SPLINTERS

            Vol.11/ Issue 9      Tennessee Valley Woodworkers         Editor. Richard Gulley     September 1997

 

Hey There!

It’s already time for another Splinters! Time really flies when you don’t have time to turn around. :-)

Sure do miss all you woodchuckers - look forward to seeing all of you at the picnic. It’s time to get on with Splinters.

 

Last Month

Meeting notes from August 19, 1997, meeting of Tennessee Valley Woodworkers.

* Visitors:

Paul and Billy Noles

Harvey Carter

Joe Ellis

Bill Wendellkin(sic)

 

*        Exhibit committee announced: John Sargent (chairman), Louise Green, Loyd Ackerman, and Tom Cowan. The charter is to make recommendations on how we should handle exhibits in the future.

*        Janie Lovett announced the need for volunteers to build brochure racks for the Winchester area tourism committee. Volunteers need to contact Janie.

*        A reminder was announced for August 30 Artisans day at Fall Mill.

*        A reminder was announced for the October 11 Fall workshop. Applications were passed out and collected. Applications are due September 16th”. Payment is due anytime before or at the workshop and can be made to Henry Davis or any member of the committee. Loyd Ackerman (chairman), Louise Green. John Green, and Tom Cowan. (Application attached to September Splinters)

*        The picnic and auction is to be at Duck River on September 20th.  Plan to arrive about 5 PM and bring a dish. It’s the usual pot luck plus.

*        A reminder was announced for the TAW symposium in Gatlinburg on 8/23.

*        We decided not to get a booth(s) at the Old Stone Fort fair due to lack of interest.

*        Ross Roepke knows of a source of old walnut lumber removed from a room. See Ross for details.

*        Ross was given the job of getting plates, spoons, cups, etc. for the picnic.

*        Remaining 1997 events: August 30-Falls Mill. September 20— Picnic. Fall Workshop —October 11. Holiday party — December 6.

 

Show and Tell:

- Winfleld Bennett — Brought some Hackberrv wood. Gave several pieces to members for projects.

- Billy May — Carving: Butternut Indian head with basswood horns. Carved letter opener.

- Manuel Brown — Display board to show how he constructs his toy cars and some of the tooling used as well.

- Tom Church - Walnut box with floating panel top.

- Ross Roepke - Clock made with walnut, maple, and mahogany. A tiininimg jig. Plus a box made of cherry and walnut.

- Tom Cowan - Pedestal made from walnut A walnut jewelry box with floating panel top. Plus a hollow vessel turning with native American coloring and decoration.

 

 

 

Exciting September Meeting!

Ross Roepke will teach us how to cope --- with wood shrinkage that is.

 

September 16th  7:00 pm at the Decherd Duck River Building

 

-Jim Cooke-Carvings of a man and a woman including details of guns.

- Doyle McConnell — Box elder turning and a discussion on freeze drying turnings.

-Henry Davis-Parts for a table he’s building plus a discussion on advice on how to.

- John Sargent - Brought in the gavel he donated to the club. Now with an engraved brass plate.

Other:

* Doyle knows how to order Anchor Seal

($35/gal)

* Billy May needs advice/help on making a screw for a spinning wheel

 

Program:

Bob Reese gave an excellent program on using analine dyes. They come in three bases —water, alcohol, and oil. Water is the most commonly used due to ease of use and best color fastness. Dyes come in powder forms which is diluted in its base liquid. The liquid form can then be mixed with other colors to get any color you want. Dyes are different from stains in that they actually change the color of the wood cells. Stains typically add color by introducing particulate in the pores of the wood.  Bob bad display samples of the dyes themselves and wood that had been dyed.

Loyd Ackerman

 

Words From Doyle

It has been a busy month for the Tennessee Valley Woodworkers. The symposium at Arrowmont was well attended. There were five attendees that were well pleased with the presentation. In order to use some of the techniques shown two shopping trips were arranged one in Atlanta and one in Guntersville.

The “Artisan of the Month” at Falls Mills was also well represented by our club. The Lovetts as usual had everything all pulled together and the weather cooperated much better than last year. This is a very good opportunity for us to make our club known to the community. There were over three hundred visitors who attended. Everything was a success. Thanks to Janie and John for being our host.

