SPLINTERS

Tennessee Valley Woodworkers
   Vol. 21/ Issue 2              February 2006                Editor: Chuck Taylor 

Meeting Notice:
The next meeting of the TN Valley Woodworkers
Will be held, February 21st at 7:00 p.m. in the
 Duck River Electric Building, Decherd, TN
All interested woodworkers are invited!


Please remember, in your thoughts and prayers, all our Troops around the world and those on the way home.

The following people have agreed to serve as contacts for their particular skills.  If you have questions, suggestions for activities, or other comments relating to these skills, please call these folks.  Their interest is to help the club better serve their area of expertise.  Your participation with them will help them achieve that goal.

                                Design:        Tom Cowan    967-4835                            Finishing:       Phil Bishop          967-4626
                                Turning:        Tom Church   967-4460                            Carving:        Harry May           962-0215
                                Sharpening:    Bob Reese   728-7974                              Joinery:        Ross Roepke       455-9140
Maurice Ryan  962-1555   Health and Safety

List of Club Officers

                                                                                                President:          Loyd Ackerman
                                                                                                V. President:       Tom Cowan
                                                                                                Secretary:          Bob Lowrance
                                                                                                Treasurer:          Henry Davis
                                                                                                 Publicity:          Larry Bowers
                                                                                                 Newsletter Editor: Chuck Taylor
                                                                                                Web-Master:  Richard Gulley
 
 


TVW NEWS AND NOTES




FUNDRAISING ACTIVITY (WIN A ROUTER)
The Club will have a drawing for the Router donated by Wayne Sutter of Woodline. The drawing will be held at the Club's picnic on May 20th. Tickets will be on sale at each Club meeting between now and the picnic and will be on sale at the picnic up until the drawing. Larry Bowers will be the Ticket master again for this event. Tickets will cost $2 each or 3 for $5. This is an excellent prize.  Be sure to participate in this Club fundraiser, and be sure to support Woodline for sponsoring this event.
Loyd Ackerman – TVW President
 

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS FOR 2006
Dogwood Festival: April 7 – 9 (Friday, Saturday, Sunday), Chairperson - Ken Gould
Picnic: May 20 (Saturday), Chairperson – Karen Kerce
Spring Seminar: June 17 (Saturday)
Coffee County Fair: September 18 – 23 (Monday through Saturday), Chairperson – Doyle McConnell
Fall Seminar: October (exact date TBD)
Holiday Party: December 8 (Friday)
 

A REMINDER ABOUT CLUB DUES
Just a short reminder that if you have not paid your 2006 dues it's time to pay them.  Our Treasurer reports that over 60% of our members have paid their dues.  If you cannot make the meetings and want to mail your dues, sent them to Henry Davis, 247 Delight Lane, Tullahoma, Tn.  37388.  The dues are still $10.00 for single memberships and $15.00 for family memberships.
 

CLUB BUSINESS CARDS
We still have club business cards available. For those who have not heard about our cards they are free to members and contain information about the club.  The cards are designed so you can sign your name if you choose.   See Henry Davis if you want a supply of cards or need to get some more.
 

MEMBER INFORMATION CHANGES
We strive to always keep the club membership roster up to date. If you have changes to your home address, phone number or email address please let us know so we can update our membership list.  Contact Henry Davis at 931-393-3191 or [email protected]
 

WELCOME TO OUR NEW MEMBERS
(Becoming members at our January meeting)

Larry & Tim Halbeck, Wartrace
John King, Manchester
Chad Limbaugh, Winchester
John Rampy, Winchester
 

CARVER’S CORNER
A group of TVW club members, interested in learning/advancing their skills in the art of carving, meet at 6:30PM on the third Thursday of each month. The usual meeting place is at Phil Bishop’s shop. The number attending the monthly sessions averages 10-12.

The group has been meeting most every month for the last two years. They decide on a project for their carving class and then work on the project until completion. Their current project is a “cowboy” carving and is nearing completion. They have not decided on their next project.

Carvers that normally attend the sessions include: Henry Cox Jr., Phil Bishop, Ken Burgess, Ken Gould, Bob Leonard, Bob Lowrance Harry May, Pat Richardson, Steve Shores and Dick Wollam.

They always have a lot of fun “honing and whittling” their skills and invite anyone interested in carving to join them.
 
 


SHOW AND TELL:

Doyle McConnell – A work-in-progress, a Baltic birch plywood segmented closed vessel, to be used to create a nautilus sculpture.

Matt Brothers- An advent candle stand, with a tilting candleholder mechanism.

Dave Whyte- A bandsaw box made from poplar.

Bob Lowrance- A carving of a barber.

Ross Roepke – Two boxes with figured inlay tops. One was curly maple with a birds-eye veneer top and one was poplar with a spalted maple inlay top.

Dick Wollam – A carved driftwood Calla Lily.

Tom Gillard Jr. – A wooden quilt design.

Bob Reese – Two tool rests and two relief carvings of Jesus praying.

Tom Cowan – A period table reproduction in the William and Mary style, with a hand-cut dovetail drawer.

Bob Leonard – Some samples of boxwood and a flower vase he turned from the boxwood.

Greg Seiber – Two turned bowls, one made from segments of cherry and poplar, and one made from Baltic birch plywood.
 


WOOD PROFILES
A QUICK LOOK AT BEECH:

While beech species grow in every hemisphere, the one you'll find in North America is American Beech (Fagus grandifolia). "Blue beech," which shares the same range, proves to be hornbeam. In lower elevations, beech often grows in pure stands, with trees to 120' in height and 4' in diameter. Beech has an unmistakable bark of shiny, silver-grey that fits its trunk like smooth skin. In early spring, yellow-green blooms appear with the newly formed leaves on beech's branches. By fall, small triangular nuts covered by prickly burs occur. These sweet, edible nuts provide wildlife with forage. The wood of beech resembles yellow birch, but with a tint of red in the darker brown heartwood. The straight-grained, evenly textured stock frequently has an attractive ray fleck. It is hard, strong, and heavy

Uses in woodworking---
Because beech steam-bends as readily as ash, it works well for chair legs and backs. In fact, this under-used wood could be made into any type of interior furniture, cabinets, flooring, and trim. As drawers, beech actually becomes slicker as it rubs against other wood members. Woodturners use beech for items such as goblets with delicate stems. It's also ideal for food-use vessels like cutting boards and spoons because it imparts no odor or taste, and takes abuse. Carvers, though, find it difficult to tackle.
An excellent turning wood, beech presents few problems other than its hardness, which results in scratches if sanding is done across grain on the lathe. Always sand with the grain while the lathe is turned off.

Machining methods ---

Wood-Online
 



 
 

SHOP TIP OF THE MONTH

Stir up a super wood filler
Because wood putty never seems to exactly match the wood, patches stick out like a sore thumb --------.
For an exact color match, there's nothing closer than the actual wood.
Gather fresh sawdust--the finer the better--from your belt sander or workbench.
On waxed paper, stir the sawdust into a puddle of epoxy. Fill holes, cracks, and mistakes with the mixture.   --From the WOOD magazine


Web Sites of interest.

Wood Central


See you on the 21st.



 
 

click on the image to go to these sites
Special contributors to Club functions