Ohmigosh, it’s August already! The next regular monthly meeting of Fine Woodworkers of Austin will be Thursday evening, August 5, from 7 to 9 pm in the Woodcraft classroom. Most Woodcraft club discounts have been discontinued, but Sandy, our local manager, continued the 10% discount for our club members, on most merchandise, on the day of our meetings. Hopefully his offer will continue indefinitely. Come early and spend hearty.

PROGRAM:

BANDSAWS…the Machine or Tool of the Month. A couple meetings ago we got the suggestion that we have a time to discuss a machine or tool - whether this is one to economize on, or whether it pays to go first class, why we got the brand we did, how big (for those that come in different sizes) and so forth. For example, I bought my first bandsaw for under $100, and my fourth bandsaw has a retail price is $4,695 (but I bought it refurbished) - what is the difference?. John Parkinson will lead the discussion on Bandsaws this month, and we will pick a different machine or tool to discuss next month.

HAND SAWS… Getting the most out of your handsaws. Mark Wells will discuss how to select a handsaw for different functions and how to use them (I know my problems may be above the handle rather than in the saw itself). He show what’s involved with sharpening a handsaw (maybe not a comprehensive class, but enough to know if you want to learn how).

HAND SAWS… Rob Harris keeps getting the short end of meetings, and hasn’t been able to finish his discussion on refurbishing saws. I hope he will be able to get to the point that we can tell if a saw should be fixed or trashed - if that $2 saw at a garage sale is “worth it”

SHOW AND TELL: Bring your projects, tools, jigs, and suggestions - to ask questions, share your techniques, or show your results.

Future programs….please add to the list, or if you don’t like some of the topics, let me know, and perhaps we will remove it. I would appreciate your comments, preferences, and suggestions for the upcoming meetings.

Choosing a sander or sanders (the power kind), exploring functions, not necessarily brands - if the bandsaw portion of the program goes well, this may be the next power tool to discuss.

Staining and dying - how to match colors. Frank Lynn is a professional furniture finisher and antique restorer, so I am hoping he will lead this program.

David Petersen has a friend who designs and builds Chinese style furniture, and has offered to ask him to put on a program for us.

Sharpening tools other than flat plane irons and chisels, such as turning and carving gouges, including discussion of grinders such as Tormek or the Jet copy, “low speed” bench grinders,

Finishing, including water based finishes, and rubbing out a film finish (satin, semi-gloss, gloss, grand piano), french polishing

Tuning a bandsaw for cutting curves and resawing

Types of planes, and building your collection of planes - I assume tuning a hand plane was covered enough in the Lie-Nielsen program, but we can do more if you think it would be interesting

Shop-made tools and jigs (Rob Harris offered to coordinate this if other members would contribute)

Advice on how to choose and restore old hand tools (This sounds Like Rob or again, or Mark Wells, or other members might contribute)

The next regular monthly meeting of Fine Woodworkers of Austin will be Thursday evening, July 1, from 7 to 9 pm in the Woodcraft classroom. Come early and spend hearty.

PROGRAM: Neville Stewart, who operates “Alchemy CNC” will present the program at this meeting. Neville creates signs, millwork, and works of art, out of wood and metal, using “the best materials, old world craftsmanship, and a state of the art CNC machine.” In fact, he doesn’t have just one, but two Shopbot CNC’s - a PRS Alpha 120, and a BT32 standard , both equipped with HSD spindles. (come to the meeting to learn what this means).

Born & raised in Dublin, Ireland, Neville blends his skilled craftsmanship and modern technology with rich old world style. He can deliver quality pieces once the province of the Kings and nobles of the past, based on his Celtic heritage and his exposure to the historic homes and castles of Ireland & Great Britain. John Parkinson agreed to help translate if the language becomes an issue.

Neville’s Studio is tucked into a nice little hillside in Hibbingston Hollow, off Bee Caves Road. He and his wife, assorted dogs, cats and kiddos live in a restored 1860’s barn, just up the hill from the Studio. Neville also has a checkered history in Austin’s music scene, founding both Hair of the Dog and Pubcrawler bands.

