June 2014 Meeting --- Another Full House!

      The meeting featured a full house of 30 members and guests.  It may have seemed a bit more crowded than usual because we met in the machine section at Jamie's school/shop.  This way Joe was able to use the panel saw for an easel as he gave his presentation on designing furniture -- more on that later but if you weren't able to attend you missed a great one!  As is tradition, we did our round robin introductions and then went the heart of the meeting.

General Business

     Lots of business to talk about and Jamie started it by telling you that the media center I entered into the Design in Wood competition was one of 6 that was awarded an Honorable Mention in the Contemporary Furniture category.  The Summerlin View published a picture of it this week, here's a LINK to that if you'd be interested in seeing the finished project.  I'm humbled and honored to have my original design and work accepted into the show and then shown in our local newspaper.  She also told us about Lupe and her success at selling her work.  You probably saw the two, Adirondack chairs she's been working on.  Like all of her work they featured no less than 5 coats of sanded in Watco and were beautiful.  There was a picture of them on Facebook you may have seen.  In any case, someone mentioned if she'd sell them after putting all the work into them and she said "sure".  Well, next day she had the money and is set to make the next great thing --- congrats to you Lupe!
     If anyone is looking for work within the woodworking industry Jamie knows of a shop that is looking for someone with experience, not only making cabinets but also doing laminate work.  Contact her at the shop (702-631-1870) if that's something you'd be interested in.
     Big news about our next meeting in July.  It will feature Jimmy Clewes who is a woodturner living in Las Vegas.  He is ranked among the top 5 woodturners in the world and he will give a demonstration at the meeting.  I've never taken a class from him but from what I've heard he's not only an outstanding woodturner but an interesting speaker/teacher as well.  Here's a LINK to his website.

      To keep the news coming, there is a new woodworking club that started three months ago.  It is the Las Vegas Woodcarvers.  The club meets at Woodworkers Emporium every 4th. Saturday of the month.  Hours are 9:30-11:30.  The club is led by Dennis Patchett and Randy Glau who are both members of the Sin City group.  You can see some of the types of work done but we will do everything from caricatures, eggs, apples, relief work, etc.  Since the club is in it's infancy,  more members means more ideas on how the club will operate.  So far one of the members has led us in tutorials on doing the type of faces you see in the center of the picture.  If you're a carver or always wanted to know more about it come by the next meeting, June 28th.  Woodworkers Emporium is located at 5461 Arville Street, between Tropicana and Russell.

    For the Christmas challenge we'll follow the Food Network show, Chopped format.  More details will follow but it was decided that the project can be one of your choice that utilizes the following materials:  1" x 6" x 8' piece of lumber (your choice), a dowel, some type of brass fastener, and a non-wood material.  These must be featured prominently in the project (75%), it would be nice to take a picture of your materials in their rough form to accompany your work.

     Last, but certainly not least:

       Jamie has been selected to host a Lie-Nielsen tool event in October !!

Just in case you're not familiar with Lie-Nielsen here is a LINK to their page about their tool events.  Mark your calendar and start saving your money!
   

Show and Tell Session

          There was a lot of participation this time for show and tell and everyone did a great job of keeping their presentation to 5 minutes or less.  I could see Joe sweating it, looking at the clock, and knowing he had lots of great information to share with us.

Beth started off with this beautiful bench she built for her husband that will go in to their bathroom.  My first thought was water + wood= uh oh! but I think the finish she put on it will hold up fine.  Beth is one of Jamie's students and gets a lot of teasing about her nails and jewelry but this project proves they don't stop her talent.  The size of this is 18" x 18" x 30" and the top is made primarily of scraps of wood which were laminated into 3 long strips then cut to size.  The frame is traditional mortise and tenon and it's a very nice piece of work.

Neal is one of the members of the carving club I talked about earlier.  This is an example of relief carving that he is currently working on.  One of the nice things about carving is that, if you can get away with it, it can be done in the air conditioned comfort of your living room instead of your hot shop/garage space.

