June 20th. Meeting

     Before the start of the meeting is always a good opportunity for informal conversations and finding out what others have been working on or struggling with since the last meeting.  Really a nice time to socialize and talk wood.

Hope I Don't Put Dennis to Sleep!

      It's pretty remarkable that an informal group like us manages to start our meetings pretty much right on schedule.  I counted about 23 of woodworkers showing up today.  Jamie was busy in the other side of the shop completing one of many projects she's been swamped with.  She's really done a great job of promoting her work and the school and may be busier than she wanted to be but I'm proud of her success in this town, especially with the current economy -- Good Job!
     That may be one of the reasons she asked if I'd like to lead the meeting since I was at the head of the table anyway, as long as I don't have to pick up the check it was okay by me:

Let's Do This

     We started out with the "traditional" round robin of who are you.  Some of us are getting a bit lax, you can tell us more than your name!  We had one new member, Leroy Wilson who also brought some projects he's made.  Those will be in the show & tell section at the end of this blog.  During the introductions Ed mentioned that Toys for Smiles has a bunch of Cherry and Red Oak that they're selling for excellent prices.  Roughly 1600 b/f of Cherry for $2.25, this is 15/16", random width/length.  Also a number of Red Oak boards of various sizes which are sold by the piece.  Toys for Smiles is located at 3170 Polaris, Suites 17 & 18.  There was a lot of interest in this so you might want to get there soon as you can if you haven't already.
     Next up, Jamie was just about ready to start talking about a book and pamphlets she had but; just as if it were planned, Eric walked in and she passed the baton to him since it was something he was responsible for:

Jamie Excitedly Contemplating Her Talk

     I'm going to assume that everyone who's ever picked up a woodworking magazine has heard of Bob Flexner and may also have a book written by him.  He is probably the best known person when it comes to ways to finish wood or repair poorly finished wood.  As it turns out, Eric's father-in-law knows him personally and lives where he does in Norman, OK.  Since Eric is a woodworker he quickly agreed to visit Bob Flexner and spend the day with him at his shop.  The first surprise was the condition of the shop, you'd think that someone with Flexner's reputation would have the best, latest, and newest tools at his disposal but that wasn't the case.  The main feature was an old Shopsmith and many tools which Eric described as not being in the best of shape!  Bob started out being a furniture maker which wasn't very profitable (sounds familiar!) so turn to repairs which eventually led to him specializing in refinishing of furniture.  Repairs and refinishing are two areas where expertise is required, you can screw up a nice piece of work real quick.  Here's a link I found about Bob Flexner which has articles and tips by him regarding finishing.  Eric had brought in pamphlets written by him and all of us were able to get one.

Flexner's Book

     I was the scheduled demonstrator for the meeting and my goal was to share some techniques of hand tool woodworking that I thought may be of value.  The focus was about making boxes and techniques that made handling small pieces of wood safer.

Demo Tools

     From left to right is the shooting board with block plane, dovetail saw and bench hook (under notebook) and some marking tools.  My focus was on the shooting board which is a great, shop made device used to square miters, ends, and edges of a board perfectly.  They can be made any size you need to fit your work.  Here's a close up of it:

Shooting Board

     What is does is make an area to lay the plane down which is square to the section that the wood is placed on.  This one is made of Ultralight MDF and has a Maple wear strip laminated on the side to provide a hard surface to "shoot" the plane against.  The only variation I know of is to hold either the plane or the board at an incline to utilize the entire blade on the plane.  I know one member has already made his version, if you want details feel free to email me.
     Traditionally you would probably use a larger plane, possibly a Jack.  Since my focus for this was small work I made it to be used with a block plane.  Lie-Nielson's company was mentioned and they make a dedicated Shooting Board Plane .  I'm afraid we'll have to wait until Richard gets one to see it up close and personal!
     Another device that makes cutting small pieces safely is a bench hook:

Bench Hook, Notice the Miter Fixture on the Shooting Board

      This allows you to cut and securely hold wood without a vise.  It's good to make one side for 90 degree cuts and the other for 45 degree miters.  This cut can be trimmed and made perfectly square by using the miter fixture on your shooting board.
     Once you've cut these small pieces the next step is gluing them together.  When you take a mitered joint and add slippery glue to the mix it's a real chore to hold it all together and clamp it.  By using packaging tape the process becomes controllable and easier.

