chapters belong to the AAW, with 12 in North Carolina. 

This year, the design team discussed a green entry, one that was dependent on natural resources for it’s power. The result is a waterwheel-powered, traditional wood shop. Nineteenth century catalogs were researched to find the right machines to go in the shop. Everything was built to 1:12 scale, from the building down to the block planes. Six machines are belt driven from gears off of the waterwheel. This project is made of several different woods and uses a variety of wood turning and woodworking disciplines. 

After the conference, it will be returned to Wilmington. The chapter is currently taking requests for exhibition opportunities.

The Wilmington Area Woodturners Association is an official chapter of the American Association of Woodturners and serves the Cape Fear region of North and South Carolina.