 

 

Words From Henry

(Henny Davis sends us this succinct account from Falls Mill)

James, Billy and Winfield          a’ whittlin’

John, Juel and Bill                     a sawin’               

Tom, Loyd. Doyle and Henry    a’ turnin’

Crocia                                      a’ playin’

Susan                                       a catterin’

 

Ted. Joe and Manuel                 a’ settin’ & a’ sellin’      

Bob                                          a’ fiddlin’

Inua and Evelyn                        a’ vis’tin’

and of course -

John & Janie                             a’ runmn’
(Hope I didn’t miss anyone       Henry Davis)

 

The fall picnic is scheduled for 5:00 PM. September 20 at the Duck River building picnic grounds. Don’t forget the auction. The Club will furnish the BBQ, drinks and silverware the rest is pot luck.

 

The fall workshop is on October 11 at Tom Cowan’s shop. Plan for these events.

 

Scary Sharp

(Found this article on the NET.  It’s the condensed version but contains all the info you need to try this sharpening technique. I have tried this -tho not to the fine grits they use - and it work’s!)

Condensed Version or How to sharpen a plane blade with sandpaper.

Mercilessly butchered into a Condensed “How to” Version by J. Gunterman from the Original by the Steve Lamantia.

 

To lap the back behind the cutting bevel:

Use a very light coatings of 3M “77” spray adhesive to temporarily glue small 1-1/2” x 3-1/2” rectangular pieces of sandpaper along the edge of a sheet of 1/4” plate-glass.

The paper to use is Aluminum Oxide in grits 50. 80. and 100, and Silicon Carbide (wet-or-dry to you lay people) in grits of 150, 180, 220, 320. 400, 600. 1200. and 2000. The plate glass should be placed with its edge flush to the edge of the workbench. Grits can be skipped, if desired, but more time on each grit will then be required to fully remove the scratches from the previous grit. Using the gradual progression as listed, however, will require only about a minute or so with each grit.”

Lap the end one inch of the back of the iron on each grit in turn. You could use it wet or dry.

About every ten seconds or so, stop and brush off the sandpaper with a whisk broom and wipe the blade off on your shirt.

About ten minutes after starting, you should have gone from 50 grit on up to 2000, and there will be a minor finish on the back of that iron the likes of which must be seen.

Then jig the blade in a Veritas honing jig or go it by hand— Clamp the blade down in the Veritas blade-holder device, taking care to have the bevel resting on the glass perfectly along both edges. Adjust the micro bevel cam on the jig up to its full two-degree micro bevel setting — and hone away on the 2000-grit

Flip the blade over on the sandpaper several times, hone and lap, hone and lap, each time gentler and gentler, to remove the little bit of wire edge.  The resulting little thin secondary bevel should be quite shiny by this time.

Remove the blade from the jig, and perform the “shave some arm hairs off” test, or the sharpness test of your own choice.

Of course, the ultimate test of a plane iron’s sharpness is what it does on wood.

When it is all done, peel the sandpaper from the glass and throw it away. Then, scrape the little bit of residual adhesive from the glass with a razor blade, a quick wipe down with acetone on a piece of paper towel, and the cleanup is done in a minute.

No oil, no water, no mess, no glaze or flatness problems to worry about, and a cutting edge that is Scary-Sharp (TM).

 

 

Other Net Stuff

Mountain Heritage Crafters, a carving tool and book supplier now has a web site. They are in the process of putting their catalog on the site now. This may well be the largest online listing of carving tools and books when the Site is completed. MHC currently stocks over 800 books and is constantly adding more. They carry products by Foredom, Ram, Flexcut, Two Cherries, Detail Master, Navsink, Helvie and Lominack among others. Check out their site. If they don’t have what you want listed, contact them.  If they don’t have it—they will do their best to get it. They strive to have the lowest mail order prices in the US.  Their site is at: http://www.turboWp.COflh/fllhc/

 

Picture in original omitted.

 

No particular reason I put in this picture. Found it in a clipart newsgroup and thought it was cutesy.

Keep on keepin’ on and think about me crunching numbers while you’re enjoying the good life of a

Tennessee Valley Wood Worker.  It just don’t get no better!

 

Watch out for SPLINTERS!