There were76 people in attendance and Doyle McConnell called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM.

VISITORS: There were 9 guests. They were Ed White, Felics Reese, Bob Petri, Dick Wilham, Rick Warren, Harry Justice and Jake Reddekopp. We also welcomed back Howard Coulson. We would also like to welcome our newest member Doug Dunlap.

ANNOUCEMENTS: Henry Davis said that he had some extra printed copies of the Splitters for those that would like them. Henry can also order nametags for those that want them. Henry also asked guests to please sign the register. Dues are $10 a year for those that would like to join the club. There are 29 people that owe dues for this year. Doyle said that the Christmas door prize for members was on display at the side of the room and it also had all the accessories that the Tormek Company donated to us, on display. The accessories total value is about $156.00 so make sure and sign the sheet that is going around for your chance on this years grand prize.

Doyle said that they would have a tool show in Nashville on March 18, 19 and 30^th.

The spring seminar will be given by the membership this year Hugh Hurst announced. It will be on Saturday April 26. The subject of the seminar will be metalworking for wood. It will show you how to incorporate metal into your woodworking projects. The seminar will be at Franklin County High School and will cost between $20 to $25 to attend. It will start sometime in the morning and end in the early afternoon. Mark your calendars for this interesting seminar. Doyle asked what the membership thought about putting any extra seminar money after expenses from the seminar into a kitty toward having a professional seminar. He asked for showing of hands and the majority was in favor of doing this.

Ross Roepke asked about the tree recognition tour and than Ken Gould said we could follow this up with a tour of Stone Park on a Saturday and asked how many people were interested.

Loyd Ackerman said that people other than the actual magazine representatives for American Wood magazine were sending out notices that your subscriptions were up for renewal. Ken also said that he had experienced this and you need to make sure to only renew from the companies not a second party since it will cost you more through the second party. Ken said wait for 3^rd renewal notice from the company and usually they will offer a better deal to keep you as a customer.

Ken said the web site is going well and the message board should be utilized more. If you ask a question on it you will get an answer. Try it and see how well it works.

John Sargent brought in a large bowl he rough turned on July 11, 2002 at Hugh Hurst’s shop and than last week he finished it at Dean Lutes’s shop. He made it out of Ash.

Henry Davis brought in a plant stand and said he would do a workshop on how to make one like it. It has a lot of different types of joints incorporated in it. Next month he will have more details on the workshop. He also showed a picture frame, which will display a painting of scenery, and the frame represents a window. It was made out of fir and coated with white primer and finished with antique white. It was made out of 8 pieces of wood using lap joints and gluing them together.

Winfield Bennett showed a chain he made several years ago which has letters carved in it.

Tom Gillard brought in a table he made inspired from a Thomas Mosher catalog of furniture. He made it out of walnut and it has dove tail drawers. He rounded the corners since he dropped it so rounded them to make all sides match. The legs flare out and he used lacquer for his finish.

Phil Bishop brought in pictures of some of his work. One was of a repair of a sideboard out of rosewood. He showed a picture of a Wing Griffin dining room set which he repaired wings and replaced one of the feet. This set will probably sell for $25,000 to $30,000 at auction. He also designed and carved a piece for a 1700 to 1800 bed.

Doyle McConnell showed a Henry inspired box. He uses a piece of wood for the matched 4-section top that was originally destined for the wood stove. It was a very figured piece. He also put a drawer in the box. He turned a bowl out of Box Elder, which had lots of nice red grain through it.

Howard Coulson likes Blue birds and he showed an old TVA wildlife poster. He also showed a blue birdhouse he made that opens on the side for clean out. He feeds the Blue bird’s mealworms in a dish and he brought some of them to show also. He said by feeding them the mealworms he has almost made the Blue birds tame. He brought some extra patterns for those that want them.

Dan Wilkinson made a box with a very figured walnut top and the rest was Mahogany. He made the feet with a one-pass router bit. He also brought a picture of a fire place mantel that he made out of Black Walnut. He also brought a piece of Box Elder that was out of the heart of the tree. He said his sawmill has no trouble cutting small lengths about 34 inches long.

Jim Van Cleave showed Maple bookends he hand carved. He brought a lot of different type bookends. He showed one where he had incorporated a busted automobile ring in the design. He also had several carved ones.

Bill Davis brought in an old piece of wood that had been in a floor and the members thought that is was probably Chestnut. He went to a class in Gatlinburg and made a box, which he showed. He showed a small oval box out of oak, which had a lot of interesting grain. He also likes blue bird boxes and encourages people to make them and they will attract blue birds and help to keep the population of blue birds growing.