Packaging Tape Assembly

     When the pieces are ready for assembly you simple place them end to end on a length of tape, apply some glue to each miter and basically fold the box together.  You can check for square and add tape as needed to make all the corners square.  This works for mitered boxes of any size but you may want to add another wind of tape or a band clamp if your box is much taller than the tape.
     After the demo was complete several of you gave the shooting board a try and, I hope, found it to your liking:

Leroy Giving it a Try, Notice the Completed Tray by the Glue Bottle

     For the Show & Tell segment, Leroy brought in a few examples of the boxes he's been making,  I overheard someone ask him what kind of wood there was in one of them and his reply was "a $10.00 garage sale coffee table", that's being resourceful!

Trio of Boxes

Interior Detail with Sliding Tray

     Ted, who's fairly new to our 100+ degree desert shared some glue information that he researched out of necessity.  He's currently working on a staircase that requires lots of glued up Oak.  When our temps start to climb we need a glue with the most open time we can find, it's also imperative we do that dry run.

Ted with All the Data

     He found that Titebond makes an extended wood glue (white bottle) which claims and open time of 15 minutes versus their regular glue (yellow bottle) which has a 5 minute open time.  They said that's at 70 degrees and it may get a bit warmer than that in the average, Las Vegas shop.  I know though that Ted has a 2 ton air conditioned ready for installation in his insulated shop/garage -- lucky man!

Titebond Glues

     The extended glue cost is $10.00 more per gallon from Louis & Company and someone mentioned that smaller quantities are available from your favorite, big box store.

Meeting Reminder

Know What This Is?

    In Jamies announcement about our meeting tomorrow  (Wednesday, 6/20) she mentioned that I'm in the process of making a series of boxes for an upcoming show.  I sure appreciate her plug but must admit that smaller definitely does not mean easier!  Every project is a learning experience and I'll demonstrate  some of the things I've learned during this process.  Boxes are something that anyone can use, they can be as fancy or utilitarian as you need and used for anything from holding your jewelry to left over scraps of wood.  During my demonstration I'll share a few techniques I've picked up on this journey.

     

     Not too sure about the thing-a-ma-jig I'm working with?  Come to the meeting at 7:00 pm tomorrow and find out.

May's Monthly Meeting

   We had another, well attended, and interesting meeting this Wednesday.  Of course, the monthly tradition of saying who you are and what you do was the opening ceremony:

My Name is .......

It does seem that some of us are less than enthusiastic about this tradition but it's a good opener.  Especially for some of us/you that are enjoying those "senior moments"!  There were a couple of new faces which is always good to see.  It is pretty amazing that we are now starting on the fourth year of Sin City Woodworkers.  What's even more amazing is that there are quite a few of us that have been members since the very first meeting at the library.  One of the new faces, Jonathan, is a member of the Air Force who has just returned from duty in Japan.

Jonathan introduces Himself

A new couple came in but they timed things right and didn't have to make as much of an introduction.

      Our featured presenter of the night was Steve Joliat and he shared a beautiful, Mission inspired Hall Table with us.  The approximate size of it is 35" long x 19" wide and 30" tall.

Steve's Table

      You can see the influence of the Mission style but he worked at thinning down the legs to lighten the overall look.  When he began working on this design he made a full size mockup out of cardboard to see how it would fit in its' intended space.  That's a really good design practice and will help visualize the piece in three dimensions.  Really interesting how the shelf is supported between the legs, somewhat wedged in place but floating to allow for expansion and contraction of the wood.

