Minutes for November 19, 2013 meeting
of the Tennessee Valley Woodworkers

President Karen Browning called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM.

• Tonight’s program: “Scroll Sawing” presented by Reilly Earle
• Members in attendance: (53)
• Guests: (2) Norma Roepke, wife of member Ross Roepke – Tullahoma, Matt Clark
• New Members: (1) Dakota Slatton – Cowan

Reminders:

• President Browning reminded all guest to sign the guest sheet and pick up a newsletter.

Club events for 2013:

• The TVW Exposition will be at South Jackson Civic Center March 2-9 (Sunday through Sunday). Volunteers are needed for setup on Feb 28 and Mar 1, guides during the show, and teardown Mar 10. Contact Dan Maher to help or sign-up your display items.
• Shop Tours: Doyle McConnell announced two tours for Sat, July 27. 1) Walter Clements’ very interesting “antique” shop with a variety of 1948 vintage power tools and 2) Falls Mill special insider tour. Meet at 8:00am for breakfast at the Sunrise Café located behind the Co-Op in Winchester.
• Coffee County Fair will be September 16-21. Doyle McConnell encouraged members to participate.
• Annual Christmas Party will be December 13.
• Fall Seminar is scheduled for Saturday Oct 19, at Tom Cowan’s Artisan Studio, in Cowan, featuring the expertise of Ronnie Young and Scott Tinker. The registration fee includes pastries, coffee, cold drinks and lunch.
• The Flute Circle meets at 1:00 pm on the last Tuesday of the month at the Cowan Artisan Studio. Contact Ron Reimers to confirm meeting.

Carvers Events:

• Meetings are held at Phil Bishops shop the 1^st Saturday of each month.
• Polly Crockett Festival will be September 21-23 in Cowan.
• Huntsville Show will be 1^st week in November.
• Tims Ford Demonstration is Oct 12 from 11am to 4pm. Contact Ranger Josh.

Announcements:

• President Browning encouraged everyone to us the TVW Forum. The more participation, the better the database becomes. Contact Loyd Ackerman if you have trouble with log-on.
• Membership was encouraged to visit Henry Davis and the Club DVD Library.
• Precision Blade and Tools, owner Doug Walston, has relocated from Morrison to 67 Pine Lane, Altamont, TN. They reopened for business on July 8 and intend to make deliveries to Morrison, McMinnville, and Manchester on Tuesdays and Thursdays of each week. They can be contacted by phone (931) 815-8150, FAX (931) 692-2736, mail P.O. Box 199, Altamont TN 37301, email [email protected], or on the web at www.precisionblade.net. They provide custom-welded Lenox bandsaw blades and other cutting tools at very reasonable prices.
• Master Woodworkers Show will be held in downtown Knoxville Friday through Sunday, Nov 1-3, 3013. This is billed as the premiere show in the Southeast.
• The widow of Kevin Deuermeyer has items for sale, including 8/4 butternut lumber, several clamps, and other items.
• John Mayberry, a long-time member, has passed away.
• Remember Phil Bishop as he deals with health issues.

Old Business

• Dues for the 2013 year are due and payable. Hand your $10 to Bob Addington. What a deal!
• Tools for Sale on the club web page, or contact Loyd Ackerman.

• See Chuck Taylor if your picture has not been taken for the website.

New Business

• No new business

Show and Tell:

