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

New club member, Ron Reimers, will present the March program. Ron’s topic will be “Native American  Flutes” and will discuss techniques he uses in making flutes. We will also be treated to some of the music of his flutes. For an advance look at some of Ron’s flutes, visit Ron's website:  http://www.handcraftedflutesandmore.com

The Tennessee Valley Woodworker's Web Site is constantly being updated with the latest club news and happenings. If you want to know the latest club news, be sure to take a look and check it out!!!!!!!
 

Click "here" to view all the latest information concerning "TVW Upcoming Events" or "here" to view upcoming programs on our Web Site.

May 1 - 3:Dogwood Festival, Winchester, TN

May 3 – 10: TVW "In the Spirit of Fine Woodworking” Exhibition, Tullahoma Fine Arts Center.

May 29 – 31: Carving Workshop, Carla Wright’s shop. Presenter - Randy Walters (registration closed).  Carving tools are required for this workshop. If enough interest is expressed, a second workshop will be scheduled later.  See Tom Cowan to express interest.  .

June 6: Annual Club Picnic, Falls Mill, 5:30 PM, Chairperson - Felix Rees.

June 20: Turning Bee, Tom Cowan's shop. Chairperson - Paul Fulks.

September 13 – 19:  Coffee County Fair Demonstrations, Chairperson - Doyle McConnell.

October 24: (tentative): Fall Workshop, Presenter – TBD, Chairperson - Johnny Brown.

December 4:  Annual Christmas Party, Decherd Nazarene Church, Chairperson -  LaDoris Ackerman.

Shop Tours: Schedule will be developed as the year progresses. Chairperson – Doyle McConnell.

Polly Crockett Festival: September 19 – 20, Cowan, TN
Web School Art and Craft Festival: October 17 & 18, Bell Buckle, TN

If you wish to continue your membership, please pay Jim Steadman at the meeting or you can mail your dues check to Jim at his home address (702 Bluff Drive, Winchester, TN 37398).
 
 

Congratulations to these two club members.

Here is a very important item to remember. The deadline for entries is April 15. The deadline is necessary, due to the tremendous amount of work required to process the entries after they are received and the short time to accomplish the work. Therefore, entries can not be accepted after April 15.

If you would be willing to help and have not yet volunteered, call Loyd (931-728-9952) or email him at [email protected]. There are still many tasks left to be done.

Entry forms can be downloaded from the club web site or picked up at our monthly meetings. The exhibition is for every club member who would like to display their work.

Remember, the exhibition is for every club member one who would like to display his/her work.

The carvers met Saturday March 7 at Phil Bishop’s shop with 15 people in attendance. The group worked on various projects; including an Indian in walnut, shallow reliefs, rooster, buzzard and bark ornaments.

All the carvers were encouraged to enter small carvings in the May exhibition in Tullahoma.

Master Carver, Randy Walters, will be teaching a deep relief carving workshop May 29-31. The workshop will be held at Carla Wright’s shop in Lynchburg. The registration for the May workshop is filled. A second workshop may be scheduled later. Contact Tom Cowan, if you are interested in attending a second workshop.

Two hand-cut dovetail workshops were recently completed. The workshops were taught by Tom Cowan. A total of eleven members attended the two sessions. Each participant came away with the satisfaction of completing their own “Joints” and adding another skill level to their expertise.
 

If you have trouble with your gouges or chisels cutting properly, this is your great opportunity. Want to know more about sharpening techniques, especially turning gouges, contact Bob Reese. Bob will give you one-on-one training. All you have to do is call and set up a time for your “learning experience”. You can contact Bob by phone (931-728-7974) or by email ([email protected]).

The Lovetts have an ever-growing maintenance issue with the works at Falls Mill. This is a project worthy of help from TVW members. One of the areas where Club members could help is in the repair of the many windows at the mill. Jane and John have been Club members for many years and host the Club's annual picnic on their grounds. If we could get a crew together to help with the repairs, it would be a great help to the Lovetts and a good project on which TVW members could hone their skills. Those interested in participating in this project should contact Ross Roepke at 931-455-9140 or send him an email at [email protected]
Ross will have more information at the next club meeting.

DIGITAL LIBRARY NEWS

Don’t forget the valuable resources in our "Video Library". New DVD programs have been purchased from “The Woodworkers Library" and placed in the library. The new topics will be available soon. For a complete list of all items in the Digital Library, see Henry Davis at the next club meeting, email him at [email protected] or call him at 393-3191 and leave a message. Henry, the librarian, states; “The response to the new additions to the Library was great, almost every new DVD was checked out”.
Henry asks that you return your “check-outs” at the March meeting so other members may check them out.
Don’t forget the valuable resources in our "Video Library". The Executive Committee decided to add additional topics to the library by purchasing some DVD programs from “The Woodworkers Library", which gave the club a 20% discount on the material. The new topics will be available soon. For a complete list of all items in the Digital Library, see Henry Davis at the next club meeting, email him at [email protected] or call him at 393-3191 and leave a message.

