June Meeting of the
Tennessee Valley Woodworkers
June
17, 2008
Anthony
Watts presided in the absence of Tom Gillard.
Guests:
Tom Brantley
Ruby Brown
Bob Brown
Bob Malloy
from McMinnville
Greg
Pennington
New Members:
Eddie
Branum
of Manchester (joined at the May meeting)
See Chuck Taylor to update your email addresses, etc.
for the Splinters newsletter.
We regret to
note that refreshments may no longer be served at our meetings due to
regulations regarding use of our room.
Any opinions or suggestions will be entertained.
Be sure to
check the latest updates on the website for dates of upcoming events.
Old Business:
*A thank you
note from John and Janie Lovette was received.
*The annual
picnic was a success. Thanks to Vince
for his hard work on the picnic and Richard and Doyle
for their fine auctioneering.
*The turning
bee at Tom Cowan’s was a great success, and a lot of fun! Thanks, Tom!
Anthony has
turned in 40 pens to be shipped overseas to the troops. He has 45 more pen kits in. Ross Roepke has a box of walnut for the pens
on the show and tell table.
New Business:
*Jim Wright
is very sick in the hospital. They were
drawing fluid off his lungs at the time of the meeting.
*Jim Accord
is also out sick. Our thoughts and
prayers are with each of these men.
*Ed White
has burl available at a friend’s sawmill in Dixon.
See him if interested.
*TVW caps
are available for $5.00 each.
*There are 2
Butternut slabs available and one Walnut slab on the table.
*Doyle McConnell is getting shop tours ready and
lined up. He should have information
available at the next meeting.
*Our Fall
workshop will be “in house.” We need
volunteers and workers. A place has not
been determined, but the date is October 18.
*November 7
and 8 will be a mini exhibit previewing the larger exhibit in May, 2009. that one will be entitled “In the Spirit of Fine
Woowork.”
*Exhibit entries are now being accepted.
*Committee Chairs are now in place. The Steering Committee is made up of Loyd Ackerman,
Tom Gillard, Henry Davis, and Steve Shores.
*Please sign up to make items—carving,
turning, furniture, etc.
The next
Carver’s meeting will be July 5 at Phil Bishop’s shop.
Show and Tell:
- Doyle McConnell—Doyle just got back form Provo, Utah
where he went to a woodturning symposium.
He saw examples of dying wood with aniline dye. The dying is done from the inside after
turning, and it bleeds through to the outside. The dye is thinned down with acetone and
squirted in with a hypodermic needle, and yellow was wiped on the
outside. After 3 days, it can be
buffed and finished. The finished
product is remarkable! His vase was
turned from silver maple with red aniline dye bled through, and the
outside wiped with yellow. The
fumes can be hazaqrdous, so Doyle recommends you open the door while
working on this technique.
He noted that David Marks on Woodworks
uses metal foils with acids and chemicals to create unique
results.
- Bob Reese—Bob brought his 25th
violin, and had Tom Brentley, a champion fiddler play it. It has 5 strings, with 3 pegs on one
side, and 2 on the other. The extra
string adds 25% to the tension on the strings, and bridge, as well as
stress and strain on the sound box, so it was quite a challenge. It was made of Oregon Curl;y Mple. He made
on in 1996 from wood from this same tree.
Tom played Jerusalem Ridge with Richard Gulley accompanying him on
the guitar. It was a great sounding
fiddle!
- Jim VanCleave—Jim did a relief
carving of a rooster on a walnut slab.
For those who don’t know, he informed them that it as a male
chicken!
- Bob Leonard—Bob brought an
antique veneer scraperperhaps built by Stanley.
- Chuck Taylor—Chuck turned a natural edge
Ambrosia Maple bowl from a flat place in the tree, which made it come out
fairly even along the top. He
learned how to do this type surning at the turning bee at Tom’s.
- Greg Pennington—Greg brought a
fan back white oak char with a basswood seat and spindles turned from
silver maple. He used buttermilk
paint using red first, and then black on top, after which he coated it
with linseed oil and__?____ for a very fine look.
- Henry Davis—Henry brought mantle
frames from a plan in “Woodsmith” issue #154. They had tops held on by 2 dowels and
were double sided. He cut his own
glass at first, but discovered that R & M Glass would cut 24 4by6
pieces for only $10.00, which is well worth it.
- Dick Wollam—Dick had carved a
pod of dolphins playing over a driftwood “wave.” The dolphins were carved from pine and
stained with picked oak, which turned them white. They were really realistic.
- Felix Rees—Felix made an oak
necklace rack. He turned the 3/8
inch dowels himself, and used Coke tabs on the back as hangers.
- Geoff Roehm—Jeff brought a bowl
he had roughed out at the turning bee.
He was happy that the outside turned out bigger than the inside! J
- John Mayberry—John brought a
side table he made of Cherry wood for his step granddaughter, Brittany
Sain. It had a drawer and was from
a pattern out of Woodsmith. It had
a lacquer and wax finish.
- Jay Hazel—Jay brought 2 stave
bowls, one of Curly Birch, and the other of Purple Heart highlighted with
hackberry. He had left the chuck
ring on the bottoms so that as his family used the bowls, he could chuck
them back up and touch up the finish.
Good idea!
- Anthony Watts—Anthony brought
some picture frame molding to share with the members that had previously
belonged to Ralph Jones’ father. He
also brought a dressing wheel his grandfather made for his grinding stone. Anthony shared about 15 additional dressing
stones with the group.
- Fred Heltsey—Fred showed us a
new material by Certainteed. It was
a foam board which cuts like wood, but can be heated and bent for curved
applications. He also showed us
pictures of an extraordinary relief carved wall he saw in Huntingdon Gardens in Pasadena. Frred also told us about the
“summersale” at woodline.com.
- Tom Church—Tom brought pictures
of a 7’6” square conference table he had built for the CEO of Target. It was made out of salvaged Cypress and was
quite impressive.
Ideas From the Fiddle Shop
Fiddle Makin’ Stuff You
Can Use!
By Bob Reese
Bob
presented a very informative and useful program about making fiddles while
sharing ideas we can use for other applications. It
takes about 200 hours of hands-on work for each violin plus cure and down time.
He uses Curly Maple for the backs, necks, and
ribs, then uses high altitude spruce for the
top. (20 grains of even growth per inch) Grain orientation is critical!
Bob uses liquid
hide glue by Titebond. Check the date on
it. It has a 2 year shelf life. He thins it ½ with water for a semi-permanent
glue joint like the top and fingerboard.
He uses 2-ton clear epoxy for important joints like the neck to body and
the center line of booked joints.
The
difference in a fiddle and violin are the curvature of the
bridge and whether you say it has strings or “strangs.”J
Here are some devices and methods
used by “an old fiddle maker”:
*Glue 40 grit sandpaper on a 12” X 24” piece of countertop to make a flat
sanding board. He uses contact
cement for the glue.
*Shop made
clamps make life easier.” Make the
patterns from masonite to use as “clamps” to hold glue
joints for curved joints. Put tape or
waxed paper under the glue joint to keep it from sticking to the back board!
*“Mini”
clamps can be made from small blocks of cork-faced wood connected with carriage
bolts. Use wing nuts.
*Spray a
smooth sanded surface with water to raise the grain and then sand again.
*Varnish
takes a full 4 weeks to cure. If you try
to rub it out sooner, you will end up with a no-gloss rub out.
Good ideas!