Close up of Shelf and Serpentine Tiles

     In this close up shot, you can see how he worked an off colored piece of Cherry as a design element in that bottom shelf.  By laminating it between two strips of Walnut it makes it appear to be an intentional design feature.
     Steve is a retired geologist and had a technical name for the tile work. They are about 8mm (3/8") and 12" square.  Since I'm not sure how to spell that name I recall that it's found in the mountains of California and is actually a piece of ancient oceanic crust that has been uplifted to dry land.  They are set on Hardy board and blending just the needed shade of grout sounds like a small project of its' own.  The finish is many coats of Watco Danish Oil, a process he began as soon as the top was built to protect it from the grout.  The top was assembled with a Domino Joiner system which gives floating tenons.  The rest of it utilizes mortise and tenon joinery -- a time proven furniture technique.  The thinner legs required mitered tenons for strength.
     As far as time invested in this beautiful piece he estimates about 160 hours spread over the course of many weekends in Jamie's' school/studio.  At the end of his presentation we were invited to feel the finish and of course, we did:

Oh wow -- Feel the Wood!

     There's nothing quite like the feel of a hand finished piece of furniture.  When I taught it was a struggle at times to convince the kids to take the time to sand and prepare the wood.  Usually by that time we tend to be in a rush to get the project over and done with but it's the first thing most folks do when they are buying furniture -- how does it feel?  IKEA ain't got nothing on that!!
     After Steve finished his presentation and we all had the chance to inspect it up close the question of pricing came up.  What followed was a pretty spirited discussion on the value of this piece on the open market.  Pricing is always an issue and now that the economy is where it is it's even thornier than before!  There's that fine line, you don't want to price yourself out of the market but then again, you don't want to devalue your work and give R.C. Wiley prices either.  Many strategies to figure this one out but it probably boils down to whatever the market will bear.  Sometimes you might be approached to do a job and it just doesn't appeal to you so you throw out a ridiculous number and they take your bid!  It's worked the other way too, you like the client; like the project so offer a low figure so you can get that job and they turn your bid down -- crazy huh?
     The final order of business was the show and tell segment.  This has become a great time to share the work you've completed, tool you've bought, information you've learned, etc.  I brought in a carving but the photo of me and it didn't show much so you'll just have to jog your memory.
     Our resident carving master, Dennis, brought in one of 12 claw foot legs he's working on:

Claw Foot Leg

     He will add an Acanthus leaf to the top of these and claims "it's fairly simple".  Any of us that have attempted to carve know there's a bit more to it.  The detail is amazing on the claw, you can see the segments where it bends around the ball and each claw is complete with a toe nail -- beautiful!

     Since there are a number of the group that are currently building workbenches, Ted brought in a new book from Taunton Press devoted to them.

Best Workbenches

     Another member, Ann, has been working with the smoked Poplar.  After some difficulties with splitting  of the wood and a bit of a go-around with the supplier she made some beautiful raised panel & frame doors:

Nicely Matched, Raised Panel Doors

These doors will go on a pair of cabinets that will nestle underneath a pop out window on her patio.  They will hold odd's and end's for the barbecue.  Many of you will remember the tiled fire pit table she had been working on for quite some time.  It's now finished and she passed around a picture of it.  Sounds like she's ready for a SCWW field trip and picnic at her place!

     Jamie, who's always creating interesting projects showed us these six sided, tapered planters:

Planters: Six Sides and Tapered

These are made from a sheet of Maple plywood she finagled from McKillican!  Their intended use is for her presumably male Banana Tree that is having babies.  The finish will be done with Milk Paint and then protected with a clear finish.  She made them different heights to give them visual interest and will use the bottom of glue buckets as liners.  Really nice project, six sided miter joints and a 5 degree taper call for accurate set up to make them fit together as nicely as these do.