To view the complete list of all items in the Digital Library on-line, please click here .

Ross Roepke brought two mahogany curved leg tables and commented that the design was a challenge. He also had a box made out of maple molding.

Steward Gaetjens showed a large print mounted in a natural birch frame.

Scott Short had a turned cherry plate with a lacquer finish.

Henry Davis showed a band-saw guide, as well as two hand cut dovetail joints that he made in Tom’s workshop.

Bill May had a ‘Santa’, which ended up as a man’s face.  It was made out of red birch (red birch).

Paul Jalbert showed a hand carved sign that had a “rope” border.

Dave Whyte displayed a mortising jig for a router and a flute routing jig.

Jim Carden showed a slide show of a large restoration project of an East Tennessee pie safe.
 
 

When changing table saw blades, You have two simple goals. First, you would like to get the job done with a minimum of time and effort. Second, and more important, you try hard to avoid scraping your knuckles on the blade when removing and reinstalling the arbor nut. A very minor modification, made to your arbor wrench helps on both scores.

The photo at right illustrates this simple alteration. As you can see, a slight bend is put in the wrench near the arbor nut hole. This makes it easier to slip the wrench over the arbor nut while also keeping your fingers out of harms way.

Bending the wrench isn’t difficult, just clamp the end in a vise and apply a little force. You will definitely see a good return on this small investment.

FREE WOODWORKING PLANS

Everyone loves FREE woodworking plans. And to give woodworkers more of exactly what they are looking for, WOOD magazine has created a free downloadable plans section within the WOOD Store with nine detailed plans. Current offerings include plans for a tambour bookcase, three lumber storage projects, planter, swinging dragon toy, salt and pepper shakers, turned floral display, and scroll saw and intarsia projects. To download these free plans simply click on the following link.

Also, check out the Wood magazine free video section on various woodworking techniques. You can access the videos by clicking here. Try them out. They change each month.

WOOD magazine invites you to visit WOOD Online’s newest forum, Shop Showplace http://www.woodmagazine.com/shopforum , dedicated to shop lovers and their shops. Post questions on shop flooring, lighting, cabinetry, workbenches, organizers, tool chests, and other questions you may have to better outfit your workspace. And, we’re not limiting this to woodworking shops. Whether you’re a woodworker, mechanic, or a hobbyist who enjoys a shop, we invite you to participate. Not only is this forum for the asking and replying to shop-related questions, it is a place to show off your workspace through the posting of images. We look forward to learning and seeing what your shop is all about.

You can’t beat free, and you can’t beat the informative (and free) woodworking videos at woodmagazine.com/woodtube. This section on WOOD Magazine’s online site contains 75 videos, with more added on a near daily basis. You can spend hours viewing the plethora of videos or create your own and add it for other woodworkers from around the world to view. From machining half-blind dovetails to the Big Island Woodworkers Show, the editors of WOOD and their online user have created a woodworking video library worth your visit. Pease click here to go directly to the videos.

For the past several months, we’ve been working to bring you top-notch woodworking videos that you can download to your computer. We’re proud to tell you that WOOD Magazine’s “Better Woodworking” Video Center has just launched. At “Better Woodworking,” you can shop for skill-building woodworking videos, typically between an hour to two hours long, by master woodworkers such as Marc Adams, Paul Schurch, Gary Rogowski, The Wood Whisperer, and many more. The videos are mostly priced at under $20.

This is an interesting web site for all you "do-it-yourselfers". The site has nothing to do with woodworking, but can tell you a lot about trouble-shooting and repairing your appliances. The main feature is the "Ask the Repair Guru" section. If you have a repair problem, click here to find the answer to your problem.

We are trying to start a new service for club members. Your VP, Anthony Watts, has requested that we add some key local suppliers to the website to help members find items needed in the shop; for example: belts and pulleys.

To accomplish this, we've changed the table of contents at the left and top of the home page from LINKS to LINKS AND CONTACTS.  We will, from time to time, add information on the Links and Contacts page based on members inputs.  If you find a place to purchase something pertaining to woodworking and would like to share that information with others, send an email to Loyd Ackerman with the details for inclusion.  We're not trying to replace the Yellow Pages; this is just for those special items and special contacts.
Information needed is:  Name, address, phone #, and website (if they have one) of the business and what you found them.

If you would like to list woodworking equipment for sale or would like to purchase wookworking items, please contact Chuck Taylor with the item information and it will be posted in the Newsletter. You can contact Chuck at [email protected] or call at 931-728-7086.

We strive to always keep the club membership roster listing up-to-date. If you have address, email or phone number changes, please contact Chuck Taylor (931-728-7086) or Jim Steadman (931-962-2940) so that your information can be updated in our membership listings. We are making a concentrated effort to keep our membership information current.