JUNE MEETING WILL BE ON THE CORRECT DATE

Our June meeting will be held on the third Tuesday of the month, just as it has for the last 17 months! Yours truly really messed up the last newsletter when I inadvertently picked the incorrect date of the calendar. Thanks to those who can keep dates straight and who took the time to call all the club members and pass on the correct date!! What a mess!! Now I’ll mark my calendar for the 16th of June at 7:00 for our next meeting at the Duck River Electric meeting room in Decherd, mark yours the same way and we’ll all show up at the same time and place.

The meeting will feature a video on Router jigs and techniques. Since the router is among the most versatile of all our shop tools, you won’t want to miss this meeting. Also on the agenda is some more information on the picnic and contest — oh the contest

CONTEST NEEDS CONTESTANTS

The first annual Tennessee Valley Woodworkers Contest and second annual Woodworkers picnic is on the horizon and rumor has it that the entrants are running far below our most pessimistic estimates—for woodworking projects, not potential eaters! As reported at the past couple of meetings, Jack Townsend and Bill Knight have been to jr. and sr. high schools recruiting young woodworkers, signs are up in almost every local woodworking supply place, but the response from you, our club members is the most lacking. Since the contest is opened to all projects, regardless of when you made them, everyone has a potential winner in their workshop!! Now all that’s left is to pick out the best of the best and enter it in the contest.

While I’m not too good on dates, I’ll give this one a try — we will have an Independent panel of judges look over the selection of fine work on the night of our July 21st meeting. In case you forgot, that meeting is also our annual picnic: a covered dish picnic and plans are to have the club provide the hamburgers, hot dogs and fixings and the members provide their favorite covered dish. More about the arrangements next month but you can go ahead and mark your calendar now so something doesn’t interfere with your woodworking club plans.

TULLAHOMA CRAFT SHOW WINNER

Congratulations to Gina Bishop! She won overall second place at the Tullahoma Fine Arts Craft Show recently. Her woven basket was beautiful and for once the judges could really recognize talent and a job well done. The craft show was very well attended and Gina overcame some tough competition. Even Jacks’ unique clocks couldn’t get into the winners circle! Our congratulations again Gina.

GETTING STARTED

Many of us have been “into” woodworking quite a few years and have accumulated the tools we need to suit the type of woodworking we do and our personal preferences. Unfortunately the cost of tools has risen astronomically which has allowed truly cheap tools to make Inroads. These are cheap In cost but sometimes lack quality and safety features. How does a new woodworker get started these days? If you look in the magazines, One sees a range of prices from absurd to ridiculous. How many newcomers can afford to shell out $700 +for a table saw? How about a saber saw for over $200, or a band saw for about $600? Remember in many cases the newcomer Is on a “fishing expedition” and doesn’t know if he’s really interested.

So there’s the problem for the month: what do you tell a newcomer who comes to you for advice on how to get started in this hobby which you really enjoy? Does he just go to Sears and pick one of each tool in the catalog or do you have a better suggestion? Hopefully Tom Baskin will have some time left over in the June meeting so we can get your thoughts.

TECHNOLOGY ADVANCES AND SMELLS BAD

No technology doesn’t necessarily stink but some of the new “super glues” and related epoxies sure do. If you’ve been in a closed room and applied a large amount of epoxy resin, you know how overpowering it can be. Some of us are now using epoxy based glues and cyanoacrylate (sometimes referred to as cya or cy ) glues. Th.’ best known of these is Super Glue which I tried a few years ago and was very disappointed. Now a new breed of cy glues are on the market and they really do work! I’ve only used them on hobby projects but they have great potential for we woodworkers. But they stink worse than epoxy, if that’s possible.

If you have a chance to use the ca glues in close quarters, you first notice that they “smoke” a little as they cure. That’s the chemical reaction taking place. Next an overpowering * nose singeing smell erupts and your eyes water — sounds like a great scientific advancement over Elmers White doesn’t it?! The gain is quick, super quick curing — 10 seconds or less and a truly strong joint. So much for the advancement. How about the side effects?

I’m reasonably sure that the Food and Drug Administration and other governmental agencies try to keep us from destroying ourselves while we experiment with new glues and paints. I’m equally sure that technology is advancing so fast that long term effects of these products aren’t well known. A glue that makes your nose run, eyes water, and throat burn doesn’t sound like something you want to have around very often. But such glues are on the market and are gaining wide acceptance. Many of us use epoxy in our construction, one woodworker thought it might cure well in a microwave. The resulting fumes sent he and his son to the hospital.

So where am I headed? Please take the time to read and follow the instructions carefully on any product but particularly on those new discoveries that are flooding the market. If the manufacturer suggests that you wear a mask, make the conscious decision to either wear a mask or use another product. If the directions suggest that adequate ventilation is needed, open a window or turn on a fan or try another solvent, paint, adhesive or technique. A little short term safety can lead to long term good health. No matter how safe the precautions make you feel, it’s up to you to choose the product that will do the job — safely.