     See all of you next month, if you have ideas of making a presentation and sharing your work with the rest of us let Jamie know.  I'm sure she'll be able to fit it into the schedule.

Magical Wood Meeting Review

     At our April meeting we had quite an interesting presentation by Lupe Nielsen that covered many aspects of woodworking many of us may have never thought of.  The focus of her presentation centered around this extremely rare (one of eight known to exist) poster promoting an 1895 Magic Show by a famous magician of the time, Kellar.

1895 Poster ($15,000 and could be yours!)

     That's the teaser, let me re-cap the beginning of the meeting first.  It's always nice to see new faces at our meeting and last night was no different.  I got about half of their names and added it to the mailing list for the blog and announcements.  Have to hang my head, after sending out at least 3 announcements to all of you about the dues guess who forgot to bring them in --- yep, your's truly.  I'm sure Jamie will collect them next month.  Try to remember on your own because if I remind you guys again I'll probably forget my own.
     As is customary, we all went around the room with introductions and any brief recap to share what we've been up to with the rest of the group.  I noticed a few others had brought in some Show & Tell materials but we decided to hold them until after Lupe's talk.  That turned out to be a wise decision as Lupe had a very energetic and well planned talk to share with us.
     Take a close look at the poster, see the book with the owl sitting on it at the right?  The book is sitting on the stand that Lupe has spent much time designing and building and will soon be marketing.  Which version; well, she seems to be shooting for 3.0 at this point but we'll see!  It was quite enjoyable to hear the background and her point of view as to why this project came about.  Allow me to backtrack just a little.

The Star of the Evening (other than Lupe)

     Lupe started her presentation with a bit of background as to how she became interested in magic to begin with.  Seems that at 13 years of age she became involved with a theater company making the scenery and working back stage.  During this time she also became interested in something called Stone Lithography and the history of magic.  This was the connection that lead her to her future husband, Norm Nielsen, who is a well known magician here in Las Vegas and has one of the premier collections of magical memorabilia.  Not only have the two of them traveled the world performing their magic but they also have a business creating, making, and selling magic props and reproduction posters.
     Enter a company called Passion Books, they publish large and pricey, coffee table books (17 pounds, $200.00) on a variety of subjects.  They contacted Norm to see about getting some images for the book and although they had a half a million budget Norm and Lupe didn't give them free reign of their collection.  This book is filled with images and posters of magicians throughout out history and the world.  In a conversation with another magician, when Lupe mentioned that she was taking woodworking classes with Jamie it was suggested that she build the stand shown in the poster and market it as an ideal companion piece to the book --- the seed has been planted.

The Stand, The Poster, The Computer, and of course; Lupe

     Lupe's presentation was extremely well organized.  She's set a pretty high standard for the rest of us to follow but I won't be bringing in the computer when I get into cabinet scrapers in June!  When you check out the stand the legs are the most complicated and interesting feature of it.  They are made in two pieces and joined with a Festool Domino floating tenon machine.  To make them symmetrical templates were the way to go:

Leg Templates

     Lupe did a great job explaining the thought process and problems that will always occur when you build a project.  Doing a one of a kind piece you can "fly by the seat of your pants" a bit but since this will eventually be marketed and produced on a limited basis every step needs to be well planned out and documented.

The Top with Upgraded Tiger Striping 

     Nicely thought out wooden supports will hold the top at an angle so the book can be displayed.

It's really not that tall, Ted's on his knees!

     The part of the presentation that many of us were waiting for is how about the cost.  If you do custom work pricing is always a challenge.  Not too difficult to calculate material costs but the time factor is tough.  Most folks prescribe to the philosophy that says: "Time is Money".  I like Art Espenet Carpenter's take on it the says instead: "Time is Care".  Don't get me wrong, making money at this craft is very important but there needs to be a balance. I'm guessing that I'm not the only one who has missed a bid on a project and discovered you made less than minimum wage for it -- always a learning experience.  Because Lupe is planning to go into a limited production on these the time becomes a critical factor.  You have to balance what you want to earn on these to what the public is willing to pay for them.  

