Email Newsletter of The St. Tammany Woodworkers Guild September 2007

NEXT MEETING

7p Tuesday, September 25

Dick Gahn's Shop
21098 Shady Lane
Covington
985-893-7603

Demonstration:

Dick Gahn will demonstrate the making of a band saw box.

Directions: From I-12 go north on US190 (N Causeway Blvd) 5.2 mi; bear right on US190 Bus; bear right to junction with LA21; go 2.1 mi NE on LA21 to Lousiana St, turn right; go 0.2 mi to Plantation St., turn right; go 0.1 mi to Shady Lane, turn left; go 0.2 mi to 21098 Shady Lane.

NOW THIS IS A STORYBOARD!


Also called "Reassembly for Dummies." Bob Satterlee shows how he kept track of all of the parts when he disassembled a piano for refinishing (more below).

Highlights of August Meeting

BUSINESS

  • Joe Perret presided over the meeting held at Bob Satterlee's shop August 28, 2007. Sixteen members and two visitors, Woody Glover and Carl Schulman, attended. (Both visitors signed up as members after the meeting -- welcome, Woody & Carl!)
  • Gordon McFarland volunteered to host the October 23 meeting, and to do a demo of veneering.
  • Harland Johnson reported the Guild's bank balance was $1996.34 with no debts outstanding. The position of Treasurer is still open. Johnson reported that there are currently 38 paid up members. Four former members that have not responded to emails are being dropped from our roster: Ken Bordelon, Jack Moore, Steve Vales, and Sherrie Smith.
  • Johnson also reported that member Bob Christman, who recently moved to Tennessee, has joined the Tellico Village Woodworkers' Club. He relayed information on the club's activities and sent along a three-ring binder containing club and general woodworking information which is distributed to new members. The binder was circulated at the meeting.
  • Dick Gahn reported that Boat Show preparations were on schedule, and circulated a signup sheet for the Saturday and Sunday (October 13 and 14) boat-building sessions. If you were not at the August meeting and can help out, please contact Dick (985-893-7603 or rgahn@internet.com) to get your name on the list, even if you can only be there for a few hours. We need about a dozen active work stations plus helpers at the sails table to keep up with the kids. You do not need to be a Guild member to help out, so if you have relatives or friends that would like to participate, please let Dick know. The September 25 regular meeting will be the last before the Boat Show, and Gahn will go over the final details at that time. A checklist of useful items to bring to the show is attached.

SHOW AND TELL


  • Paul Robin has been busy on his new 15x42 Jet lathe -- he showed several bowls and jars he has created in the past month.
  • Gordon McFarland showed an occasional table made from mahogany, with a vacuum veneered top of English yew. McFarland will be demonstrating his veneering technique at the October meeting.

DEMONSTRATION


Bob Satterlee, owner of Furniture Medic, presented a wealth of information on the many types of stains and finishes that are a vital part of his furniture repair business. Some of the major points were:

  1. For adding or changing color, especially for repair work, some of the choices are
    • Minwax products
    • Gel stains -- available at the Unfinished Woodstore in many colors
    • Mohawk Toners (dyes and pigments), available at Riverside Lumber, Southern Saw and Neil Fabric
    • Colored waxes from Briwax (available at Helm Paint) or Fiddes
    • Ultrapenetrating dyes that can be sprayed
  2. Over the color, apply a lacquer sanding sealer (Deft is a good product, available in liquid or aerosol). It dries fast, and is easy to sand for the final finish.
  3. Finishing coat -- lacquer (again, Deft is good) or a polyacrylic is preferable to polyurethane, because the first two penetrate the prior coat and produce a longer lasting hard bond.
After his talk, Satterlee took the audience to the tented spray booth at the back of his shop where he showed how to use a High Volume Low Pressure (HVLP) spray gun to apply a lacquer finish to a rocking chair being repaired. He also pointed out highlights of some of the current repair projects he is tackling.

One of those is his first attempt to refinish a piano, seen above left after the application of a black lacquer, but before sanding and application of finishing coats. As a corollary to the piano project, he showed one of the most interesting ideas of the evening -- a "storyboard" that he used to keep track of the many special moldings, screws, and fittings that he had to remove from the piano before working on it. It seemed that almost everyone could relate to the problem of reassembling something complicated, especially a month or so after taking it apart, and not being able to remember exactly what fit where. His story board had a diagram of the piano, with all of the small odds and ends taped to the board and labeled to show where they went (and in what sequence).

Bob, the info on finishing was great, but your storyboard alone was worth coming to see -- thanks very much for a great evening!

2007 Calendar of Events
DATE HOST LOCATION EVENT
January 23 (Tuesday) Harland Johnson Regular meeting -- demo by Jerry Markowitz of making a stand for safe cutting of irregular wood blanks
February 27 (Tuesday) Dick Gahn Regular Meeting -- demo by Gahn of cutting table legs with a band saw.
March 27 (Tuesday) Carroll Miller Regular Meeting and demo by Bill Wimley of repair and restoration of wooden guitars.
April 24 (Tuesday) Joe Perret (District 12 Fire Station) Regular Meeting - demo by Perret of making lipped boxes
May 5 (Saturday) Dick Gahn Annual Cochon de Lait -- family event
May 22 (Tuesday) Paul Robin and Gerard St. Romain Shop-Around: small groups visit two shops during the evening.
June 26 (Tuesday) Harland Johnson Regular Meeting - demo by Michael Gaule of turning rolling pins.
July 14 (Saturday) District 12 Fire Station, Covington Family Day -- 10a - 3p Guild members to assemble bird houses for kids.
August 28 (Tuesday) Bob Satterlee Regular Meeting -- demo by Satterlee of the use of gel stains and HVLP spray equipment for finishing.
Sept 25 (Tuesday) Dick Gahn Regular Meeting -- demo by Gahn of making a band saw box.
October 13 and 14 (Saturday & Sunday) Madisonville Wooden Boat Festival (setup 8a-11a Fri October 12)
October 23 (Tuesday) Gordon McFarland Regular Meeting -- demo by McFarland of veneering
November 27 (Tuesday) TBA TBA
December 6 (Thursday) Tchefuncte Country Club Christmas Banquet: 6:30p - Open bar, 7p - Dinner

Buy/Sell/Trade

Visit the Celtic Woodshop's website and check out the artistic turning, carvings, and custom cabinetry. Many items are from woods reclaimed from hurricanes Katrina and Rita, renovations, and urban forestry. Please recycle. (Contact Michael Gaule 601-799-1464)

Guild Contacts

President - Joe Perret - jmpdcp@gmail.com
Vice President - Brian Rowan - bgrowan@gmail.com
Secretary - Harland Johnson - harlandj@gmail.com
Treasurer - Harland Johnson (temporary)

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Tooth and Nail is normally published 11 times per year by The St. Tammany Woodworkers Guild. Located in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, the Guild is a non-profit organization founded in 1991 for the purpose of education and inspiration in the art of Wood Crafts. Meetings are normally held on the fourth Tuesday of each month except December. The newsletter is best viewed with the latest versions of Internet Explorer or Firefox. If you have any difficulties viewing it, please contact the Guild Secretary.