Another way to carve is through the use of CNC controlled machines.  Leo brought in two examples he has done with one of his three, CarveWright machines.  This is a Walnut piece that features scenes from the wine country plus an inlayed clock.  Unfortunately the other piece he brought in didn't photograph very well.  If you were at the meeting you know how cool it was! It was a piece of Corian, about 1/4" thick that had a photograph carved out of it.  He mounted it in a box with lighting and it looked pretty darn cool!  If you're interested in what CNC can do, here is a LINK to CarveWright.

To help us all with the never ending quest on how to get our tools the sharpest they can be, Eric shared this recent article from Fine Woodworking where the latest offerings of water stones were tested and rated.  You may recall Eric's demonstration on sharpening -- he knows a lot about it.  He mentioned that having tried many of the stones in the article he agreed with their findings.

Jim has been working on a beautifully crafted and well thought out sewing center for his wife.  It's been a work in progress for a year or so and is made of Red Oak.  Obviously too big to bring in he brought in several pictures of it to show us.  His wife must have been more than pleased since he offered his old ShopVac to anyone in the club who could use it ---- now that he has a Festool that noisy old machine is no longer welcome in his shop!

Ed has been busy at the lathe and showed off this three tiered candy dish made of Myrtle.  The center section he thought was Maple.  What he's holding is a nicely turned honey dipper -- it's not only made of Olive wood but it's protected and finished with Olive oil as well!

Ted returned from his travels and out of state work with a collection of some new tools.  Jamie does have an unofficial title for him as a Tool *&$&%**# but since this is a family publication you'll have to fill in the blank!  Here he's holding an antique ink line (China or Japan) and it's just exquisite.  Tools of old were not only functional, they were artistically designed to be a work of art as well.  Turned handles, filigree on knobs, etching on the metal, etc.  Besides this ink line he also showed some clamps from the 1800's, plumb bob, craftsman made router plane, and a copy a rare furniture book.

The last of our show and tell items also made it into the raffle, that was very generous of you Jon!  It's a jig used for cutting splines into the sides of a mitered box, you can see the box in his hand.  What sets his design apart from others is the fact that you won't destroy the bottom of it during use.  There is about an inch of clearance which prevents the blade from cutting the jig.  Although the original design was for it to straddle the fence, Joh chose to box in the bottom and guide it against the fence.  This made for a much more rigid jig.

Featured Presentation

   

     Joe Hessling gave us a very interesting and informative presentation on ways to go about designing our furniture pieces.  Actually, these methods would hold true for anything we plan to build.  Like I would tell my students, you don't just go into the workshop to build a table and just start grabbing wood and going to it!  This craft requires time and planning for us to be successful and Joe gave us the tools to do that.  

     Just as most other things in woodworking, there are many ways to go about it and we'll all develop our own methods.  His presentation was enhanced by a hand out emailed to all of you prior to the meeting.  It's well worth keeping for reference and I'm especially thankful he made that so I don't have to try to give you the information second-hand!  In summary, projects will begin with a need, purpose, and an intended use.  Then begins the drawing and sketching phase.  This can be as simple as the proverbial "drawn on the back of a cocktail napkin" or many carefully drafted and detailed drawings.  It's always wise to make mockups, especially of larger pieces so you can see them in actual size.  Good materials for that would be cardboard, foam insulation board, plywood, etc.  Once those items are determined it's time to consult with your client (paying, spouse, neighbor, or speculation) to get any input.  The budget will determine many things such as materials, finish, hardware, etc.  Joinery will need to be selected based on your abilities and tools but most importantly what gives the structure and strength required.  Then begins the fun part --- the actual construction of the piece.

To help illustrate the presentation he  brought in this piece of his work.  Along with it were many of the sketches and drawings he made prior to construction.  Notice the pull?  Joe likes to enhance his work with his own, unique hand carved hardware which adds to the over-all design.  As part of the hand out there is a list of reference books he recommended.  

Thanks to him for an informative presentation and the time he took to prepare the hand out for us to refer to as we go about this business of woodworking.