     I'm wondering if the rest of you thought the CNC costs were as interesting as I did?  Although I have the reputation of being a hand tool guy who uses power tools for the grunt work the whole technology in woodworking today is pretty fascinating.  I heard more than one person mention to just send the plans to China and let them work it out.  I know of business's that have done just that.  Lupe told us that a local CNC shop would do the set up and initial programming for the legs at $60.00 per hour and estimated roughly four hours time to accomplish that.  Once they have that done their hourly rate is $85.00 and they estimated they could produce about 12 legs in an hours time --- that's HUGE!!  As she mentioned, the first prototype took her about 85 hours to complete and obviously, the second, third, and so on will take less time as the process is learned but, 12 legs in an hour, no way.

     So, the bottom line is that as this project continues she's looking to produce a dozen of them with a retail price of $2450.00 which does not include shipping and handling.  For the person ready to buy a collectable book like the Magic Book this wouldn't be a stretch to add to their investment.  It's a really cool looking piece of woodworking and I think all of you would agree when I say "congratulations Lupe, you done good".

     

Lupe's Final Word

Lupe's Demo/Lecture Tomorrow

     Just reading the description of what Lupe plans to enlighten us with tomorrow night at our monthly meeting has me chomping at the bit -- love historical stuff and now she's going to add a bit of magic to the equation. We should all set the DVR for whatever drivel we may have wanted to watch on the tube and attend this meeting!

     Here; in an appropriate and fitting font for such an occasion, is her teaser:

     "Trials and tribulations of a rookie woodworker: Lupe's attempt to make a table based on an 1895 Strobridge Lithograph magic poster illustration, in a commercially viable manner, while keeping all her ten fingers intact, without driving her teacher crazy and being kicked out of the workshop. This talk is guaranteed to amaze, amuse and provide a good evening's entertainment to an otherwise very boring and dull Wednesday night."


     Hope everyone can make it.  Please remember to bring you $20.00 for the yearly dues, that money is used for our MeetUp site and prizes and refreshments for the end of the year Christmas party.  Should you have something that you'd like to share with the group remember we have a time of Show & Tell.  Members have told me that this is a good ice-breaker and it opens up communication between all of us.

See you then -- John

My Choice for Hand Creme!

   
     This whole thing was started by Jamie's comment a while ago and now Dennis has become our "crash test hand guy" for the product so generously donated after Jamie's post.  Well, I mentioned that I bought the hand creme from Home Depot and am glad they have a no questions asked return policy!  It left a sticky film on my hands -- yeech!
      Years ago my doctor recommended this creme in the photo.  The reason was that it doesn't contain a ton of water like most lotions do.  It's not cheap but I'd recommend getting the larger container with a screw on top.  It's about $15.00 but......this stuff works and is odorless.  It's very thick and you just need a little.  I'm an old fashioned teacher that used chalk (never went to the marker boards) and you combine that with sawdust and our dry climate this Eucerin is the way to go.

     John gives it a rousing 5 stars and two thumbs up and you know that as a woodworker of my age having those two thumbs is a good thing !!

Lamb's Tongue and Other Happenings

     Our monthly meeting was held at Rich Daugherty house in his beautifully equipped and laid out shop.  Many of us made the field trip and I'm sure were impressed with not only Rich's demo but also with the lay-out and collection of tools.  While we were waiting for the meeting to begin, we socialized and just talked wood amongst ourselves.

Here's the thing.......

Somethings got us chuckling!

