Class Information from John Eugster

Many of you were interested in using the composition material I demonstrated a couple of months ago.  I mentioned I learned about it from a guy by the name of Eric Tollefson at the West Coast Art and Framing Convention.  This convention is held at  the Las Vegas Convention Center and the class is being offered on Sunday, January 23rd.  It goes from 10am to 4pm.  Here is a link to that page in the seminar offerings.  The number of the class is H610.  As I recall, he does a number of demonstrations to show how to put ornamentation on a pre-finished frame (cheap ones you can get anywhere) and also goes into how to finish the ornamentation to match the frame.  If nothing else, you'll see the variety of composition materials and learn how simple it would be to utilize in your woodwork.  He also shows how to lay composition gold leaf which I demo'd which you can buy locally from Dick Blick or Desert Decor.

Here's the picture of the corner I did for our demo just to refresh your memory!

Composition Corner Example

Planes in Sin City

Last Wednesday's meeting was one of our first, interactive meetings and judging by the comments I heard and the activity going on it was a success.  I was happy to lead the group in learning the basics of setting up and using the various planes.  Yes, it's a time consuming process but, as I heard Dennis exclaim: "there's nothing like the sound of a shaving coming out of a nicely set up plane", well that may not have been his exact quote but you get the idea!

Beginning of the Demonstration

To be sure, setting that plane up can be a daunting task but like I said, once mine is set I generally leave it alone so it's ready whenever I need it. Jamie and Larry both use block planes in their work when needed so even though they may not want to use the planes exclusively to get a great finish they have their place in any shop.  After using my method to teach literally thousands of kids through the years I'm sure it'll work for you.

Here's a picture of using the block plane to cut a chamfer on the end of a board. With its low angle and small size it's ideal for that.

You move the board, I'll hold the plane!!

Before we started the meeting, Neil showed off his cast and shared his accident with us on the router table.  It's a reminder of how careful we need to be working at this craft and that in spite of all the safety precautions, accidents can still occur.  Hope your fingers heal and you're as good as new Neil, look forward to seeing you cast free next month!
Speaking of next month, Jamie brought up an excellent idea of us all bringing a project for a Show & Tell session and also having snacks and libations in the spirit of Christmas.  Seems as if most of us welcomed that so we'll have to make plans and finalize them before the meeting which will be on the 15th. of December.
Several of you asked for plans for the bench I brought and also the article from Fine Woodworking that went into tuning up a plane.  I can't figure out how to attach them to this blog but will send a separate email to everyone that I have in my address book with them as a PDF, you should be able to open them.  If you're not on my list and want them just send me an email.
Last of all, Jamie did a great Cecil B. DeMille impersonation and took a number of videos of us in action!!  Here they are, enjoy  Okay, slight technical glitch!  I've been watching the icon churn around for the past 10 minutes and nothing is happening.  Jamie sent them to me as a zip drive and they really are cool.  I'll send them to you in the same email I use for the PDF files.