Interested in learning to use a lathe? Join us this week...

 

Sin City Woodworkers, a Vegas valley social and networking group committed to serious (and not so serious!) woodworking discussions, will now be meeting on the third Thursday of each month to share everything from techniques and ideas to information about local suppliers and much more. 

Our next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, July 18, at 7:00 where we’re thrilled to have Richard Whitson giving a lathe demo. 

Richard describes himself as “a retired guy and a hobbyist woodworker and turner. He’ll be sharing his technique for turning a a small keychain with a secret stash. 

Woodcraft sells these keychain kits, along with many others - like pizza cutters, ice cream scoops, salt and pepper grinders and MANY more. So here’s a chance to see what one of their kits will produce!

Ask any wood turner - the lathe is the least expensive part of getting into turning. Once you get started, you’ll jump down the rabbit hole of buying turning tools, maybe a chuck and MUCH more. Richard’s years of turning will be invaluable if you’re looking to get started using a lathe. 

This meeting will be held at Woodcraft of Las Vegas at 5220 W. Charleston Blvd.  As always, the public is welcome to attend the meeting, so members - please feel free to bring a guest along. If you have questions or need directions, call (702) 672-8981.

 

June meeting canceled

 Due to a scheduling conflict with our Woodcraft meeting space, our June Sin City Woodworkers meeting is CANCELED.

Apologies to the new members who contacted me and said they were excited about attending their first meeting!

Hopefully see you next month!

Looking for a way to get rid of your scrap? Our May meeting will help!

Sin City Woodworkers, a Vegas valley social and networking group committed to serious (and not so serious!) woodworking discussions, meet on the third Thursday of each month to share everything from techniques and project ideas to information about local suppliers and much more.

Our next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, May 16, at 7:00 where yours truly (me!) will be discussing stave construction. 

What’s that, you say? 

A stave is a narrow piece of wood with a bevelled edge on both sides. When grouped together, they form the sides of round pieces - cylinders, barrels, tanks, tubs, vats and buckets and more.

I’ve been experimenting with staves for about a year - when a buddy gave me a ton of narrow pieces of walnut… probably a few hundred board feet! Sure, making cutting boards was an option, but I decided to experiment a bit, and I was hooked!  There’s so much you can do with your smaller cut-offs, and this is a great way to use them up and create some really unique pieces. 

I’ll talk about making a jig to simplify this technique, and offer some tips about gluing up your stave container… the first time can be a challenge! This discussion will make stave work so simple, you’ll wonder why you haven’t tried this before.

Here are two links that will be incredibly helpful:

https://www.woodmagazine.com/woodworking-tips/techniques/intermediate/staves-and-segments

And this stave calculator for creating your precise shapes and cuts:

https://larrymarley.com/scripts/Stave_Calculator.php

This meeting will be held at Woodcraft of Las Vegas at 5220 W. Charleston Blvd.  As always, the public is welcome to attend the meeting, so members - please feel free to bring a guest along. If you have questions or need directions, call (702) 672-8981.

 

Our April meeting is going to be verrrry cool!

 Sin City Woodworkers, a Vegas valley social and networking group committed to serious (and not so serious!) woodworking discussions, meet on the third Thursday of each month to share everything from techniques and ideas to information about local suppliers and much more. 

Our next 7:00 meeting is scheduled for Thursday, April 18 will feature our long time member Len Black - who will share his expertise in knife making / with some slick woodworking details on the handles that he uses in his knives.

Len’s a master plumber by day, but his super-power is two-fold. He’s an amazing chip carver, but at this meeting - he’ll be discussing his latest adventures in knife making. 

As he says - he “loves creating artsy fartsy things as long as they're cool.”

And cool they are! 

He’ll be discussing how he added blacksmithing/ blade smithing to his skill-set,  which led him into leather working and creating epoxy handle material and tchotchkes / thingamajigs.

He’ll discuss how he got started - the process, the crossover into using wood  and how the knife world has needs for stabilized wood. Moreover - he’ll talk about what beginners can do to get into knife making.

If we’re lucky - his buddy Tony might show up to discuss some advanced knife smithing e.g. damascus and forge welding.

This meeting will be held at our local Woodcraft store - at 5220 W. Charleston. There’s plenty of parking, and we encourage our members to come early and shop at this woodworker’s paradise.  