NOW FOR THE GOOD NEWS

For those of us who missed it, the May meeting was another gigantic show and tell success. There were projects of all types, some of which were:

Tom Baskln discussed a carved head of a drake; Ray Cole displayed a pipe wrench he made out of walnut (if I knew Ray better I’d ask him where he found the walnut pipes on which to use the wrench!); Henry Davis showed home boxes and box joints he’s working with; Jerry Bradford, a visitor, displayed a carved figurine ; Bill Shirley let us see the type of pine box he makes for water table models; Ted Baldwin showed how to make a slot with a dove tail bit that works well for hanging frames; Jack Townsend didn’t display a clock; Howard Colson showed us seine cabinet doors, drawers and panels; and Bill Knight brought in a beautiful turned bowl; and — I’m •out of space!! Thanks to all!!

VISITORS AND OTHER FRIENDS

Terry and Jerry Bradford attended our May meeting as did Rick Mott and his nephew. Rick enjoyed the club so much, he joined on the spot! Great to have all of you meet with us. I still see a few of we “old timers” who could make our guests feel a bit more- welcomed. Maybe they want to know about membership and dues and you’ve forgotten, so I’ll remind you that we have the best dues structure in town — $10.00 a year for an individual and $15.00 for a family. All dues are pro—rated and the member only pays for the remainder of the year. For that the new member gets twelve stimulating meetings a year, a similar numbers of this “fish wrapper”, and a chance to picnic and meet with about 30 others who have very similar woodworking interests — what a bargain!!

THE BUSINESS OF BUSINESS

Tom Church asks that members of the Executive Committee stay after the June club meeting for a short Executive Committee meeting. Topic will be the picnic and contest.

HOW TO MAKE A BOARD

(condensed from Readers Digest by Henry Davis)

Most of what I know about carpentry, which is almost nothing, I learned in shop. I took shop during the time when boys took shop and girls took home economics —— code for “cooking”. Schools are not allowed to separate boys and girls like that anymore.

Under the guidance of Mr. Schmidt, our shop teacher, we hammered our hundreds of the ugliest and most useless objects the human mind can conceive. Our first major project was a little bookshelf that you could also use as a stool. The idea was that someday you’d be looking for a book when all of a sudden you’d need a stool, so you’d just dump the books out and there you’d be. At least I assume that was the thinking behind it. Mr. Schmidt designed it.

Over the years. I have used my shop skills to make many useful objects for my home. For example, I recently made a board. I use my board in many ways I stand on it when I have to get socks out of the dryer and there’s water In the basement (usually with a healthy layer of scum on top). I also use my board to squash spiders. (All spiders are deadly killers. Don’t believe any of the stuff you read in National Geographic.) Generally, after I squash a spider. I leave the board in the water for a while, spider—side down, to wash it off, assuming the scum isn’t too bad.

To make a board , you’ll need:

Materials: a board, paint.

Tools: A chisel.

Get your board at a lumberyard, but be careful lumberyards reek of lunacy, When they tell you a board Is a “two by four”. they mean it is not two Inches by four Inches. Likewise, a “one by six” Is not one by six inches. So tell the lumberman that you want some other size, If you don’t know what size you want, tell him it’s for squashing spiders. He’ll know what you need.

You should paint your board so that people will know it’s a home carpentry project. I suggest you use a darkish color, something along the lines of spider guts. Use your chisel to open the paint can.

Once you’ve finished your board, you can move on to more advanced projects, such as a harpsichord or spinning wheel. But if you’re really going to get into home carpentry, you should have a home workshop. You will find the your workshop is a very useful place to store lawn sprinklers and objects you intend to fix sometime before you die.

Then, after a few years you will have a great many broken objects in your home workshop. In the interim however, it will look barren. This is why you need tools. To give your shop an attractive, non-barren appearance, get several thousand dollars worth of tools and hang them from pegboards in a graceful display.

Basically there are four kinds of tools:

Tools you can hit yourself with (hammers, axes);

Tools you can cut yourself ~ knives, adzes);

Tools you can stab yourself with (screwdrivers, chisels);

Tools that, if dropped just right, can penetrate your foot (awls)

Note that all of these tools are dangerous, so you should never touch them. What you should do Is stand among them wearing craftsmanlike clothes and listen to sporting events on the radio.

I have a router, a tool I can highly recommend. My router has never given me any trouble, and even if it did I wouldn’t know it because I don’t have the vaguest notion what routers are for. I bought this one because it was on sale.

The instruction booklet that came with the router says you can use to make a “dado,” which sounds like a bodily function but is apparently something you can so to a piece of wood. I have been giving serious thought to making a dado on my board, on the theory that this will make It an even more effective anti-spider device. I’ll let you know how it goes, assuming I still have the use of my hands.