MORE PROGRAM: Barney Groten made a suggestion that the officers love… lets pick a machine or tool each month, and spend a little time discussing what features you consider important in that type machine, what size, what power (for the tools with a cord), and what vendors are favorites, most economical, or worth the larger investment. So for this first tool forum, let’s discuss BANDSAWS, with other machines/tools in future meetings. Please bring strong opinions to share, but no weapons that draw blood.

Rob Harris needed a little more time to finish his “tuning handsaws” discussion from a couple meetings ago, and will be prepared to go again.

Bring your show and tell, including requests for help, techniques to share, as well as your projects to show.

The next FWW meeting will take place on May 6, 7-9pm at the Woodcraft store.

This months program will include the conclusion of Bill McCaffrey’s chair making demo. This time Bill will demonstrate the hand tools and techniques he uses in carving a chair seat.

The second part of the evening will hopefully be a presentation on renovating old hand tools. I am still trying to make contact with Rob Harris regarding this, so if anyone out there has a current e mail address or phone number for Rob I would appreciate it if you would let me know.

Our annual officer elections are coming up soon, so if anyone would like to nominate a member or put themselves forward for any of the positions then please don’t be shy. I can say we will be definitely looking for someone to fill the position of secretary and (possibly) president.

Please bring any show and tell items large or small for critique/feedback.

As usual members will get a 10% discount on most purchases on the night of the meeting. Thanks to Woodcraft store manager Sandy for keeping this going.

If you have any suggestions for future meetings then let your voice be heard, this is your club.

Thanks,

John Parkinson

The next regular monthly meeting of Fine Woodworkers of Austin will be Thursday evening, April 1 (no fooling), from 7 to 9 pm in the Woodcraft classroom. Most Woodcraft club discounts have been discontinued, but last month, Sandy, our local manager, continued the 10% discount for our club members, on most merchandise, on the day of our meetings. Hopefully his offer will continue indefinitely. Come early and spend hearty.

The program this month will be conducted by turner Curtis Turner - he will send more details of what he has in mind in the reminder notice during the week, but I believe the plan is to survey the different types of turning - spindles between centers (such as legs for furniture makers), mandrel turning (such as pens), faceplate turning (such as bowls), hollow vessels, and so forth. You aren’t likely to become an expert on all types in the hour or so of our meeting, but hopefully you will learn what is involved in the various types of turning, and may want to get involved.

Bring your show and tell for admiration, critique and assistance (it doesn’t have to be a masterpiece, and can be a plea for help).

For the May meeting, I think it is time to get Bill McCaffrey back to actually demo the techniques he uses with classic tools to make chair seats and other chair techniques. This may be a good time to include some other hand tool topics - suggestions?

Future programs….please add to the list, or if you don’t like some of the topics, let me know, and perhaps we will remove it. I would appreciate your comments, preferences, and suggestions for the upcoming meetings.

David Petersen is one of the founding members of the club. As a full-time pro who uses a lot of veneers, he has offered to conduct a program on veneering. Only one person signed up for his Woodcraft class on veneering, so I wonder if this has widespread interest?

Sharpening tools other than flat plane irons and chisels, such as turning and carving gouges, including discussion of grinders

Finishing, including water based finishes, and rubbing out a film finish (satin, semi-gloss, gloss, grand piano), french polishing

Staining and dying - how to match wood colors

Tuning a bandsaw for cutting curves and resawing

Choosing a sander or sanders (the power kind), exploring functions, not necessarily brands

Types of planes, and building your collection of planes - I assume tuning a hand plane was covered enough in the Lie-Nielsen program last month

Shop-made tools and jigs (Rob Harris offered to coordinate this if other members would contribute)

Advice on how to choose and restore old hand tools (This sounds Like Rob or again, or Mark Wells, or other members might contribute)

The next regular monthly meeting of Fine Woodworkers of Austin will be Thursday evening, March 4, from 7 to 9 pm in the Woodcraft classroom. Although most Woodcraft club discounts have been discontinued, Sandy, out local manager, has continued the 10% discount for our club members, on most merchandise, on the day of our meetings. Come early and spend hearty (we will have a full program, so try to do your purchases prior to the meeting, if possible).

