Tooth and Nail

Volunteers are needed for talks or demonstrations at upcoming meetings.
If you or anyone you know of could take on one of the following topics, please contact one of the club officers:

Joinery

Marquetry

Table saw adjustments

Raised panel construction

Sharpening tools

Band saw techniques

Scraping techniques

Your choice

Highlights of January Meeting

BUSINESS

Walter Babst presided over the first meeting of 2005 held at Dick Gahn's workshop January 25, 2005. Twenty-three members and one guest, Richard Rubright, were present.

The Treasurer's Report was deferred until the next meeting.

Babst introduced the new officers, and asked Henry Simon to lead a discussion of ideas for meeting activities in 2005. Among those discussed:

Contests (perhaps monthly) -- e.g. give out dimensions ahead of time for an item to be built, such as a box, and have members bring their results to the meeting for comparison and judging.

Build a "totem pole" at a meeting with items built by members from wood samples given out in advance

Field trip to Vicksburg to a plywood plant.

Field trip to Mobile for a demonstration at the new Woodcraft store.

One member suggested the meetings could be improved by avoiding time-consuming discussions of the Wooden Boat Festival. This prompted an announcement by Dick Gahn that our location at the 2005 show will be back on Water Street. A motion from the floor to send a King Cake of thanks to the show organizers at the Maritime Museum was passed.

In response to a suggestion that the Christmas banquet could be held at Morton's in Madisonville for a change in venue, it was generally agreed that the success of the Christmas banquet was in no small part due to the excellent facilities at the Tchefuncte Country Club. Subsequently a motion from the floor to retain the present location for 2005 was approved.

Babst concluded this discussion by agreeing that the officers would meet separately and prepare a plan for events in 2005 and present it at the next meeting.

SHOW AND TELL

Gerard St. Romaine: led off the "Show and Tell" portion of the program with his latest detailed, scaled miniature housefront replica. This piece, a lovely residence in Metairie, was commissioned by the homeowners. Unusual features included the brickwork , done with a woodburning tool, and the roof shingles, fabricated from toilet tissue!

Bob Satterlee showed a set of antique molding planes and a rabbeting gage and entertained suggestions on how best to sharpen them.

Several members responded to the call in the last newsletter to bring items made from "scrap wood:"

Don McLaren showed a ten-inch diameter wooden bowl turned from a piece of plum wood he had salvaged from a tree. It was finished with Minwax tung oil..

Walter Babst showed a small table made from scrap plywood, with the legs made from 2" plastic tubing, and also some hot plate trivets.

Bob Satterlee showed a jig made for drilling dowel holes for a child's bed.

Jack Moore showed a compartmented holder for storage of spare dowelling.

Henry Simon showed a pair of salt and pepper shakers and a bowl turned from mahogany scraps.

Harland Johnson showed a multi-roll tape dispenser.

Bob McCormick showed a mallet made from cherry and dogwood.

DEMONSTRATION

Dick Gahn demonstrated two techniques:

First, he showed how to use a jig for cutting perfect miter corners using a radial arm saw. The jig was adapted from a design by the late Ron Jackson who had used a similar approach on a table saw. Basically the jig consists of two guide boards mounted at a true right angle (this is critical) on a flat surface used as the "table," which is then positioned so the guide boards form an inverted V with the point of the V centered roughly on the centerline of the saw.

In making a picture frame, for example, the four frame pieces are first cut to the desired length with an extra allowance for the thickness of the radial saw kerf. Each piece is then put first against one side of the jig and the miter angle is cut, after which the same piece is moved to the other side for cutting the miter at the other end. The process is repeated for all four pieces, making sure to keep the pieces the same side up. The miters will fit perfectly, because even if the "table" position is a little off, the sum of the cut angles will always be a right angle (if you made the jig right!). Dick cautioned "do not rush the cut."

For his second demonstration, Dick showed a method for using a router to create a flat surface on the face of a twisted board. First, the workpiece is clamped on a level workbench using end clamps that do not protrude above the thickness. Then small shims are placed at any gaps that exist between the side of the twisted workpiece and the workbench, and are super-glued in place to prevent movement.

Then, with the workpiece firmly in place, a router with a straight bit is mounted in a sled above the workpiece, and after adjusting the depth of the cut, it is used to create a flat surface (more than one pass may be necessary). The process can then be repeated for the other side of the workpiece, or alternately it can be run through a planer, since one side is now true.

Dick also showed a large (approx 24" wide) router sled that spans the entire workbench width. He had used it to true up a cabinet top using the same procedure as shown for the twisted board.

The President's Corner

Your club officers met on Feb 2 and began putting together a tentative schedule for the entire year. Based on a number of ideas that were raised at the last meeting, we have taken the following steps:

1. The newsletter will carry a three or four month look-ahead to help in planning.

2. In order to avoid redundant discussion of Boat Festival plans at monthly meetings, we will be appointing a small subcommittee to take on the responsibility for the logistics and planning for the Boat Festival. That subcommittee will give a report via the newsletter and/or at one of the upcoming meetings.

3. In order to encourage more participation by members, we are going to experiment with a contest: At the February meeting, each member will be given some basic boat parts (a hull, two outriggers, a sail, and some dowels from our last Boat Festival surplus) to take home and turn into a "boat-building" contest entry to be judged at the March meeting. The only rules are that you must include the basic parts you were given, and the entry must float(!). You can modify those parts, add whatever topsides or decorations you wish. The best entry (as judged by secret ballot) will win a $25 gift certificate (probably Home Depot or Lowe's). If this contest is successful, we have ideas for more later in the year. Depending on your efforts, this could be fun -- give it a try!

Note from the Treasurer

This is a reminder that for those of you that have not paid their annual dues of $10.00, please do so in order that we may keep you on our mailing list for Tooth and Nail. You may pay at the next meeting or by mailing a payment to the St. Tammany Woodworkers Guild at the following address:

James W. Sanguinetti
No. 5 Country Club Park
Covington,La 70433

If you are not planning to be a member of the Guild, it would be helpful to have your comments about your experience with the Guild in order that we may use your information to help us improve the Guild.

Looking Ahead
DATE	HOST LOCATION	EVENT
February 22	Harland Johnson	Regular meeting -- woodfinishing demo by Henry Simon
March 22	Dick Gahn	Regular meeting -- demo to be announced
April 26	Jim Sanguinetti	Regular meeting -- demo of odd-sized mortises by Jim Sanguinetti
May 14	Dick Gahn	Annual Cochon de Lait -- family event
May 24	Gerald Gibson	Regular meeting -- demo to be announced

Looking Ahead

DATE

HOST LOCATION

EVENT

February 22

Harland Johnson

Regular meeting -- woodfinishing demo by Henry Simon

March 22

Dick Gahn

Regular meeting -- demo to be announced

April 26

Jim Sanguinetti

Regular meeting -- demo of odd-sized mortises by Jim Sanguinetti

May 14

Dick Gahn

Annual Cochon de Lait -- family event

May 24

Gerald Gibson