Tim Shores brought in a turned mirror, which he carved a letter on.

Ken Gould said he has made about 6 or 7 Blue birdhouse and the people he gave them to painted the blue but Blue birds prefer Grey. He said put in a bottom that will slide out and if an unwanted sparrow starts to build a nest in it just slide out the bottom and dump the nest. He showed a Box Elder bowl that he turned. He also made a spalted Walnut natural edge bowl. He used water based polyurethane spray on it but the can did not spray correctly and he was not satisfied with the results.

Bob Leonard made a wooden knife out of spalted Maple with a Deph finish. He also made a couple of boxes for housing the knifes. He used 24 species of wood between the knife and box.

John Mayberry turned a bowl from Box Elder and used polyurethane hi gloss on it. He also made 2 Black Walnut bowls and he used low sheen polyurethane on them.

Bob Beswetherick showed a mandolin he built in his apartment bedroom. It was an A style with a Spruce top with cherry sides and cherry headstock. He used water base lacquer on it. He made another one that was an F2 type out of curly cherry and a Spruce top and Pauduk. It takes him about 100 hours to make one. On this one he used Shellac for the finish.

Ross Roepke made a wall hanging for the church out of Black Walnut and Mahogany. He also made a portable podium, which the top tilts. He put an aluminum rod in the base for strength. He also made a slide for his table saw instead of using the provided miter gauge slide so that he knows it will always be square.

Ray Torstenson showed some of his pencil drawings some from Mexico and some from Sewanee.

Tom Gillard showed his solution to the world wood shortage, use MDF and build it small and than throw water on it and watch it grow.

PROGRAM: General Industrial Supply Company of Nashville will present Tonight’s program. The presenters are Jim Warren, Rick Warren and Harry Justice. Jim was glad that they had the opportunity to come to our club and see some of the crafts their tools helped to create. Their family had been in the machinery business since 1929. His grandfather started Tennessee Machinery and his Uncle and Father were involved with it until it shut down.

General Industrial Supply started about 12 years ago. They were one of the first distributors of Powermatic. Powermatic, Performax and Jet are all owned by the same company and sold through Jet. He likes to deal with woodworkers since woodworkers let fellow woodworkers know where the deals are and word is soon passed around. They also sell scratch and dent and you can save about 30 % off regular price and they recondition all merchandise. They get all of Jets scratch and dent merchandise. 

They also buy in bulk from other companies and sold have lots of merchandise at good prices. They also sell new if that is what you want. They only have 10 to 12 employees since they try and keep overhead down. You are welcome to come browse any time. If you know what you want call ahead so they can get it out for you. They have too much merchandise to be able to find it with no notice. You can not even tell something is scratch and dent merchandise 80% of the time. They bought 300 joiners when Jet took on Powermatic since Jet does not want to have duplicate models… They are like new or new that can be bought at very good prices. Harry does all the reconditioning and making sure everything is right before they are sold. All the scratch and dent merchandise has a 30 days warranty provided. They also have new merchandise that they sell at very good prices. They advertise on WSM 650 AM radio.

If there is some special accessory that we think they should carry just let them know. They brought catalogs for those that want them and also carpenter pencils so help your self after the meeting. They bought a load of shelving and also have that for sale. They have sanding belts and discs for the brands of equipment they sell. They also have Starrett blades and they will weld blades. They sell DeWalt routers but do not offer scratch and dent for this brand. Jet now has a Bosh rotor, which they use on their table saw lift. Jet came out with a new lathe that has a frequency converter and variable speed that can be adjusted while you are using it. It is digitally controlled. When you come to visit his place all his employees have been with them for years and will be able to answer any questions you have. There are 2000 machines on their place at any given time. If you have a trade in they suggest you try and sell it in a yard sale first since they can not give much for it. But if you have no luck selling it try him. He buys a lot of cabinet shops that go out of business. He also has generators and welders less than 200-amp type. He has about everything that is in the catalogs both new and scratch and dent. The store hours are 7:30AM to 4:30 PM Monday through Friday. He has one person there on Saturdays for people to pick up their merchandise from 8:30AM to noon. They also have lots of motors and parts available. The address is 1136 Lebanon Road Nashville and it is between Spence and Fessler and Mount Olive Cemetery faces their building. Get off 24 at Murfreesboro road and keep right and next red light turn left.

Harry said the most miss understood machine was the band saw. Never try and resaw with a regular blade. If you are cutting green wood after you are done clean your blade and it will last much longer. He said he came with the building and never loss a day of work. He stayed working for General Industrial when he was 78 and he is now 82 years old.