The program this month will be presented by Joe Slack, the master luthier at the Homestead Heritage Woodworking School near Waco. Joe teaches classes in making guitars as well as other woodworking courses. He will present a program on some of the woodworking techniques that he uses in making guitars, especially those that are applicable to both guitar making and other projects, such as resawing and bending wood, working with different wood grain, the multiple techniques that might be used to create an inlay like the rosette on a steel-string guitar, use of different glues, and how he has moved to largely hand tools in the making of his musical instruments. He points out that guitar making is such an interesting challenge that many of his students build guitars for the fun and challenge, even though they are not guitar players.

Bring your show and tell for admiration, critique and assistance (it doesn’t have to be a masterpiece, and can be a plea for help).

Future programs….please add to the list, or if you don’t like some of the topics, let me know, and perhaps we will remove it. I would appreciate your comments, preferences, and suggestions for the upcoming meetings.

Bill McCaffrey has offered to return to actually demo the techniques he uses with classic tools to make chair seats and other chair techniques.

There have been several requests for a program on turning - which might be an overview or it could involve as many as three programs

1. Turning spindles (long pieces between the head and tail of the lathe) and including turning pens.
2. Turning bowls (open pieces attached to the head of the lathe) - these projects are especially fun since they can often be completed in an hour.
3. Turning hollow vessels (special techniques used to hollow a vessel through a small opening).

David Petersen is one of the founding members of the club. As a full-time pro who uses a lot of veneers, he has offered to conduct a program on veneering. Only one person signed up for his Woodcraft class on veneering, so I wonder if this has widespread interest?

Sharpening tools other than flat plane irons and chisels, such as turning and carving gouges, including discussion of grinders

Finishing, including water based finishes, and rubbing out a film finish (satin, semi-gloss, gloss, grand piano), french polishing

Staining and dying - how to match wood colors

Tuning a bandsaw for cutting curves and resawing

Choosing a sander or sanders (the power kind), exploring functions, not necessarily brands

Types of planes, and building your collection of planes - I assume tuning a hand plane was covered enough in the Lie-Nielsen program last month
Shop-made tools and jigs (Rob Harris offered to coordinate this if other members would contribute)
Advice on how to choose and restore old hand tools (This sounds Like Rob or again, or Mark Wells, or other members might contribute)

The regular monthly meeting of Fine Woodworkers of Austin will be Thursday evening February 4th at Woodcraft, from 7 to 9 pm. Come early and spend heartily - remember Woodcraft offers members a 10% discount on most items on the day of the meeting.

Bill McCaffrey has built some jigs that allow him to build a chair in a few hours. He will cut another chair, and bring his jigs so he can show us how he built the jigs and how he uses them to build chairs. I gotta see how he builds a chair that fast!

I suggest that folks who yielded to temptation last month, and have received their packages from Lie-Nielsen (or from other places, inspired by Lie-Nielsen), bring their goodies for show and tell.

Bring your show and tell projects also - those you would like to show off, or those where would like help and advice from club members

For the future, I am still trying to get Frank Strazza of the Homestead Heritage Woodworking school in Elm Mott (Waco) to do a program for our club. He suggested interest in talking about the woodworking involved in making a violin. Although few if any of us are likely to become luthiers, Frank is such a great woodworker and popular teacher that I am confident he will provide an interesting program for everyone.

David Petersen is one of the founding members of the club, and a full-time professional furniture maker. He makes extensive use of veneers in his projects, and has offered to conduct a program. Warning - this program could get you hooked on veneering, so after the program you will probably want to take the more extensive class David occasionally offers through Woodcraft, then you will want to buy you own equipment, etc. That is how I got hooked!

There have been several requests for a program on turning - which might be an overview or it could involve as many as three programs

1. Turning spindles (long pieces between the head and tail of the lathe) and including turning pens
2. Turning bowls (open pieces attached to the head of the lathe) - these projects are especially fun since they can often be completed in an hour.
3. Turning hollow vessels (special techniques used to hollow a vessel through a small opening)

Here are some more potential topics for future meetings… please add to the list, or if you don’t like some of the topics, let me know, and perhaps we will remove it.