Dovetail Lament (do 'em by hand)

     We had some normal business to take care of before Rich started his demo, one of them had to do with the yearly dues for the club.  Jamie will collect them at the next meeting and at $20.00 for the whole year I'm sure you'll agree it's a bargain!  Remember too that if you do a demonstration you can waive the dues and possibly have two chances for the end of the year drawing during our Christmas meeting.
     Jamie was looking for the person with the roughest hands and for some reason she picked on Dennis.  He is our official "smooth hands" Guinea pig for a product called Helping Hands.  A representative for the company saw a blog Jamie had on trying to find a good creme/lotion for working hands and generously sent a bottle of it -- I guess Dennis will have to start a daily blog and have random neighbors evaluate the condition of his hands!  Jamie mentioned another product available at Home Depot which is called Working Hands.  It's made by O'Keeffe's and I have it on my typing digits as we speak.  Found it in the paint department.
     Ted, who's pictured on the right in the top photo, told us about an upcoming swap meet that will be held in the parking lot of Woodworker's Emporium on Arville.  The date is Saturday, March 31 and the time will be from 9-12.  It sounds like a good way to get some money for those tools you're not using plus an opportunity to pick something up that you may want.  In any case, it'll be an opportunity to mingle with other woodworkers and talk wood with one and other.
    For show and tell, I brought in the acanthus leaf I carved in the workshop with Ian Agrell.

     The workshop was a 5 day one and this honestly took about half of that time.  It's all hand work, no sanding and an hour or so was spent drawing -- definitely not my strong suit.  It's a piece of African Mahogany which Dennis told me he'll avoid at any cost because of the interlocked and otherwise crazy grain.
     Before the Rich started his demonstration he showed a few books that he enjoys.  One that seemed to generate a lot of interest is authored by Jim Tolpin, an author I've been aware of for at least 30 years.  He goes through a series of projects and exercises designed to hone your hand tool skills.  Many of the things he covers are ones that I taught in traditional classes that were called Industrial Arts.  Here's an Amazon link to that book, it has the Look Inside feature so you can see what's in it for yourself.
     Rich also showed the layout and rational as to how he designed his shop.  On one wall there is a collection of plywood panels and he has a variety of tools mounted to that with French cleats.

Tool Storage Wall

    Then, someone just had to ask what he had in his drawer's and to quote Lupe, it was just "Frickin' Amazing!"

     Richard is one of the hand tool aficionados' of the group.  I happen to fall into that category as well but if you're more into power tools it was really educational to see what he had and how they were used.  As an example, here is what's called a hold fast.  A fairly simple tool to hold your work without the use of a vise:

Hold Fast

     As the name implies, it holds your work fast (in this case a Kreg Jig) by simple putting it into a hole on your bench and securing it with a tap from your mallet.  If you ever decide to get one the quality of the steel is important.  There are some cheap, cast ones that'll break when you try to get them to hold.
     Let's talk about his demonstration.  A Lamb's Tongue is a decorative way to end a chamfer.  It's much more elegant than just stopping it short.  Here are some of the tools he used to accomplish it:

From Left; Float, Chisel, 2 Auriou Rasps, Carcass Saw, Stanley #90 Rabbet Plane

Although it didn't show up real good, there is a lamb's tongue cut on the board and you can just barely make out the pattern he made to draw it onto the board.

Additional Tools

     You know how they say a picture is worth a thousand words?  Well, thanks to Lupe a video is worth much more than that!  Here's a link to the video she made that is now on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxVi8-nLPfM

     Essentially the process is to first lay out the profile with the pattern and waste out the majority of the wood with a saw.  This can then be smoothed with either a rasp or float.  Since the tongue profile is laid out on both sides a series of cuts are made with the backsaw to the layout lines.  Chisel and mallet is used to rough out the profile which is then completed with files, rasps, or floats.  Carving chisels can be used as well but your objective is to make a smooth, decorative end point for your chamfer aka A Lamb's Tongue.
     I'm sure I'm speaking for all of us when I give him a big Thanks!  Great demonstration and it was good to see one of our members shop.  Maybe we should have field trips more often, anyone want to volunteer their shop?