Sunday, May 24, 2015

May 2015 Meeting

Getting Started --- Did you notice the Graphic?
     With about 32 members, several of whom were first timers, the meeting began with our customary round robin introductions.  As usual there were some funny moments with the theme starting out with military and grandkids -- guess you had to be there!  The focus of this months meeting was hardware and there was a lot of participation and information shared.  I'm in the process of writing that up as a separate blog so you can bookmark it for reference but it'll take some time trying to get all of the links for you.

Business Portion

     Just in case you haven't made your plans yet for the upcoming AWFS which will be held July 22-26 here is a LINK to it.  It's held here every other year and is the largest trade show of its kind.  Since we live here it be a shame not to invest $25.00 to see the latest tools and related items in woodworking.  Jamie is able to get a limited number of people into the show as students for no charge so check with her if that interests you.
     Jamie sends out hundreds of emails monthly and (can you believe it!) is using AOL.  She has put out an SOS for anyone that is familiar with MailChimp to please contact her and help her get started with this program.
     Lie-Nielsen is coming back to Wood It Is for another outstanding show of their tools.  They are interested in having any local tool makers participate during their time here.  If you're aware of any local, wood related tool makers contact Jamie at the studio.
     Last of all, it has finally been decided that the end of the year contest will focus on toys this year.  After discussion and a show of hands that was the consensus of the group.  We'll work out the details soon, this will give us all plenty of time to participate.  At the end of the contest toys can either be donated to charity or given to your own  kids/grandkids.

Show & Tell Portion

Lamp with Inlaid Design

This very interesting turned lamp was brought in by Beth.  Seems as if turning is getting to be a very popular aspect of our members and many of them are taking classes with Jimmy Clewes.  What makes this lamp so interesting is a technique she used to inlay wood into the blank.  Then as she began turning the form, the inlay was exposed in this cool pattern.



Ed brought in two different turned items, one was this lidded box made out of some Peach tree harvested from a neighbors yard.  The other piece is a laminated and segmented bowl.
Peach Tree Lidded Box

Laminated & Segmented Bowl

John also has been working with turnings and seems to have the Lathe Bug too!  He shared these greenwood turnings with us made of Peppertree.  He also showed a huge handle for one of his lathe tools that he made from curly Maple.  It was finished with black, red, and yellow spirit stain.
Live edge and greenwood turnings 



Ken showed us a few items this week starting with the Incra jig designed to make wooden hinges.  Here is a LINK to it from Rockler.  Along with the jig he brought in a box where he used that jig to make the hinges.

What you see sitting on top of the box is a trick he shared with us!  That is a bottle of air that is available at any office supply used to blow the dust from your keyboard.  He discovered that it does the exact same thing that Bloxygen does for one third the price!  If you're not familiar with that product it is used to preserve your finishes during storage.  It's creates a seal between the finish and the empty space of the can preventing oxidation/evaporation/contamination!
     Allen brought in a stand he made for computer tablets and probably readers as well.  His son had created a program that created as much interest as the woodwork did!  It showed the Sin City Woodworkers logo being cut out of a piece of wood, pretty neat!  His son wrote the program for it.

Finally, Jamie who we know does more than her share of fantastic work, brought out a chair which will be one of a set of eight.  Since she claims to get bored doing the same thing over and over she has decided to make four different styles so she has eight similar but somewhat different chairs to go with her table.  The wood is Ash.  She used the technique Lupe showed many meetings ago where the table saw is used to sculpt the seat.
Jamie's Chair
     By the way, we kidded Ed a bit regarding his discovery of the YouTube video's and finding a wealth of information there.  Many of you may not be aware of it but Lupe has uploaded a number of video's to the Sin City Woodworker channel on YouTube.  If you go to YouTube and do a search you'll find them.  It's a good way to refresh your memory or learn about events from previous meetings.  My computer savvy isn't' the greatest but here is a LINK to one of the video's she did last April.  I went to YouTube and put in Sin City Woodworkers and all of them come up but that may occur because I've subscribed to the channel.  They may also be listed under Nielsen Magic or Lupe Nielsen.  In any case, it's a good resource to see what has been done in the past.
     As I mentioned at the beginning, the Hardware Blog is in progress and I'll get it to you as soon as it's done.  Here's to all of you having a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day as we celebrate our great country.  Remember the men and women that fought and sacrificed so we can enjoy the abundance and freedom of living in the USA!



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