• Sharpening tools other than flat plane irons and chisels, such as turning and carving gouges, including discussion of grinders
• Finishing, including water based finishes, and rubbing out a film finish (satin, semi-gloss, gloss, grand piano), french polishing
• Staining and dying - how to match wood colors
• Tuning a bandsaw for cutting curves and resawing
• Choosing a sander or sanders (the power kind), exploring functions, not necessarily brands
• Types of planes, and building your collection of planes - I assume tuning a hand plane was covered enough in the Lie-Nielsen program last month
  Shop-made tools and jigs (Rob Harris offered to coordinate this if other members would contribute)
• Advice on how to choose and restore old hand tools (This sounds Like Rob or again, or Mark Wells, or other members might contribute)

I would appreciate your comments, preferences, and suggestions for the upcoming meetings.

With the Thanksgiving holidays “in the way” it is only a little more than a week until our December 3rd meeting of the Fine Woodworkers of Austin, 7-9 pm on Thursday evening, in the Woodcraft classroom.

Terry Hall has coordinated a program on “legs,” of the type used in building furniture for the December meeting. It will include a demo/presentation by Peter Clark on the classical Ball and Claw type foot; Frank Linn will discuss finishing legs, and Bob Dennison will cover tapered legs.

On Friday-Saturday January 8-9, 2010 Lie-Nielsen will be conducting a free Hand Tool Training Event in Austin - this year it will be at Fine Lumber and Plywood, but similar to the one they did last year on the ACC campus. Curtis Turner is trying to see if they would conduct a special program for the woodworking clubs. The logical time for the special event is Thursday evening January 7, the day of our January meeting. They would likely want to do the presentation where they are set up. Therefore, if there is interest, and also if the details can be arranged, we might move the January meeting to Fine Lumber where they are set up for the Lie-Nielsen program. What do you think?

Frank Strazza of the Homestead Heritage Woodworking school in Elm Mott (Waco) has (through Mark Giles) expressed willingness to do a program for our club on the woodworking involved in making a violin. Frank is such a great woodworker and popular teacher that I won’t ask if we should… I am trying to get it arranged for our February or March meeting.

This is the list of potential topics for future meetings… please add to the list, and perhaps offer to do all or part of the program on one of these topics. If you don’t like some of the topics, let me know, and perhaps we will remove it.

• Turning spindles - lathe demo - if you don’t have a lathe, you world is square!
  Sharpening tools other than flat plane irons and chisels, such as turning and carving gouges, including discussion of grinders
• Veneering - at least simple stuff
• Finishing, including water based finishes, and rubbing out a film finish (satin, semi-gloss, gloss, grand piano)
• Staining and dying
• Tuning a bandsaw for curves and resawing
• Turning bowls - another lathe demo. Bowls are fun since many projects can be completed in less than an hour!
• Choosing a sander or sanders (the power kind)

Types of planes, and tuning a hand plane was on the list, but if we have the Lie-Nielsen program, I expect this topic will be covered for this year.

It’s November already, and our “first Thursday of the month” meeting will be this Thursday, November 5, in the Woodcraft classroom, 7-9 pm. As usual, Woodcraft offers members a 10% discount on most items on the day of the meeting

Curtis Turner and Mark Wells will be teaming up to discuss the goal of sharpening planes and chisels (and other straight sharp things) - things like hollow grind, bevel angles, secondary bevels, and those mysterious terms. Then they will offer two different techniques for honing - getting the final edge - on the properly shaped blade. If you want to see how well they do, bring your own band aids.

Be sure to bring your show and tell.

The December 3 meeting will be on legs, including how to carve legs if you aren’t a skilled carver, and other types of legs that you might incorporate in various furniture projects.

This is the list of potential topics for future meetings… please add to the list, and perhaps offer to do all or part of the program on one of these topics. If you don’t like some of the topics, let me know, and perhaps we will remove it.

• Turning spindles - lathe demo - if you don’t have a lathe, you world is square!
• Sharpening tools other than flat plane irons and chisels, such as turning and carving gouges, including discussion of grinders
• Veneering - at least simple stuff
• Finishing, including water based finishes, and rubbing out a film finish (satin, semi-gloss, gloss, grand piano)
• Staining and dying
• Tuning a bandsaw for curves and resawing
• Turning bowls - another lathe demo. Bowls are fun since many projects can be completed in less than an hour!
• Types of planes, and tuning a hand plane
• Choosing a sander or sanders (the power kind)

See you Thursday evening