• Tom Gillard – brought pictures of a maple chest that he recently built for a customer based on a photograph. The customer provided open grates that she found on the internet to simulate the panels shown on the original piece. The replica panels turned out to be manufactured from MDF on a CNC machine. Tom also brought a model airplane that he built from a kit like one that he purchased in the 1970s. The frame was covered with glued-on polyester material that was finished with microcellulose “dope”.
• Matt Brothers – brought photos of a 7’ by 40” church office work table that he recently built from white oak and finished with Minwax stain and lacquer.
• Goeff Rohn – brought and played a guitar that he recently built for a friend/customer. The top was cut from a red spruce board that had been used as a workbench for several years. The back was black walnut salvaged from a tree that was blown down in Sewanee. Goeff personalized the fret board with several symbolic mother-of-pearl inlays and finished the instrument with UV-cured polyester.
• Larry Wyland – brought a jewelry box that he made from a repurposed inlaid serving tray that he bought many years ago. He also brought a pen made from pheasant wood and a small vessel turned from crape myrtle.
• Jim Everett – brought three plaques that he made. Two had Celtic cross designs and the other was decorated with a lion and shield.
• Bob Leonard – brought a novel carved wooden figure that he bought. From one angle, the piece looks like a large hummingbird in flight. .Viewed another way it resembles a donkey or mule. Bob said it was called a “hummerjack”.
• Bob Stansel – brought three bowls that he recently completed. Two were turned from burls, one from white poplar and the other from an unknown wood. The third one was turned from glued-up pieces of maple, walnut, cherry, and ash.
• Bob Addington – brought an anniversary heart and ribbon plaque that he made using a CNC router. Bob cut the recessed letters first and applied sealer and paint before cutting the banner and heart. The sealer prevented the paint from penetrating into the surrounding wood so that the final letter edges were sharp and well defined.
• Ross Roepke – brought two tables that he built. One was a natural-edged cedar slab with legs attached. The other was made from red and white oak with a top covered with book-matched oak veneer.
• Dan Maher – brought an oak-framed ceramic tile trivet that he made for a friend
• Reilly Earl – brought a small bowl that he turned and finished with Danish Oil.
• Doug Dunlap – brought an intarsia Teddy Bear that he made. He used small pieces of ball-point pen barrel tubing to create realistic yes.
• John Duval – brought four black walnut bowls that he turned. He used Starbucks coffee grounds mixed with epoxy to fill defects and voids.
• Loyd Ackerman– brought wood-turned ink pens that he recently bought in a TN State Park store for $7.95. He said that in the past he and other TVW members were able to sell similar items for $30 at the Foot Hills Craft Store in Manchester, until they were finally undersold by suspected foreign items priced at $9.99.
• Greg Myers – brought a lidded hollow vessel that he made using a band saw and glued-up pieces left over from a large band sawn bowl project. He also brought a large bowl that he turned from yellow poplar.

Program: “Scroll Sawing” presented by Reilly Earle

• Tom Cowan introduced the speaker, TVW’s youngest member, Reilly Earle.
• Reilly brought a variety of his woodworking projects to illustrate what can be done with a modern high-quality scroll saw.
• He showed examples of boxes, Christmas ornaments, puzzles, 3D figurines, basic intarsia, pendants, etc., all made with a scroll saw.
• His presentation also included photos of other examples of scroll saw items that were made by others, including fretwork clocks, furniture parts, and complex intarsia.
• He explained that he was attracted to the scroll saw because the tool is affordable, quite, relatively safe, and it creates minimal mess.
• Like his mentor, Tom Cowan, he has a Dewalt machine, bought from Amazon Returns Warehouse at a discount.
• He recommended buying blades in bulk, e.g., why pay $6 for a dozen when you can buy a gross for $15 from an on-line industrial supplier.
• He explained several techniques he has learned, such as holding the work firmly against the table to keep the blade from grabbing and pinching his fingers.
• He suggested that when you get off of the pattern line, you should never stop, back up, and try to correct the problem. The double cuts only draw attention to your mistake. Instead, if you continue on and smoothly get back onto the line, most people will never realize that there was a mistake, because they don’t know what the pattern was supposed to look like.
• He explained how he straight-cut a two-layer stack to make the inlays in his “Frog Box”. He also explained how you can tilt the blade and use the double-bevel technique to cut pieces that fit tightly together.
• Amazon and Abe’s Books are his favorite places to find inexpensive pattern books. Used books frequently cost less than the standard $3.99 shipping fee.
• Scroll saw patterns, video demonstrations, links, reviews, and lots of other information are available free of charge on the internet. Two useful sites are: http://www.scrollsawworkshop.blogspot.com/ and http://www.gwinnettwoodworkers.com/

The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 PM.