As always, the public is welcome to attend the meeting, so members - please feel free to bring a guest along. If you have questions or need directions, call 702-672-8981 for more info.

Our March Meeting.... on a new night!

 Heads up, everyone - we have a big change in store for our meetings going forward. No more Wednesday meetings! To fit better into our host’s schedule, the night of our meetings will now switch to Thursdays.

Sin City Woodworkers, a Vegas valley social and networking group committed to serious (and not so serious!) woodworking discussions, will now be meeting on the third Thursday of each month to share everything from techniques and ideas to information about local suppliers and much more. 

Our next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, March 21, at 7:00 where we’re lucky to have Phil Bourekas discussing TableSaw Maintenance. 

Phil is an amateur woodworker, generally retired but works and teaches part time at Woodcraft.  He has over 30 years of woodworking experience at the advanced hobbyist level.

Whether you have a $200 bench top saw or a $6000 professional cabinet saw - Phil’s discussion will be invaluable for keeping your saw running at its peak. He’ll cover tablesaw maintenance in a variety of areas - including deep cleaning, lubrication, calibration, alignment, and routine maintenance. He’ll also be discussing tools and techniques that are necessary to keep this centerpiece of your woodshop in tip-top condition.

This meeting will be held at Woodcraft of Las Vegas at 5220 W. Charleston Blvd.  As always, the public is welcome to attend the meeting, so members - please feel free to bring a guest along. If you have questions or need directions, call (702) 672-8981.

 

 

Time to control your dust!

It’s time to congratulate ourselves - this is our 15th year anniversary! 

We’ve hosted a ton of woodworkers and makers, tool representatives and parties over the years. So it’s time to acknowledge that we’re the longest running woodworking group in Las Vegas history. 

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 project ideas to information about local suppliers and much more. Our next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, February 21 at 7:00, and here’s your chance to get some solid information about dust collection for your shop.

Gary Bush is a KCMA Certified Cabinetmaker, and has been a woodworker since childhood. He has designed, built and finished pretty much anything made from wood - but his area of expertise in dust collection will be our topic this week. Gary will discuss the very basics of dust/chip collection and how to incorporate this into your woodworking shop - whether it’s a large and dusty the garage shop, or a small room or shed. His basic tenet is - get the dust out of the air, keep the dust out of the air and more importantly, contain it and simplify the disposal!

Gary’s system utilizes high quality sealed barrels along with chip and dust collector devices such as, Onieda’s ‘Dust Devil, Bauer’s Dust collector, low-profile, separators and of course, the good old stand-by and effective shop vac. Gary will have 4 of 5 barrels available to see which are not readily available to the common consumer (for a reasonable cost) verses a 5 gallon bucket or worse, a lidded HD 30 Gal Trash Can.If you struggle with dust collection and need an effective solution - this is the meeting for you!

As always - this meeting will be held at Woodcraft of Las Vegas at 5220 W. Charleston Blvd. The public is welcome to attend our meetings, so members - please feel free to bring a guest along. 

If you have questions or need directions, call (702) 672-8981. See you Wednesday!

Interested in dovetails? Come to our January meeting!

 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 this Wednesday, January 17 at 7:00 and will be held at Woodcraft of Las Vegas at 5220 W. Charleston Blvd.

And wow - do we have a special treat in store! We’re thrilled to announce that Chuck Luttrell will be demonstrating his tried and true method for hand cut dovetails.

Ask ten woodworkers about cutting dovetails … and you’ll get eleven answers! 

Hand cut dovetails without the aid of a jig, requires lots of practice and can be discouraging to beginners. But Chuck’s method is one that employs using hand tools and a simple jig. The good news is - Chuck’s method allows beginners to produce very good dovetails on the first try.

Chuck is the senior carpenter for Lake Mead National Recreation Area, and in addition to carpentry and historic preservation for the park, he’s also a hobbyist woodworker. He’s made over 70 sea chests, tool chests, hope chests, - all with hand cut dovetail joinery.

We’ll be holding a show and tell, too - so bring your latest project and share it with the group.

As always, the public is welcome to attend our meetings, so members - please feel free to bring a guest along. 

If you have questions or need directions, call my shop at (702) 672-8981.

See you Wednesday!