Totally Turning 2026

Marc Sitkin

April 3, 2026

It was nice to return to Saratoga Springs, NY to attend the Totally Turning Show again after a long absence. Held in conjunction with the Northeastern Woodworkers Showcase, the event offers live and remote demo's, a vendor area, as well as separate woodturning and woodworking galleries. The venue is the Saratoga City Center, which is located in downtown Saratoga Springs. There is a Hilton hotel on site, plenty of parking, and the downtown area offers lots of dining and shopping within walking distance of the Center.

While not up to the pre-covid offerings of earlier shows, where one could see demos by the likes of David Ellsworth, Glen Lucas, Jimmy Clewes and other well known turners, the organizers put together a good roster of demonstrations on a rotating schedule. There was something for everyone to enjoy.

Here's a few photos from the demonstrations I attended.

Dennis Belcher two demo's, Board to a vase and Wood cracks

Laying out cuts on the board

Saving some bowls with cracks

Splines to repair cracks

Kevin Jesequel, Hollow form with a natural void

A burl to start with

Rough shaping begins with blank between centers

Tailstock removed, headstock slid to end of bed to more easily hollow the form

Finishing up the outside

It was interesting that the hollowing process was accomplished using mostly tools made from sharpened allen wrenches and small hardened steel cutting bits in various shaped steel rods.

Tod Raines- Turning a Piston Box

This was a small project demo suitable for a beginner woodturner. Tod used pine for this demo, and the hollowing was done with drill bits and a couple gauges. (This was a remote demo)

Blank with a gauge block to tune exterior diameter of inner cylinder

Detailing with a parting tool

Cutting the opening in the piston with a home made drum sanding attachment

Starting to shape a barrel

Matt Monaco- Woodturned pottery vessels, fine detail platters

This was a demonstration of turning an "Art Object" vessel with a focus on using very fine cuts with a bowl gouge and a spear-point scraper to produce a 10" bowl with a very (1/8"-3/16") thin wall. Interesting to see the process, and the skill level needed to accomplish this was quite impressive.

Vendors area

Not as many vendors as in previous years. Only Thompson Tools and Oneway were selling sharp steel this year. One vendor selling exotic wood blanks, and a Canadian with a lot of Vic-Marc gear for sale. It seems like there were more vendors focused on the carving and fine woodworking markets. It was good to be able to see and feel the offerings in person for a change.