Highlights of November Meeting

BUSINESS

• Joe Perret presided over the meeting held at Harland Johnson's shop January 23, 2007. Fifteen members, plus three visitors, Joe Dupree, Bob Doolittle, and Joel Blasek, attended.

• Treasurer Bob Christman reported a current bank balance of $2121 reflecting the inclusion of Boat Show receipts, Christmas Banquet expenses, and the donation to the Maritime Museum.

• Dick Gahn was recognized as "Boat Builder of the Year" at a reception given by the Maritime Museum to recognize the efforts of Boat Show volunteers. His gift is a door prize that will be given away at the Guild's Cochon de Lait in May.

• Brian Rowan will finalize details of the visit to the Marucci Bat Factory in Baton Rouge, tentatively scheduled for Saturday March 24.

• A proposal to create a "Member Emeritus" classification (with reduced or eliminated dues) for those members who are no longer active in woodworking but still wish to be part of the Guild's activities was approved. Details to be finalized by the Executive Committee.

• A proposal to establish a Guild lending library similar to one run by the Bayou Woodturners Club was approved, and Jerry Markowitz volunteered to be the librarian.

• Following a discussion of the possible future events that came out of the January 11 meeting of the Executive Commitee, two activities were agreed on:

  The first, a "Shop-Around" for the June meeting (candidate shops that were volunteered included those of Christman, Markowitz, Robin, and Simon). Details are to be finalized, but the general idea is to break up into small groups that will visit each of the shops for 30 minutes or so, to allow folks to see shops that are perhaps not large enough for a general meeting.

  The second activity is to participate in the "Family Day" at the District 12 Fire Station on Saturday July 14 (10a-2p).

  ***Details for both of these events need to be fleshed out by the Executive Commitee, but it is VERY IMPORTANT that YOU come to the next meeting prepared to suggest ideas for the type of projects that the Guild could carry out at the family day.***

SHOW AND TELL

• Paul Robin showed his latest results of turning "Katrina" wood, including a sassafras bowl.
• 
  
• Don Saucier showed a pine step-stool (with a handle) he made for his wife. The response was positive -- he had to make another one, this time out of cypress.
• 
  
• Henry Simon showed and explained the construction of an intricate, end-grain cutting board made from a mix of maple, walnut, and cherry. Using a pattern from the October, 2006 issue of Wood Magazine, he first cut 36" long strips of 3/4" thick wood in varying widths (1/2" to 2-1/2", depending on the pattern desired) from the three materials. All of the strips were planed to the same thickness of 3/4" and then glued together to form a panel about 12" wide x 36" long. After scraping off the excess glue the panel was sanded to make sure both sides were flat, and then the panel was crosscut into strips 12" x 1"(the desired thickness of the cutting board). The strips were then turned on their sides as shown on the left (making the end grains the top and bottom of the final project) and glued together in three groups of 4 or 5, reversing every other piece. The three groups were then glued together, resulting in a nearly final board dimension of about 12" x 15". The board was trimmed to final size and then after final scraping, rounding the edges and sanding, the end grains were finished with non-toxic mineral oil.



• Jerry Markowitz showed four of his woodturning projects: a goblet with a delicate spiral stem, a spiral pedestal, a bowl with a lid that had a design cut with a scroll saw, and the beautiful chess set shown at the top of the page. He also showed a scroll saw pattern that did not require pilot holes.

DEMONSTRATION

Jerry Markowitz's demonstration was in two parts: First, he showed a jig used to support irregular wood shapes that are to be rough cut with a chain saw prior to woodturning. The jig was featured in the Winter edition of The American Woodturner. As shown in the photo above, it consists of six notched pieces of 1"x10"x12" joined together with two steel rods encased in plastic sleeves. A smaller notched end piece 3/4"x3"x10" is also connected with a steel rod. As shown above left, the jig can support round sections, in this case a "log" that is being cut to length, which should be about four inches longer than the desired final bowl diameter to allow for shrinkage. If the jig is then flipped over, as shown on the right, it will provide a level support on which the log can be set to be cut in half longitudinally.

The jig can then be flipped over again and, as shown here on the left, the shorter end piece is used to give a Slight downward angle to make it easier to trim end sections of the workpiece.

It goes without saying that the pieces should be strapped down to the jig before tackling them with a chain saw!

Markowitz spared us the noise and hazard of a chainsaw and went on to the second part of his demo, which was a talk entitled "From Tree to Bowl." To see a large version of the supporting drawings, click on the thumbnails below. Use your back button to return to this page.

Using the series of drawings and marked up sections of wood, Markowitz explained the pros and cons of turning wet versus dry (two to six months) wood, then showed how workpieces cut from various locations in a tree can lead to different stresses, particularly depending on the orientation of the grain in the turned piece. One of the advantages of turning wet wood is that it cuts much easier and faster, but the stresses can cause it to go out of round even as the piece is being worked on, because of shrinkage and even splitting.

The moisture content of green wood when calculated on a weight basis is over 100%. When it is dried sufficiently to remove the free water, the moisture content drops to about 30%; when dried further to remove most of the water bound in the fibers the moisture content stabilizes at about 12%. The shrinkage that occurs as the wood dries out translates into stress, which causes deformities in the bowls that are turned from the wet wood. The type of deformity depends on the orientation of the bowl relative to the stresses, and as is shown in the last two photos, sometimes the effect can be a pleasing one, and in fact is sought by some woodturners.

All in all, this was a very fascinating and thorough discussion of some of the considerations that must be made when tackling a new woodturning project, and I apologize to Markowitz for my errors in trying to summarize all of the information he gave us.

Thanks, Jerry -- you'd better repeat this next year so it starts to sink in!

ODDS & ENDS

• In response to a query from a member, the bandsaw blade called a "Woodslicer" that was used at the November 28 meeting is available from Highland Hardware.

• Bob Christman highly recommends a TV program "Modern Masters" on the Fine Living TV Network (9:30a Mon-Fri on Channel 232 on DirectTV, also available on Cox). It's a half hour show, featuring three different exceptional artists and their work. Glass, ironwork, brickwork, ceramics are shown variously in two-10 minute segments and woodworking almost always in the third 10 minute segment.

Computer assistance in your home. Whether you have never sat down at a computer, are afraid or embarrassed to try, or you want to improve your skills, I can be your "computer counsellor."

Depending on your interests, you can learn how to: use the basic tools, visit the worldwide web, send email, shop online, use ebay, write letters, download photos and music, create spreadsheets, tighten up you computer's security, install new programs, back up important information, and explore many other topics.

First one-hour session free for Guild members and spouses. No obligations or hard feelings if you don't want to continue.

PS: Think of me as a computer "driving instructor" -- I don't promise to fix stalled engines or repair damaged transmissions!

Harland Johnson - harlandj@gmail.com - 985-845-3468