Sin City Woodworkers, a Vegas valley social and networking group committed to serious (and not so serious!) woodworking discussions, meet on the third Wednesday of each month to share everything from techniques and ideas to information about local suppliers and much more.
Our next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, January 15 at 7:00, and this meeting will feature Steve Coffey, who will be discussing his woodworking collaboration with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints curators to help restore and build reproduction furniture in the historical village of Nauvoo, Illinois.
As the story goes …. the population of the city of Nauvoo, Illinois in 1839-1846 was second largest in the state, almost as large as that of Chicago. However, in 1844 when Joseph Smith and his brother were killed by the mob, the vast majority of the residents moved west and settled Utah and Salt Lake City. (You can check things out at: historicnauvoo.net)
Since the 1960’s, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) has been restoring the Nauvoo historic district, a few additional buildings and homes at a time. One of the homes they are currently working on to restore is the home of William Weeks, who was the architect for the Nauvoo temple. Steve built a reproduction of the 1800’s architect’s desk for display in this home (shown below) and is working on several other projects, such as a bed, a settee, and some parlor or tea tables. Steve’s hope is that some in our group might want to also participate in this project and build a piece to be displayed in these historic homes.
Church curators are consulting with woodworkers, since they don’t know much about early American furniture… it’s a symbiotic relationship - Steve helps them connect with woodworking, and building the pieces have so helping with the research as well as building the furniture has helped him to connect even closer to the people and times almost 200 years ago. Oh - an by the way - its pretty cool that something that Steve has made will be on display for the next 100+ years too!
BTW - Steve’s not just a furniture maker - his turned wares were the winner of the Christmas Ornament contest, and his body of woodworking ranges from small to large.
We’ll have a Show and Tell at our meeting, so if you’ve made something cool, or gotten a great tool for Christmas - bring it by and share it with the group!
This meeting will be held at Studio: Wood It Is!, 2267 West Gowan, unit 106 in North Las Vegas. As always, the public is welcome to attend the meeting, so members - please feel free to bring a guest along. But remember that there are a limited number of chairs in the woodshop. Attendees might want to bring a folding chair if they wish to sit during the meeting. If you have questions or need directions, call the studio at 631-1870.
