Email Newsletter of The St. Tammany Woodworkers Guild October 2008

NEXT MEETING

7p Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Location to be announced in the next Newsletter

SPECIAL NOTE:
The October meeting, previously scheduled for October 28, has been CANCELLED because of an outbreak of Boat Show Fatigue(!) following the prolonged work efforts of the many members who worked at the Madisonville Wooden Boat Festival on October 18 and 19, and helped in the work parties on October 17 and 20. We will resume our regular schedule at the November meeting, and you will receive an abbreviated version of the newsletter in advance with details of the location and demo. The Boat Show was another success, and we will have more details in the November newsletter.

FOR THE RECORD BOOK


Woody Glover, who is NOT the man in the photo, obtained a piece of this rare wood for his latest project -- story below. Does that look like a skinny Wayne Thompson?

Highlights of September Meeting

BUSINESS

  • Joe Perret presided at the meeting held at Dick Gahn's shop. NIneteen members attended.
  • Dick Gahn, Chairman of the Boat Show Committee, circulated a final sign-up sheet for working at the Boat Show in October. Free admission, T-shirts, breakfast and lunch will be provided to workers. Help will be needed on Friday morning at Gahn's at 8a to load out the materials, and about 9a - 11a Friday in Madisonville to set up at the tent. The tent will be open for customers 9a-5p Saturday and Sunday. Gahn reminded everyone of some basic safety concerns: keep work areas clean of dust and splinters; make sure air gun exhausts are pointed away from kids; protect kids from hot glue guns. As usual, putting your name on tools will help get them to the right people in the cleanup on Sunday afternoon. Help will also be needed at Gahn's shop about 8a Monday October 20 to unload the trailer and store the excess materials.
  • Wayne Thompson took final orders for Guild T shirts and/or caps. He planned to place the order on Wednesday, Sept 24.
  • Brian Rowan, Guild Treasurer, reported a bank balance of $995, and reviewed a list of members with 2008 dues still unpaid. They will be dropped from the mailing lists.

SHOW AND TELL

  • Paul Robin has been busy turning bowls again. He showed several, including two turned from black walnut, one from magnolia (that had been boiled in water for an hour to bring out the color), and one from pecan (which was treated with tung oil, then lacquered).


  • Keeping with the bowl theme, Dick Gahn showed an assortment he had turned about 1989-1991, commenting that it was always interesting to look back and see how one's technique had changed, hopefully for the better.

  • Woody Glover showed a project in progress. He is constructing a special presentation box to hold a silverware wedding gift. What makes the project unique is his choice of Kauri Wood from northern New Zealand for the box sides. This wood has been buried in ancient bogs for 50,000 years! It is not petrified, and can be worked with normal tools. It is similar in density to cherry, with textures similar to basswood. The grains and textures that can be achieved with the right surface finishing are incredible -- see examples here.

    Glover is using mahogany veneer on plywood for the top. The photo shows the box before it has been cut into halves. You can read more about Kauri Wood (and order some if you wish) at the Ancient Wood website.

DEMONSTRATION -- BISCUIT JOINERY

Dick Gahn took us through the basics of biscuit joining for four different applications: side by side joining of boards for table tops or door panels; right angle mitre joints in thin pieces (e.g. for picture frames); right angle mitre joints in 2" x 4" pieces in two orientations, one of them using double biscuits.

Above left, Gahn lays out three 1/2" x 1-1/2 x 15" pieces representing workpieces intended to be horizontally joined to form a panel. He draws a triangle across the three to make it easy to keep them in proper orientation so the biscuit holes will match. To make sure the seams will be tight, he flips over every other piece (in this case, only the center piece) before running them through a jointer. Any small deviations from a true 90 degree edge will be compensated for when the piece is flipped back into position.

Above right he adjusts the biscuit jointer to cut the slots approximately in the center of each thickness, and adjusts the depth of the saw cut to match the size of biscuits he will use.

On the left, he is cutting slots on both sides of the center piece, and has decided to use three biscuits for this length of panel -- a number that is obviously different for different sizes of panels.


Above, after a liberal application of glue, Gahn inserts the biscuits, and fits the pieces together.

The pieces are then clamped, the glue cleaned off, and after drying, the panel will be ready for any final surfacing with a planer or router.

Gahn then showed other projects amenable to biscuit joining . Above right, a picture frame contains 45 degree mitred biscuit joints at the corners.

Gahn used pieces of 2" x 4" to show how the biscuit joiner can be set at a 45 degree angle (above left) to cut slots in the workpieces so that the wide sides of the 2" x 4" form a right angle, and then showed how to stengthen a joint using double biscuits (above center and right) to join the workpieces along the narrow sides.

The breadth and depth of Gahn's experience always makes it a treat to watch him work. Dick, thanks again for your lessons!

2008 Calendar of Events
DATE HOST LOCATION EVENT
January 22 (Tuesday) Eric Carter Regular meeting -- demo by Carter of installing wood floors with inlaid designs
February 26 (Tuesday) Dick Gahn Regular Meeting -- demo by Guillory of making an oval bowl with a router; demo of making a weed pot and chatter patterns by Gahn
March 25 (Tuesday) Gerald Gibson Regular Meeting (including jambalaya!)-- demo by Gibson of making wooden toys
April 22 (Tuesday) Joe Perret (District 12 Fire Station) Regular Meeting - demo by Park Ranger Richard Scott of primitive woodworking
May 3 (Saturday) Dick Gahn Annual Cochon de Lait -- family event
May 17 (Saturday) District 12 Fire Station, Covington Family Day -- 9a - 3p Guild members to assemble bird houses for kids.
June 24 (Tuesday) Bob Satterlee Regular meeting -- demos by Brian Harrell of pocket hole joinery and by Satterlee of tool sharpening
July 22 (Tuesday) Gerard St. Romain Regular Meeting - demo by St. Romain of biscuit joinery for building a rustic table
August 26 (Tuesday) Jerry Markowitz Regular Meeting -- demo by Markowitz of turning twists and spirals
Sept 23 (Tuesday) Dick Gahn Regular Meeting -- Mystery Demo by Gahn
October 18 and 19 (Saturday & Sunday) Madisonville Wooden Boat Festival (setup 8a-11a Fri October 17)
October 28 (Tuesday) Cancelled Cancelled
November 25 (Tuesday) TBA Regular meeting -- demo TBA
December 4 (Thursday) Tchefuncta Country Club Christmas Banquet: 6p - Cash bar, 7p - Dinner

Buy/Sell/Trade

FOR SALE
Frigidaire "Commercial" 17.1 cu ft Upright Freezer, white.
Auto defrost. 65" high x 32" wide x 27" deep. Spotless interior.
Excellent operating condition. One exterior dent on lower left side. $200
Harland Johnson, 845-3468

Guild Contacts

President - Joe Perret - jmpdcp@gmail.com
Vice President - vacant
Secretary - Harland Johnson - harlandj@gmail.com
Treasurer - Brian Rowan - bgrowan@gmail.com
Librarian - Jerry Markowitz - jerrymarko@yahoo.com
Boat Show Committee Chairman - Dick Gahn - rgahn@internet.com

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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.